HikingFan

Hi Women on the board!

This might sound sorta odd, so thanks in advance for reading this.

Since these problems with my back/shoulders/neck started, I have had some strage cocurrent issues with bladder problems. Mainly, I have had 3 infections which I haven't discovered were urinary tract infections until they had reached the point of spreading past the urinary tract and to the kidneys. For those of you who do not know a lot about the urinary tract and kidneys, any urinary tract infection (UTI) left untreated will spread to the kidneys.

I know that the pain medications probably mask the pain, which makes sense that I don't notice the pain until it is very advnaced and has already spread to the kidneys. But here is the kicker....

Usually blood in the urine tells the doc that you have kidney stones. But each time this happens with me, they do a CT scan and don't find stones. Then they seem awful baffled, but the infection clears up, I feel much better, so we all go about our merry way. The blood eventually stops showing up in the urine test, and they stop seeming worried, but have no explanations.

I am worried about what the blood is all about. I have asked if it could be anything related to the pain medications, since I have been taking a lot of acetiminophin and opiates, but apparently, since this is all processed through the liver and not kidneys, my doc tells me that these have nothing to do with eachtother (and they do test my liver enzymes to ensure everything is okay there.)

I know urinary rentention is a problem with opiate therapy, but does anyone have any insight or experience with this stuff?

I am in Charleston, SC for business, and this just happened again. I spent the day in Urgent Care, and have to get a CT Scan tomorrow since I will be here for another week and they won't wait until I get back to San Diego. I'm so frustrated!!

Thanks for any advice or insight you could provide.



Sara

[This message has been edited by HikingFan (edited 08-28-2003).]