Blood in my Urine?

[bell hater]

After a trip to Gatwick, I have been told that I have small traces of blood in my urine (not visible) and now I have been referred back to my GP for his assessment… Has any body out there had any kind of problem before? I have had plenty of medicals any never any problems… it’s a bit disconcerting. He (doctor) went on to say that from an aviation point of view he had to investigate if the cause was kidney stones (more there incapacitating effect)… so no medical for me until I get something sorted.:(

[Blinkz]

I'm sure its fine. On my last renewal I also had trace amounts of blood in my urine and was told that the machines that are used to reading can sometimes give false positives or it can just be a one off. I just had to have a 2nd test a cpl of days later and it was all clear.

[cavortingcheetah]

:)

You can order and buy urinary test sticks at any pharmacy worth its salt.
Combur 5 or 9 are the best. These would enable you to test yourself which might reassure you. UK doctors tend to use Multistix which are all right in so far as it goes but the dye can run from one test bed to another.
Lots of things can throw up a blood trace in urine: excercise, especially running, sex, too much to drink the night before and so on. So too can eating beetroot or certain chemicals, especially those used in some of the cheaper white wines or throat lozenges.
Even if there is no logical explanation for a blood trace, it often clears up of its own accord just as does a nose bleed for example.
The drag of it is that you will probably have to tick affirmative from now on any medical form where you are required to declare if you have ever had blood in your urine. Make sure therefore that you keep copies of any medical reports on this that may come down the line. I suspect that many AMEs who knew you would have asked you to drink a pint or so of water and take the test again after a half hour or so. At LGW, I doubt that such latitude is permitted?
Personally, I would not worry too much about this. Even if you have a kidney problem you presumably had a medical six months ago and so things have probably not progressed too far and I think that stones, in general, are quite easily treated.
I would self test, drink lots of water before any further medical test and ensure that my doctor took a PSA blood test just to eliminate the jolly old prostate.
I should add that I am not a doctor but I have come across this little midnight eye opener before.
Good luck anyway.:D

[Loose rivets]

Does anyone know if changing over to drinking gallons of distilled water will slowly dissipate stones?

Certainly, softening water will slowly clear calcified plumbing, I wondered if the principle could be applied to human anatomy.

[bell hater]

Thanks for the reply’s, as everybody that posts here know the ramifications of loosing a medical for pilots… so anything out of the ordinary gets us “a little windy” after doing some research on the net and reading your posts, there is quite a few different causes. ‘Cavortingcheetah’ thanks for the tip of the home test to tell you the truth I wouldn’t have though of that. As I didn’t know you could buy them:ok:
bell

[simonc15]

I had protein(blood) in my urine 5years ago in 1st year in school .I had a urine test taken because i fainted during class and i was diagnosed with inflamed kidneys and prescribed antibiotics.I passed my JAR class1 medical last year.
Hope this helps

[Old Smokey]

cavortingcheetah's suggestion for doing a little 'self-monitoring' is good advice. I use Multisticks (TM) about once a month (if I remember to), which can give early warning (or pre-medical reassurance) for at least the following -

(1) Diabetes (Early detection is worth it's weight in gold),

(2) Ketones (is your dieting or exercise regime excessive?),

(3) Urinary blood, as discussed in this forum.

Very cheap for the value gained from them, but they do have a limited shelf life (1 year).

Loose rivets, I spent many years with the Flying doctor in an area where the people drank highly mineralised water. Conversation with the doctors treating the quite common kidney 'stones' cases indicated that a change to non-mineralised water was too late to make any significant difference, other than preventing the condition from deteriorating further. Presumably you were referring to kidney stones and not gall stones, the latter have their origin in Cholesterol.

Regards,

Old Smokey

[cavortingcheetah]

:hmm:

Blood(Protein). Blood and protein are not the same and all multi function test stix will, I think, have a test pad, for want of a better expression, for each.
I seem to remember that another word Protein is Albumin, used rather more in The States than in the UK.
The standard Multi Stix, much favoured in the UK test for:
Protein, Blood, Leucocytes, Nitrite, Glucose,Ketones and PH. They are marketed by Bayer whose customer service telephone number is: 44 1635 56
62 22.The standard Combur 9 also tests for Bilirubin and Uribilinogen.
It would be a mistake to become too hypochondriacal about readings on these test sticks. They are, I feel sure, only produced as an indication and often the readings have to be read in conjunction with each other and the urinator's sex as well.
I think that you will find that most AMEs' sticks test for Blood, Protein and Glucose but since you have got to see your GP anyway, I'd have a chat with him. Perhaps he could give you a prescription for the sticks which would save you a lot of money.:D
If you do opt for Multistix, do follow the instructions very carefully especially with regard to dragging the edge of the strip across the container rim to remove excess urine. Failure to do this can lead to urine contaminated from one pad trickling to the next with subsequent false or misleading readings.:ooh:

