Blood in urine known medically as hematuria.
Blood in urine can be a sign of a serious medical condition and it should not be ignored. All cases of hematuria should be evaluated by a doctor who can order tests to confirm or rule out an underlying cause.
There is no specific treatment for hematuria since it's a symptom and not a specific condition.
Blood from???
Blood in urine can come from the kidneys, where urine is made. It also can come from:
- Ureters (the tubes from the kidneys to the bladder).
- Bladder (where urine is stored).
- Urethra (the tube from the bladder to the outside of the body).
Symptoms
Symptom is obvious. Instead of its normal pale yellow color, your urine may be pink, red, brownish-red, or tea-colored. This is what doctors call gross hematuria.
Sometimes, blood in urine is not visible to the naked eye and can only be detected by the lab. This is what doctors call microscopic hematuria.
Causes of Hematuria:
- Bladder infections (acute cystitis). In adults usually cause burning or pain with urination. Infants with bladder infections may have fever, be irritable, and feed poorly. Older children may have fever, pain and burning while urinating, urgency, and lower belly pain.
- Kidney infections (pyelonephritis). Symptoms may include fever, chills, and flank pain, which refers to pain in the lower back.
- Kidney stones. Symptoms may include severe abdominal or pelvic pain.
- Kidney diseases. Symptoms may include weakness, high blood pressure, and body swelling, including puffiness around the eyes.
Common causes:
- Bladder or kidney infections.
- Bladder or kidney stones.
- Certain kidney diseases, such as inflammation in the filtering system of the kidneys (glomerulonephritis).
- Enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia) or prostate cancer.
- Inherited diseases such as sickle cell anemia and cystic kidney disease.
- Certain medications such as aspirin, penicillin, heparin, cyclophosphamide, and phenazopyridine.
- A tumor in the bladder, kidney, or prostate.
- Kidney injury from an accident or sports.
- Vigorous exercise.
Sometimes, what appears to be blood in urine is actually red pigment from other sources such as food dyes, medications, or an excessive amount of beets. Doctors refer to this latter cause as "beeturia."