Almost 22 wks. pg and feeling wretched -- do I have a UTI or kidney stones?

[Guinevere]

Yesterday, I woke up with very crampy-like BH-type contractions. I'm almost 22 wks. pg with my fifth baby, so BH at this point are really normal for me and I ignored them.

As the day progressed, they got worse and much more painful, centering in on my lower back. I was concerned, but assumed I just wasn't drinking enough, so I chugged a bottle of water and continued about my business.

Late afternoon (no change in ctx or pain level), I came home and went to use the bathroom and my urine was BRIGHT RED with blood! :yikes: OK, that got my immediate attention! After checking to make sure that I wasn't bleeding from anywhere else, i.e. no vaginal bleeding, etc., the lightbulb came on and I said, " :duh Duh! I've probably got a raging UTI! And it's a Sunday night on a holiday weekend. Lovely!"

I first paged my wonderful midwife. She called back 10 seconds later (oh, gotta love that! :love ) and listened to me and said, "Look, I want you to go ahead and do the whole unsweetened cranberry juice and echinacea tincture routine, but I ALSO want to you to call your OB (I'm getting dual care with this pg b/c of previous complications) and get on abx ASAP, b/c with that much blood, you shouldn't mess around -- I don't want this going to your kidneys." I agreed, called the OB's answering service to speak with someone on call, then settled in for a long night of drinking and peeing, lol.

By this morning, I had all the other classic symptoms of a UTI -- frequency and pain while urinating. And my lower back was still killing me. So in I go to the lab, and gave a urine sample, which was dark rust-colored. Not a good sign! :eek Then I went back home and waited for them to call me with the results, as per their instructions.

So, my test results: lots of blood and protein in my urine, but not a lot of bacteria. They're culturing the sample, of course, to see if anything develops, but that won't be done for two days.

The nurse who called said the OB on call thinks I may have kidney stones instead. "Kidney stones?" I asked her. "I've never had kidney stones, but aren't they supposed to be excruciatingly painful? And do my other symptoms indicate kidney stones?" She hemmed and hawed and basically said, "Maybe, maybe not, but we can't be sure you have a UTI, so wait and see your OB tomorrow." (I have a regular appt. with him tomorrow AM, anyway.)

Now, my instincts tell me this is a UTI, and a bad one, at that. I've never had kidney stones before, so I don't know what they feel like, but I HAVE had UTIs while pg before, and this feels EXACTLY like one of those! And the pain is only in my lower back, it's dull and achey and rhythmic, like ctrx (another cause for concern on my part!) It's not sharp or excruciating, the way I've been told kidney stone pain is. But b/c I'm not yet running a fever or have chills, the OB's office seems totally unconcerned. I'm really hoping that I can get my regular OB to take me more seriously tomorrow AM or at least get me a scan to prove/disprove the kidney stone theory. In the meantime, unsweetened cranberry juice is my new best friend (ugh, have you TASTED the stuff? It's just horrid! :gross )

In a black humor kind of way, I'm kind of chuckling at my situation -- I am normally the LAST person to agree to meds, and usually really need to be convinced they're absolutely necessary, yet here I am, in a position where I all but begged my OB's office to give me antibiotics, and they won't do it! There's definite irony there, huh? :p

Makes me wish that when the on-call OB last night offered to just phone me in a prescription that I'd taken her up on it instead of taking the more measured approach and asking to come give a sample this morning instead, to be SURE I was being treated appropriately. Next time, I won't be so stubborn!

Anyone who's had kidney stones while pg who could clue me in as to whether my symptoms seem right or not? And if this IS a UTI, am I running a danger waiting for two days before starting abx for it (not that my OB's office may be giving me much of a choice on that one)? I'm just paranoid that an untreated UTI could turn into a kidney infection and cause pre-term labor, and I want to avoid that at all costs!

Thanks for listening! Back to the juice I go, sigh...