[simonc15]

Protien a component of blood and that is where my urine got contaminated from

[Catabolic IBS]

Blood in the urine or "Haematuria" is actually a common occurance in General practice. The most common cause is a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). Most of these infections are self limiting and trancient as is the associated Haematuria. The next most common cause is Kidney stones or "Renal Calculi". Clearly the GP or AME has this information at hand and in the case of a flight deck crew has to exclude the most debilitating condition that could affect the ability to fly....and believe me renal colic IS TOTALLY DEBILITATING, you are as useless as an FO with no stripes:{

The good news is that the vast majority of Haematuria cases are self limiting within a short period of time (days):ok:

[bafanguy]

Catabolic,

Doesn't a urinary tract infection come with other more obvious symptoms that would make blood in the urine a non event as the UTI was the obvious culprit ?

When I had 'em...I knew it...and didn't need any dipstick to tell me what was wrong.

[DX Wombat]

You have ALL missed one extremely common cause of haematuria - menses! There may still be a detectable, if invisible to the naked eye, trace of blood at the end of a period which can contaminate urine. Bell Hater gives no indication of gender. If you are female just check this possibility first!

[On-MarkBob]

Did you have sex before the visit to the doc? Apparently this can sometimes fool the test as protein and blood, (if you still had a bit of semen in the pipe). The Doc told me in any case to pee a little out before you pee into the pot. Apparentlty it clears the tube and gets rid of the evidence!

[Pink skies]

I had this problem at my last renewal. The doctor advised it was because i had not had enough to drink first thing in the morning. They made me drink lots of water and then retest. Problem solved.

[Catabolic IBS]

bafanguy

UTI are not necessarily all symptomatic but you are correct in that most are associated with symptoms.

Re females and menses being a cause you would hope that the examining doctor would have the intellect on detacting blood in the urine of a female patient to ask them if they were on their period??!!

[bell hater]

No I am not Ms bell hater, thanks for all the replies, I have booked in for another test (with my GP) and hoping that its all clear (so to speak) this time...

[Bertie Thruster]

Do you jog? "joggers haematuria" v. common if you run 10km+ on empty bladder.

Do google search on joggers haematuria for much more info. regards bt

[bafanguy]

Do you jog? "joggers haematuria" v. common if you run 10km+ on empty bladder.
Do google search on joggers haematuria for much more info. regards bt

Yet another reason to avoid such foolishness as jogging at all costs. Anything that makes one feel that bad cannot possibly be "good".

[YSSY]

Dipstick Testing

Haematuria


Urinary ‘dipstick’ testing is required as part of the routine aeromedical examination to screen for the presence of haematuria. Approximately 2-5% of the population have microscopic haematuria, but only about 0.5% who are under age 70 will have a urinary tract cancer as the cause. A positive dipstick test should be repeated, and if negative, managed expectantly. (Most of these applicants will have a minor glomerular lesion.)

Initial aeromedical management of an applicant with a persistently positive dipstick test involves obtaining phase contrast microscopy of a fresh mid-stream urine sample. The sample must be examined within two hours of being passed; thus individuals more than two hours from a suitable pathology service must travel to a location that has that capability. Because of wide variation between laboratories in reporting urine abnormalities, CASA’s relevant requirement for a ‘normal’ assessment in an applicant found to have microscopic haematuria is for three separate urine tests, all of which have less than 20,000 RBC per ml. Phase contrast microscopy of specimens with crenated cells up to 10,000 per ml, indicating a glomerular origin, are considered to be within normal limits. Cells with a ‘non-glomerular’ appearance are likely to indicate a urothelial
problem. Where there is ‘significant haematuria’ (more than 20,000 RBC per ml in any test), initial urogenital imaging is to be by Ultrasound or Intravenous Pyelogram (IVP), as some 10% of all stones are radiolucent. The requirement for further investigation should be determined on clinical grounds and on the basis of investigation results.

Above is from the Ausi medical hand book. When I was last working in UK we had a few pilots come upto clinic and they had the usual: ultrasound, urinary cytology and microscopy (lab tests on urine) and a flexi cystoscopy (my boss at the time always worried about cancer. - As you can see from the above article vv unlikely to have anything nasty - especially if you don't smoke.)

We see a lot of patients with positive 'urine dip sticks' and are usually found to be inaccurate (the sticks are very sensitive but not specific) - would recommend drinking plenty of fluid prior to the test to ensure hydrated and if possible make sure it's not your first sample of the day.

[got caught]

Bell hater, the course of your investigations will depend on your age.

Assuming that you are fairly young, the investigations you will require are fairly straightforward, and are unlikely to involve a cystoscopy, at this stage.

Self monitoring, however, is not an option. Follow the advice of your GP ;)