Do you need blood in urine to have IC?

[Rita Rake]

Just wondering if blood in urine was necessary to have IC. My first URO said I didn't have IC because I have no blood in urine. The next URO said I do have IC. I have all other symptoms i.e. pain in pelvic area and response to my diet, but never had blood in urine.

I'm worried I may be on the wrong track and I'm desperately seeking a cure. I had a cysto in the URO office and he said he thought he saw small ulcers, and if he distended my bladder under anesthesia they would show up. Thank you in advance for your response.:bonk:
RR

[SharonA]

Most of us were diagnosed via cysto/hydro under anesthesia. That is the method you are speaking about. When the Uro hyperdistends the bladder using saline, they can see inside the bladder and check the walls for the typical lesions and/or pinpoint bleeding. Because they put more than normal amounts into the bladder and this can be very painful if you are awake, they use either a general or local anesthesia. One of the perks of this procedure for some is a period of decreased symptoms; lasting several months. That is why it can be used as a treatment.

My doctors have never mentioned that I have blood in my urine under normal testing. The only time that usually happens to me is if I have an active UTI.

BTW...:welcome: to the ICN.

[sami4a]

I always have trace blood 1 plus in my urine, when in a flare it goes up to plus 3 which is not visible by naked eye but under the scope. I started this about five years ago and probably this was the start of IC. I have a mild case-thank God! I think the trace blood is probably due to small capillaries breaking in the bladder.
When I am having no symptoms at all I will have a negative for blood. Your docs idea that blood or no blood has anything to do with an IC diagnosis is pretty stupid! Maybe you should look for a sharper pencil in the Uro box?
Sammie

[kadi]

Never have had blood in the urine, but do have IC...

Hoping you find things that help soon!

[Katrina]

No. There is no one definative marker for IC. There is not one thing that is definate says no you don't have IC because_____. It doesn't matter much what you put in the blank since IC is still a diagnosis of syptoms and excluding other possibilities....some things can make it more obvious like certain test results and so on but no one test can say not possible by itself.

Personally if a doctor suspects he can see some dammage in an in office cystosopy that is pretty bad and much more of a definative marker than lack of blood in your urine. I suggest a hydrodistention and biopsy for you more because if your dammage is bad enough to be seen without a distention than I think a biopsy should be done to rule out other things.
Either way I think looking further into the area of your bladder makes sense. Sharon is right that this procedure can sometimes be a treatment for some and these days is seen to be more effective that way than as a diagnostic tool for IC since the test itself can cause inflammation but it used to be the most widely used diagnostic test for IC. I don't think my doctors have said I have trace blood in my urine regularly.....sometimes yes when I am at my worse but it is not a regular thing for me I think it only showed up twice for sure.

Good luck on figuring things out. :grouphug:
http://www.ic-network.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20369&highlight=newsletter http://www.orthoelmiron.com/html/elm/pd_consumer.xml?article=conditions.jspf illnesses mystaken for IC
http://www.allaboutic.com/html/aic/women.jsp? PUF test http://www.orthoelmiron.com/C06.01.htm Elmiron's questionaire
http://www.ic-network.com/forum/showpost.php?p=258578&postcount=44 PUF test attachment

[ICNDonna]

It is definitely possible to have IC and not have any blood in your urine.

Donna