Has anyone any ideas to help me please, I am beginning to think i am going mad.

For over a year now i have had symptoms including frequent urination, urgency, a tight feeling in my lower bladder area,and sometimes twinges in my kidney area - both sides. I have to get up sometimes 5 times a night, and urinate every 45 - 50 minutes during the day.
My doctor has done urine tests, all of which have been normal and show no signs of a uti.
Recently i have had 2 1/2 weeks of trouble free 'wee-ing' but it came back last saturday.
Since then I have had a short course (6 tablets) of trimethroprim (anti-biotic) which seems to have helped the symptoms a little.
Sometimes it feels like i have a tense feeling deep inside, and if i make an effort to relax this can often help to relieve the urgency to urinate.
I am totally lost - my doctor wants to send me to a clinic at the hospital for people with bladder continence problems, she also said that she thought it was psychologically based. I know it is not, but dont know what else to do.

Could it be possible to have a latent and recurrent kidney/urine infection which so far hasnt shown up on tests?
Any information, similar experiences, ideas please........i am getting desperate!
Thank you

I have had kidney problem since I was about 13 and I am now 36. Very seldom do I ever test positive for uti or anything for that matter. It is very frustrating but do not give up. Perhaps you should find a different doctor. I am going to have a kidney removed and all this year my primary doctor refused to treat my kidneys. She gave me muscle relaxer etc for "back pain" finally i am at the point that if a doctor says "so you think it is kidney pain" I sternly say "No I know it is kidney pain" I have lived in this body for 36 years and I know a little bit about it. Even my uroligist tried to tell me that my bladder discomfort was due to female problems. 2 weeks later he removed a very large non-malignant tumor from the right side of my bladder :rolleyes: Sorry that you have to go through this but trust your body....it will let you know when somthing is not right :) Kim

Have you had any kidney x-rays yet? I experienced almost the exact same symptoms as you! When I had my yearly check up last year, my primary care physician told me it was part of the aging process (I'm a 49 y/o f). After many months of getting up 5 or more times per night to urinate, even if I quit drinking fluids early in the evening, I finally had my 1st symptoms of kidney stones. Luckily, the pain from my left sided stone was bad enough to send me to the ER. The CT scan also showed that my right kidney was completely full of stone. Now that I've got my kidneys clear of the stones, I'm sleeping through the night again.

That is interesting as my doctor (a different one who doesn't think it is all in my mind) said that she would look into my kidney function etc if she couldn't find anything else. She wants another 3 urine tests this month to finally rule out any uti, but then will consider whether it is a muscular problem. I wonder why it comes and goes though???

If this leads to no answers she will investigate the kidneys.
It is nice to know that someone believes me and is prepared to do something.
Z

I'm hoping you finally found a cure for your problem. I too have been having some strange symptoms. I started out with bladder infections when I was about 20 years old. (I'm 34 now) My doctor was going to put me on that year long low dose antibiotic but first decided to cut out my caffeine and some other stuff for a few months first. Then he wanted me to try caffeine again and see what happens. (caffeine would always make my pain worse) so I tried it and it worked. I was so happy, I had no infections for over a year. Then about a month ago I started getting some symptoms. I have to pee all the time, doesnt hurt while I pee but my bladder and stomach seems to hurt right after I pee at times. I had blood in my urine. I had pain in my back on the right side just below my ribs. I felt chilled at times. It almost seems to hurt at times in the vaginal area too. Anyway, I took a urine test and found out that I had another bladder infection which traveled to my kidney. Took Cipro for 7 days. The blood is gone and I seem to have just a little pain in my kidney and I'm still having pain and pressure in my bladder and I'm peeing all the time. Today I went in and took another urine test and it came out clean. Does anyone here have any ideas of what this could be? It's really starting to get me down. I'm not doing the things I would normally do and I really dont feel like myself. Help!