Most people would panic on seeing slightly red urine being passed. A common urologic condition, this happens because blood cells are leaking into the urine. There are multiple reasons which can cause it, and not all of them are major causes for concern.

Read on to know more about some common causes, and how to manage this.

Urinary tract infections: There could be an infection of the entire urinary tract including the kidneys, the ureters, the bladder, and the urethra. In addition to blood in the urine, there could also be an urge to urinate, pain with urination, fever, and flank pain.
Enlarged or infected prostate: The prostate naturally enlarges with age and can obstruct the urethra, causing pain and blood in the urine. There is a constant urge to urinate and difficulty initiating the stream. Infection of the prostate also produces similar symptoms along with fever and pain.
Kidney diseases: In addition to infections, other kidney diseases including glomerulonephritis, which can also lead to hematuria. Kidney stones, which are quite common, are also another reason, and this will be characterised by the sudden sharp pain around the flank which is very diagnostic of kidney stones. Injury to the kidneys from trauma or sports is another reason for hematuria.
Cancers/tumours: Cancers in the kidney, bladder, or prostate can cause blood to appear in the urine, but this would happen once cancer has reached some advanced stage, not very early in the process.
Listed below are some risk factors for hematuria.

Age: Men older than 50 are more prone to hematuria
Sex: While men are more likely to have stones or prostate infections, UTIs are quite common in women below 50s.
Family history: though not hereditary, if kidney stones or cancers or infections are in the family, chances of developing hematuria also goes up.
Medications: Aspirin, blood thinners, NSAIDs, and some antibiotics increase the chances of hematuria.
Exercise: Long distance runners are shown to be more prone to developing hematuria.
Diagnosis: In addition to a physical exam, blood tests, imaging (CT scans and/or MRI) and cystoscopy might be required to confirm the diagnosis. Identifying the cause is extremely important as treatment would depend completely on the causative agent. Though hematuria is just one of the symptom, the underlying cause could have severe adverse effects on the whole body system.

Treatment: Whether it is an infection or enlarged prostate or kidney stone or tumour, once the cause is identified treatment is customised accordingly. Antibiotics for the infections, laser treatment for the stones, etc. are recommended.

If you see your urine turning slightly pink in colour, talk to your doctor immediately. Identifying the underlying cause and treating it will help solve the problem of hematuria.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!


Blood In Urine - Is It Actually Serious?

Needless to say, your kidneys play an incredibly important role in filtering waste from your blood, and therefore maintain healthy functioning of the body. Blood pressure, production of red blood cells, and electrolyte balance, all of these are regulated by the proper functioning of the kidneys. Kidney failure causes too much build-up of waste nitrogen products,acids and/or excess fluid,which causes major cardio respiratory problem to the patient.
Symptoms-

Shortness of breath 
A reduced amount of urine
Swelling of your legs, ankles, and feet
Excessive drowsiness or fatigue  
Confusion
persistent nausea
Pain or pressure in your chest
Seizures
Coma 
Inability to properly remove potassium that runs in the bloodstream can lead to irregular heartbeat and ultimately, death that is sudden and unforeseen.

How can it be treated?
The causes of kidney failures are many and the key to treat them is to correct the underlying cause first. Chronic kidney disease, however, has no cure. Treatment generally comprises measures that aid in controlling symptoms and signs, reduce complications, and slow down the progression of this disease. Despite efforts to treat the cause, the condition might keep worsening and there is little to guarantee the fact that complications will not arise. This is precisely why it is of utmost importance to opt for examinations at regular intervals so that you may ascertain if your disease has remained stable or worsened.

End-stage of Kidney disease 
In the case that your kidneys are unable to keep up with fluid and waste clearance as is normally expected, then there s a good chance that you have developed a near-complete or complete case of kidney-failure, and are afflicted by end-stage kidney disease. If this is indeed the case, then you have two options to resort to:

Dialysis: This helps remove the extra waste products that the kidneys fail to do. In haemodialysis, fluid and waste filtering takes place with the aid of a machine that drives these excesses from the blood. In peritoneal dialysis, catheters are employed to rid the body of the accumulated waste products.
Transplant: Kidney transplants involve a surgical placement of a healthy kidney in your system from a compatible donor, either living or dead. Medications will be a necessity since the body has to be prevented from rejecting this new organ.
You may also opt for treating the condition with conservative measures in case you don t want to resort to the aforementioned procedures.

Kidney Failure - What Should You Know About it?

