blood in urine with no cause

I experienced blood in my urine to the point it looked like I was peeing black cherry koolaid about 6 years ago. In fear of what it was I went straight to my doctor. I had no pain in my lower back area, the first thought my doctor had was a major kidney infection. But with no back pain or urinary tract pain or bladder pain the concern faded for kidney trouble. I was diagnosed with uti's nearly every visit to the doctor my entire life, even if I wasnt being seen for urinary issue. after that one episode of blood in my urine and taking antibiotics, I hadnt noticed blood in my urine again until late 2008. I had severe pain urinating and could urinate less and less as the pain got worse. I felt as if I had the urgency to pee constantly but could only pee very little when i tried to go. When the pain reached the point that I was getting dizzy from the pain while trying to urinate I decided to contact a urologist myself and make an appt. after all the screening and process of elimination I was diagnosed with inner cisticial systitis. My blader lining deteriorates and its a condition one is born with, a defect in my bladder lining. I had to have surgery to have my bladder expanded with gas and 5 painful weeks of post surgury treatments. The condition is terminal but not fatal. The surgury is suposed to be repeated every 2 to 3 yrs. Very costly surgery too, so I hope you have good insurance. I have not had a second surgery due to the costs, but you can minimize the painful urination through a good diet free of acidic foods. Since I can not afford another surgury at this time, my doctor prescribes me antibiotics which usually get rid of the painful episodes.
hope this helps

Thanks for the reply. Last night I had a severe kidney episode which ended in passing a stone and while in the ER they discovered I had a urinary tract infection. I will be on antibiotics for 10 days and if the blood is still present my next step is to see a gyn doctor. The urologists I have seen don't seem to be concerned but they don't look any farther than the CT, MRI and cystoscope along with all the urine samples that all come up negative. I want to know what is going on, it drives me insane to see blood everytime I pee. Again, thanks for answering.

I have also been having this experience since the beginning of July. Dark blood in my urine, no pain, no infection, no medication changes that would cause side effects. I've had numerous tests run including CTs , urine, blood. I don't menstrate any longer, and I've been to a urologist that ran a lot of tests. All he could say is, " come back in a year and we'll run another urinalysis. I don't know what to think or do about this. The only change in my life is that I got a job in February. If you can help, please I'm scared and desperate for answers. Thank you

Welcome to Connect, @kking11879.
Thank you for bringing this older discussion back to the forefront. As @vanseters points out, blood in urine can be so many things. For me, it was a sign of a kidney stone. The first thing the doctor asked me however was if I had eaten a lot of beets lately. Given that your urine is dark, I'm sure beets were ruled out long ago.

It must be unsettling to have to wait a year. The blood would seem to be an indication of something not being right. You may also be interested in this discussion:
I'm bleeding when I urinate, does anyone else have this? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/i-am-a-76-year-old-woman-in-february-i-was-bleeding/

Additionally, I'd like to invite @predictable, @kdubois @tropicallady1276 and @shoregal45 to this discussion.
KKing, what conditions did the urologist rule out?

@kking11879 3-8 times per week I have hematuria, blood in the urine. Sometimes it is just a little pink, sometimes there is up to a fourth of a cup of clot, with a large part of it lodge in the catheter. When that happens, I usually have to use 3-4 caths per session because they plug up with thick clots very easily. This is normal occurrence and expected with AL Amyloidosis or hATTRwt and other mutations. One of the triggers is occasional dehydration. A little more water helps me , perhaps another liter per day. Another trigger in Amy of various kinds is macular tissue (usually some kind of skin) in the urethra or bladder. The catheter can tear that macular skin, and you bleed. But a little more oil or fat in your diet, plus more water, and with mine, that usually takes care of it for a few days.

Hi, @kking11879. Hopefully my experiences will alleviate your worries. When I started to get blood in my urine about 3 years ago, I was not surprised because that was several years after I had surgery for an enlarged prostate and some papillary tumors in my bladder. Appearance of the blood coincided with a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation, which usually evolves into a prescription for an anticoagulant to prevent formation of clots in the upper chambers of my heart. My urologist (who did my bladder and prostate surgery) told me not to worry if the blood in my urine was not "frank" (that is essentially undiluted). So that alleviated my worries, because the blood was always diluted significantly. I have regular annual cystoscopes to examine the lining of my bladder, and those exams have found no bleeding there. Two urologists who have treated me both said (at different times) that the anticoagulant drug (Coumadin), combined with normal lifting or sexual activity, could cause the problem. It has occurred three times a year since 2014, but not for the past six months. Would you mind sharing more information about the tests conducted by your urologist? Have you considered getting a diagnosis from a second urologist? Martin

Hi @kking11879, blood in the urine has happened to me on two occasions:
1. kidney stones
2. side affect of a medication <-- this one stunned me because I had read the literature that came with the medication, but I didn't know that medical term for urine in the blood (hematuria).

There are a number of potential causes of hematuria. Cancer prostate, bladder, urethra, etc. Dehydration. Urinary Tract Infection. Various forms of Amyloidosis there are over 1,000, and half of them are systemic, and some of the localized Amyloidoses and all of the systemic can produce hematuria occasionally. You just have be your own best doctor-pusher to find the problem.

@gmhelin What you describe is part of like mine. I have had prostate (Gleason 7) for about 6 years, but I have begin in the last couple years to bleed often. I probably lose about a quarter-cup of blood clots per day now, although I do not bleed about 2 days per week. The cystoscope shows macular internal hashmark patches in urethra, prostate, and bladder. These appear to be from either AL or hATTRwt Amyloidosis, perhaps Cystatin C or Gelsolin. My guess is hATTRwt. The Bindings UK SERUM FreeLiteChain assay and the daily urine protein check are both positive for Amy, as are about 100 other markers, so the dX is pretty clear, it seems. The bleeding is quite common among folks with Amy. My story is at https://bit.Ly/1w7j4j8 I am going to change the name of the file from Amyloidosis Series 16 to "Amyloidosis Dossier 16". Anyway, I would suggest your MD have the two assays run on you. Medicare pays, and it may give you a good place to restart your search.

@gmhelin, I like your persistence in asking your medical team to track down the source of your problem. In my case, I politely and patiently pressed the doctors to look for basic causes, not simply control the symptoms which hides the causes.

It's interesting, though, that you have passed a kidney stone through a bout with UTI, followed by a 10-day treatment with antibiotics. I think you're on the way to resolution of your problem, and I hope you don't remain stressed about it. It may take the full 10 days. I'd consider asking my urologist whether a gynecologist examination might be a good next step; getting doctors together for consulting with each other has been helpful to me.

My urologist is very thorough when examining me for urinary blood, which colors my urine but is not "frank" (that is, not thick blood) and rather dilute. Occasional blood clots about the size of a pea come out, but those don't bother me greatly either. His advice is to go to the ER if I experience frank bleeding, but to relax at home with any less blood.

Martin