Guin

[ellymay]

Just wanted to say I am sorry that you are having these probs. I have never had
kidney stones but I have had a kidney infection and the pain you are describing is
just like what I felt I was in so much pain I could hardly stand up much less anything
else. Do they think it could be that? What makes them think it is stones and not
just an infection? I do also remember with my kidney infection that I didn't have
a fever or anything and that my lower back was sensitive to the touch as well.
Anyways, don't know that any of that will help you but ((((HUGS))) and hope you
feel better soon.

[UCmamaToMany]

The cranberry juice can be helped along with orange juice too, YK?! Mix them together it is really yummy and the OJ is great for UTI's and Kidney infections and stones as well.

With the blood I'd assume it was kidney stones as well and not just a UTI. I'm not great with herbology stuff so I can't help with anything else other than making the Cranberry taste better.

{{bighugs}}

I'm almost 22 weeks too with #6

[NYCVeg]

My experience with kidney stones (twice--whee!) was...lower back pain on the right side (this is important--I think you almost always feel kidney stones only on the side you have them, although if you have difficulty localizing pain, it may feel more diffuse). Started out just like a small ache and got progressively worse over the course of a week or so. I had blood in my urine, but nothing you could see with the naked eye. When the stones began passing, I had sharp, stabbing pain, now on the front of my abdomen, but still on the right side. This was bad enough that I was doubled over, couldn't stand up, and needed to go to the ER immediately. There was also a lot of strange tingling along my abdomen on that side, which was the sensation of the stone breaking up and dissolving. When my sister had kidney stones, hers were actually bad enough that she curled up into a fetal position on the sidewalk in NYC and was yelling (unbeknownst to her) for her bf to knock her out with a frying pan. Both of us had stones that we were able to pass, so the pain was (relatively) short-lived (i.e., several hours, not several days). If the stones get stuck, I think it's much worse (and they need to be broken up in the ER), but I also believe it would be so bad that you wouldn't be able to go home.

The first time I had stones, I was actually misdiagnosed with a UTI by a fairly incompetent (IMO) first-year at university health services. I had blood in my urine, but no other signs of infection (no classic UTI symptoms like difficult or frequent urination, either), which I think IS a big red flag for stones, although the pain you're describing sounds very different from mine. She put me on massive abx, which did absolutely nothing except give me terrible side effects. If you're concerned about stones, I would insist on an u/s of your kidney, which, as far as I know, is the only way to definitively diagnose them if they're not in the process of being passed.

I don't know how pregnancy would complicate/change kidney stone pain--this was my experience when I was not pregnant.

[busybusymomma]

Like Amanda, my pain was on the right side of my back and I couldn't stand up straight the pain was so bad. Kidney stones hurt worse than childbirth IMO. IME, I never had (visible) blood in my urine and I never saw any of the stones. I ended up in the hospital the first time as I was 28 weeks pg and they wanted to monitor me for pre-term labor. The second round was after ds was born so I just stayed home and drank 1/2 lemon juice, 1/2 water mixture... I didn't want to get drugged up again at the hospital and I wanted ds close by so he could nurse on cue. Like Amanda, my stones were small and it was a matter of hours- although I was in the hospital over 24 hours with the first round because the narcotics affected me so strongly. Go figure. :nut

:Hug If the pain is gone I'd drink lots of water, the straight cranberry juice and keep an eye on things. Sounds like imaybe you had kidney stones and you were able to pass them since you didn't have bacteria in your urine. :shrug

[Guinevere]

Thanks so much for your input, mamas! :) I've got the OB appt. in an hour and am just plain refusing to leave until I get some kind of resolution to my situation. Given their total lack of concern thus far for my welfare (I didn't mention this in my original post, but I had to fight HARD to even come in and give them a urine sample, b/c "we don't see patients without an appt." :rolleyes:, I plan to be the "squeaky wheel" today, lol!