If you are experiencing pain in urination along with a burning sensation, a health condition known as dysuria is indicated. This condition is usually common in women and men alike. However, older men are more prone to face this problem. Pain during urination may occur because of various reasons. The most common causes are as follows:
Infections

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a common cause of painful urination. Infections may occur in any part of your urinary tract, such as in the kidneys, bladder, and the ureters. These infections occur due to bacteria, which gets into the urinary tract via the urethra. There are several factors, which increase your chances of being affected by UTI. They include diabetes, an enlarged prostate, old age, pregnancy, and kidney stones. UTI is signified by other symptoms such as fever, bloody urines, flank pain, stronger smelling urine, and an increased urge for urination.
At times, painful urination may also be associated with vaginal infections in women, like yeast infection. Vaginal discharge and foul odor are indicated in the case of vaginal infections.
Painful urination is also caused because of certain sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as gonorrhea, genital herpes and Chlamydia.
Inflammation and irritation
There are several problems, which can cause inflammation of your urinary tract and genital region. This further results in painful urination. Inflammation and irritations also occur because of other factors such as urinary tract stones, vaginal changes associated with menopause, certain physical activities and the side effects of several medicines, treatment procedures and health supplements.

Consulting a doctor for painful urination
Your doctor will suggest you to undertake certain laboratory tests for the proper diagnosis of the cause of your painful urination. After this, a suitable treatment method is sought and undertaken. Before this, an overall physical examination is also carried out. Your doctor is likely to ask you some important questions regarding your painful irritation, how the condition worsens, and is felt during the onset of urination. It is also likely for your doctor to know about any other symptoms, which you might be experiencing such as fever, flank pain and vaginal discharge. You must tell your doctor about any changes observed in your urine flow, such as difficulty in initiating flow, an increased urge to urinate, and dribbling.

Apart from these, your doctor may also ask whether you experienced any character in urine after painful urination. These may include colour, amount, cloudiness, presence of pus in the urine and so on. 

Pain in Urination - Common Reasons Behind it!

If you notice blood while urinating, you must visit a urologist to get a clear picture of the health issue. Blood in urine is known as hematuria in medical terms. Such a condition can occur in both men and women. It is a common condition and does not require the patient to panic. Rather immediate tests should be conducted to find out the cause of the blood and treated accordingly. Such conditions are very much treatable with a little care and vigilance following of the doctor s advice. Here are some of the common causes of hematuria in individuals: 

Urine Infections: Urine infections are the common cause of blood in your urine. Most commonly these affect urinary bladder and rarely kidneys also. Prompt identification and treatment can easily revert this problem. 
Urinary Stones: Another major cause of hematuria, usually accompanied by pain in the abdomen. 
Enlarged Prostate: With an enlarged prostate, there can be blood flow with the urine. Rarely this may be a sign of cancer in the prostate. 
Exercise: This might come as a surprise for many of the fitness freaks. While exercises are needed for the body and rightly so; but exercises should be done in a certain limit. Heavy exercises, limitless and vigorous exercises can sometimes cause other health problems in the body. One such problem is the passing of blood in the urine. 
Medications: Quite interesting is the fact that long-term consumption of certain medicines might cause hematuria in individuals. Certain medicines like penicillin and aspirin are absorbed by the body to a certain extent. But overdose or the regular dosage might lead to further problems in the human body. 
Kidney Injury: A kidney injury is a form of internal injury which can be felt and manifested through signs and symptoms. Such injuries occur mostly to those who are in the field of sports. At times, a heavy punch, a hard training session, or an exhaustive fall might lead to kidney injuries. This, in turn, would cause hematuria. 
Tumors of Urinary Tract: Bleeding can occur from tumors arising from kidney, ureter, urinary bladder as well as urethra. These require timely detection and management. Early treatment leads to an excellent long-term outcome. 
Thus, these are some of the common reasons for the development of blood in urine. However, it is a condition which can be best analyzed by the medical practitioner. Therefore, on the occasion of blood, you must get it tested and treated immediately.

What Does Blood In Urine Mean?

Our kidneys act as filters which constantly flushes out toxins and excess minerals with water in form of urine. Urine contains lots of minerals which may precipitate and form stones. Urine has lots of pro-precipitating agents and anti-precipitating agents. When their balance disturbs due to some disease, stones start forming. These stones may often lead to abdominal pain which is referred to as renal colic. 

What exactly is renal colic? 

Renal or ureteric colic is the term used for typical pain in one side of abdomen in flank region starting from back and radiating forward towards lower abdomen up to scrotum. This is usually associated with nausea, vomiting and urinary discomfort. There may be blood in urine. 

How kidney stones are related to renal colic? 

