Is blood in the urine a reason to get worried?

Blood in the urine is not always a sign of some serious health condition; however, it ought not to be ignored.  Blood in the urine, medically known as hematuria should be treated at the earliest.

Hematuria is the presence of red blood cells in the urine that make it appear it has blood in it. Hematuria can be divided into two categories based on how the blood is visible:

• Gross hematuria: When a person can see the blood with his eyes, and the urine appears to be dark-colored.
• Microscopic hematuria: The blood is only visible with the help of a microscope and not through the eyes.

Where the blood in the urine comes from?

Blood in the urine usually skips through the filters of the kidneys where the urine gets formed. However, due to certain other conditions, the blood in the urine can also come from:

• Ureters: The ureters are the tubes coming down from the kidneys to the bladder
• Bladder: Where the urine is cached
• Urethra: The urethra is the tube from the bladder to the outside of the body

Since hematuria is not a specific medical condition, there is no definite treatment to cure it.
By unveiling the underlying cause of leaking blood in the urine, hematuria can be treated.

What are the causes of blood in the urine?

Reasons people may have blood in the urine include:

• Strenuous workout
• Trauma
• Any infection in the bladder or your kidneys
• Some viral such as hepatitis can also bring blood along with the urine.
• Endometriosis is a condition in women that occurs when the tissue that grows around the ureters grows somewhere else.

More serious reasons people may have hematuria include

• Cancer in your bladder or kidneys.
• Inflammation of the kidneys, bladder, and prostate.
• Hemophilia is a condition in which the blood gets clotted.
• Sickle cell disease: A genetic disorder in which the body makes sickle-shaped red blood cells.
• Polycystic kidney disease: A genetic condition in which the kidneys have abnormal sac-like growth filed-with fluid and blood.

What are the symptoms of hematuria?

If you have hematuria, the obvious symptom that appears is urinating pale yellow, pink, or tea-colored urine. Sometimes, blood is not visible and can only be detected through some tests. But, in those cases, the other symptoms that occur include:

• Bladder infections: Bladder infection causes immense pain when you urinate. You may have burning sensation, irritability, fever, and blood in the urine[1]. Those with hematuria may also notice lower belly pain, urgent need to urinate, and inflammation in the urinary tract.
• Pyelonephritis: It is an infection in the urinary tract when both the kidneys become an infection.
• Glomerulonephritis: This refers to the conditions which result in the inflammation of the glomeruli, a part of the kidney that comes up with filtration.
• Kidney stones: Kidney stone is the coagulation of calcium oxalate that generally grows to the size of the grape.
• Kidney diseases: It is slow damage to the kidneys resulting in deposition of waste and toxic substances in the blood. Kidney diseases reduce the kidney’s ability to flush out waste from the blood leading to kidney failure.

Diagnosing hematuria

The doctor will diagnose hematuria by examining the medical history of kidney disease to know the exact cause.

He will also perform a set of tests to check for any other underlying cause of kidney disease, through urinalysis. A urine test and blood tests are a measure of kidney function because your kidneys are confined to blood filtration and urine elimination.

The part of the urine test may include cytology, which looks for the presence of abnormal cells through the help of a microscope. Sometimes, a doctor may also order a test to get a clear picture of the scenario. If there is toxic presence figured out in the blood, it’s a sign of kidney damage.

In the event of kidney damage, the following tests are also conducted by a physician:

• Computed tomography (CT) scan. The CT scan can help examine bladder or kidney stones, cancer, and other conditions related to the kidneys, ureters, and the bladder.
• Kidney ultrasound: An ultrasound creates a clear picture of the kidneys.
• Cystoscopy: It is a procedure that the doctor uses to examine the bladder and its lining. A cystoscope is a tube that lines down into the bladder with the help of a camera. The tests check for the cancerous cells in the kidneys.
• A renal biopsy: A renal biopsy is a way to remove the tissue of the kidneys and examine it under the microscope for the cause.
• Intravenous pyelogram (IVP). This is an X-ray examination of the parts of the urinary tract with the help of an injection to gauge blood in the urine or pain in the lower back.

Treatment of hematuria

There is no definite treatment of hematuria. You can treat hematuria by eliminating the conditions giving rise to blood in the urine. If there is no serious condition, then probably an individual does not need any kind of treatment.

Remember that:

• Hematuria is not a severe condition rather an outcome or underlying complication of some other disease probably related to your kidneys or part of the urinary tract. If blood in the urine comes because of kidney damage, you probably need to take hematuria ayurvedic treatment for it.
• If you have a family history of kidney disease or kidney stones or infections in your urinary tract, you might notice blood in the urine at least once in your lifetime.
• Hematuria may not cause some other signs to diagnose.
• Blood in the urine is not present every time, but you still may have it.
• There is no link between diet and nutrition to prevent blood in the urine.