Here's what's going on with me right now: all along, since my symptoms started on Sunday afternoon, the blood in my urine has been HIGHLY visible. As in, turns the toilet bowl a lovely shade of rose! AACK! Understandably, that has me freaked out -- we're so conditioned to freak any time we see blood while pg (or not, come to think of it, lol.) The amount of blood has NOT decreased at all over the past two days, despite lots of fluids and cranberry juice. Obviously, something is not right!

I still feel the need to pee frequently, but it's hard to separate that out from the regular "I need to pee all the time" urges I have while pg and drinking a lot of fluids, anyway, you know? Since I started the cranberry juice, the discomfort WHILE peeing has gone away completely.

I have not developed a fever, chills, or nausea.

The pain in my lower back (like right on the sacrum) is still there in FULL force -- it's not on one side or the other, it's also not sharp, but rather just a constant soreness in that area, which I feel more acutely when I walk around. It almost feels muscular, like I strained something, but then sometimes it sort of ebbs and flows, much like a contraction. It doesn't double me over, but it's very much present -- probably a 4 on the scale of 1-10. I have no pain anywhere else.

The babe, bless her, is happily oblivious to my plight and has been reassuring me by kicking me all night long. ;)

So, anyway, given my somewhat conflicting symptoms, you can see why I'm confused as to what's going on with me! I tend to look to the most logical answer for problems, and since I have NO history of kidney stones and DO have a history of UTIs (and know what they feel like), I'm apt to choose the UTI hypothesis, but am quite willing to be shown I'm wrong. What I'm not willing to do, though, is have them palm me off today with a, "Well, your culture's not back yet, so we don't know if it's a UTI, so maybe it's kidney stones, go back home and call us if something changes." It's occurred to me recently, what if the lab made an error? Wouldn't that be awful?

No, I insist on a correct diagnosis from them, and won't leave until I get one! (can you tell I'm psyching myself up for this, lol?) ;)

Thanks for the help and support and I'll update you when I get back!

Kind regards,
Guin

[KatSG]

Guin, I'm so sorry this is happening to you! I hope they figure it out. Sounds like your regime can't hurt, though.

As for the cranberry juice, I know it's gross. Try unsweeted grape juice. DO NOT take any citrus (which means NO ORANGE JUICE) or any iron pills, maybe even skip your prenatals. Citrus turns to sugar in your urine and feeds the bacteria, while cranberry and grape keep their citric acid in your urine and fight off the bacteria. I also just take 500 mg of Vit C when I feel a UIT coming on and that always kicks it right out. I asked my mw about taking such large doses of Vit C at this stage in pregnancy (for a cold) and she said it was fine. You may want to check to see, if this is in fact kidney stones, that would be a risky thing or not.

I hope you feel better!

(And hey---how did the family react to your pregnancy?)

[tekslilbrat]

Hi, I had kidney stones that put me into pre-term labor with my 3rd child and had never had stones before. I had lower back pain and it felt like a UTI which I have a bad history with. I was rushed to the ER in the middle of the night and brought up to L/D so they could stop labor (mag is awful :Puke ) Turns out I had the UTI with the stones as well, 5 of them...ouch not including whatever I passed to put me into labor. They found out by doing an ultrasound and I have had 3 more bouts with stones since then (98). I hope it all works out for you and good luck at the Dr.

[Sydnee]

To me it sounds like a kidney infection. That was exactly how mine were. I hhope you get it figured out, mama!!! Hugs to you!! :love

[mamacatsbaby]

Guinivere, how are you feeling? Has a diagnosis of what's going on been made? I hope things are not too bad. UTIs are no good, and kidney infections, :bolt , ugh, hurts sooo much. :( Big hugs mama :hug .

[zonapellucida]

Not kidney stones but raging kidney infections a couple times..... Nothing helps but antibiotics. I always try goldenseal ect first when I have a UTI but "usually" it travels to my left kidney :( Excruciating back ache to the point of tears.

Hope you feel better!!!