Kidney stones usually form inside kidney and lies there without causing any pain. But whenever they are dislodged and stuck at mouth of kidney (pelvis) or anywhere in ureter, they block the passage of urine of that kidney. This causes swelling in kidney termed as hydronephrosis. This swelling in kidney causes renal / ureteric colic. This colic is protective phenomenon and tries to push out the stones. Small stones do come out in urine by this natural process. This spontaneous expulsion of small stones is common and many local practitioners used to get credit of it feigning benefit of their medicine. However large stones need some form of intervention to come out. Otherwise, they do harm to kidneys in long term. 

Symptoms of kidney stones along with renal /ureteric colic - 

Most stones which are lying in calyces of kidney are asymptomatic 
Nausea & vomiting 
Frequent urinary tract infections 
Fever with chills 
Foul smelling urine 
Hesitency, frequency and burning in urination 
Blood in urine (urine with a reddish, pink or brownish hue) 
Passage of small stones in urine 
Treatment of renal colic 

Treatment of ureteric/renal stones involves control of symptoms and stone removal. 

Expectant Treatment or Medical Expulsion Therapy: Small stones of less than 4 mm size usually pass on its own and some medicines like alpha-blockers and steroid hasten up their expulsion. Medium size stone (4-6 mm), sometimes passes with aid of these medications. But stones larger than 6 mm usually require intervention. 
Lithotripsy: This method involves breaking of stones by shock waves into small dusty particles which pass through urine on its own. This is usually suitable for stones upto 1.5 cm and lying in kidneys. This is non-operative treatment which can be done on OPD or Daycare basis. 
Ureteroscopy (URS): This method involves entry of very thin semirigid scope through urethra into ureter. Stone is broken by LASER and removed. This involves single day admission and spinal anaesthesia. 
RIRS- Retrograde Intra Renal Surgery: In this method very thin flexible scope in maneuvered through urethra into the upper ureter and pelvi-calyceal system of kidney. Stones in kidney or upper ureter are broken by LASER and removed. This is also done under anaesthesia and requires a day admission. 
Mini- PCNL: This method is suitable for large renal stones. In this technique, a small hole is made into the kidney through back and tiny scope is entered into the kidney. Stones are broken by LASER and removed. This is done under anaesthesia and require two to three days admission.

Renal Colic - Ways it Can Be Treated?

Urine is normally pale yellow or straw coloured. However, for various reasons, this can change. In fact, the change in the colour of urine is one of the first indications of a deeper underlying problem. This would also be one of the questions that the doctor would ask when suspecting any problem with the urinary tract, starting from infection to stones to cancer.

Hematuria is, therefore, a symptom and not a problem in itself. Some of the reasons for hematuria   presence of blood cells in the urine, producing a light pinkish urine, are listed below.

Urinary tract infections   starting from urethra all the way up to the kidneys

Glomerulonephritis

Kidney Stones-

Prostate enlargement

Tumours/cancers in the kidney, bladder, or prostate

Heavy exercises causing trauma to any of the internal urinary tract organs

Bleeding disorders

Certain medications

Appendicitis

Tuberculosis

As the disease progresses higher in the urinary tract, the severity of hematuria also increases. Though hematuria is a symptom in itself, there are some associated symptoms which are listed below-

Fever

Fatigue

Abdominal pain

Reduced appetite

Urge to urinate

Dysuria

Painful/burning urination

Feeling of incomplete emptying

Nocturnal urination (if prostate is enlarged)

Cloudy urine

Nausea, vomiting

Kidney pain (with stones especially)

Homeopathy believes in treating the person as a whole and not just the presenting symptoms. The doctor will ask a number of questions, some pertaining to unrelated organs, which will help them identify the reason for the hematuria. The treatment prescribed will be customised to the patient in question, but some of the common ingredients used in hematuria management are given below.

Hematuria from all causes can be managed with Terebinthina.

Bladder hematuria is better managed with Erigeron Canadense at 80% concentration while renal hematuria responds better to the same at 60% dilution.

Inflammatory hematuria can be reduced with Cantharis (80%)

Renal hematuria is better managed with Gossypium herbaceous (60%).

Renal colic with pain in the glans, groyne, and thighs responds well to Pereira brava.

Cocus cacti thrice a day is useful where there is itching of the urinary meatus along with the passing of red-coloured urine.

When there are small stones or sand particles in the urine along with pain at the end of the micturition process, Sarsaparilla thrice a day is known to be beneficial.

In some other people, Arnica Montana, Cantharis, phosphorus, and Hepar Sulphur are also used to relieve symptoms of hematuria.

As with any homeopathic treatment, the actual ingredient chosen would depend on the actual symptom that the patient presents with. Though these compounds are used, self-medication is not advisable. Talk to a specialized homeopath who will identify the right ingredient for a given clinical presentation.

Hematuria - Symptoms and Treatment

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