My wife and I ran into my parents while shopping today.

I find out they are killing time while waiting for their scheduled appointment for mom to have
a CAT scan.  Sounds like something fun for Christmas Eve.

Mom says she started having dull aches and pains in her side, belly, and her back.

She went to the doctor, who did a quick test and found a "small amount" of blood in her urine.

(This tells me it is either a kidney stone, or a urinary tract infection, but I'm not a doctor)

Her doctor prescribed some antibiotics for a UTI, and said they would culture the urine and look
for bacteria.  

(My ex wife got UTI's all the time, and urine was never cultured.  I've never heard of this)

Anyway, three days later, mom is still in pain, and calls back for results of the culture.

Doc says there was no bacteria found.  

But since mom is still in pain, they want to schedule a CAT scan to check for appendicitis,
and to look for a kidney stone.

So when I ran into my parents, mom had already drank the barium milkshake, and was waiting
for her appointment.  This was 4 hours ago.

I just got off the phone, and she said the CAT scan showed her colon was fine,
and they didn't see any stones.  And they are sure it isn't a UTI.

What else could it be?  Her doctor gave up.

Quoted: My wife and I ran into my parents while shopping today. I find out they are killing time while waiting for their scheduled appointment for mom to have a CAT scan.  Sounds like something fun for Christmas Eve. Mom says she started having dull aches and pains in her side, belly, and her back. She went to the doctor, who did a quick test and found a "small amount" of blood in her urine. (This tells me it is either a kidney stone, or a urinary tract infection, but I'm not a doctor) Her doctor prescribed some antibiotics for a UTI, and said they would culture the urine and look for bacteria.   (My ex wife got UTI's all the time, and urine was never cultured.  I've never heard of this) Anyway, three days later, mom is still in pain, and calls back for results of the culture. Doc says there was no bacteria found.   But since mom is still in pain, they want to schedule a CAT scan to check for appendicitis, and to look for a kidney stone. So when I ran into my parents, mom had already drank the barium milkshake, and was waiting for her appointment.  This was 4 hours ago. I just got off the phone, and she said the CAT scan showed her colon was fine, and they didn't see any stones.  And they are sure it isn't a UTI. What else could it be?  Her doctor gave up.

Sounds like a great doc  Get a second opinion.

She probably needs to see a specialist if the general practice doc doesn't know....

Quoted: Quoted: My wife and I ran into my parents while shopping today. I find out they are killing time while waiting for their scheduled appointment for mom to have a CAT scan.  Sounds like something fun for Christmas Eve. Mom says she started having dull aches and pains in her side, belly, and her back. She went to the doctor, who did a quick test and found a "small amount" of blood in her urine. (This tells me it is either a kidney stone, or a urinary tract infection, but I'm not a doctor) Her doctor prescribed some antibiotics for a UTI, and said they would culture the urine and look for bacteria.   (My ex wife got UTI's all the time, and urine was never cultured.  I've never heard of this) Anyway, three days later, mom is still in pain, and calls back for results of the culture. Doc says there was no bacteria found.   But since mom is still in pain, they want to schedule a CAT scan to check for appendicitis, and to look for a kidney stone. So when I ran into my parents, mom had already drank the barium milkshake, and was waiting for her appointment.  This was 4 hours ago. I just got off the phone, and she said the CAT scan showed her colon was fine, and they didn't see any stones.  And they are sure it isn't a UTI. What else could it be?  Her doctor gave up. Sounds like a great doc  Get a second opinion.

 +1!


Sounds like it possibly could be a kidney stone, though all of the others could possibly be included in a differential diagnosis.  Wonder why they didn't do an xray or an IVP to start with.  When I had my kidney stone it dropped me to my knees.  There were times when I thought I was going to die the pain was so bad.  And to make it worse, the pain meds did nothing except make me a drooling babblling idiot after the pain subsided.

Get another doc ASAP!

Bloodclot.

A coworker ahd a blood clot move from his leg and it stopped in his lower back. He had simular pain that your mom has.

Quoted: Bloodclot. A coworker ahd a blood clot move from his leg and it stopped in his lower back. He had simular pain that your mom has.

Bloodclot wouldn't explain blood in her urine.

(although I realize there is a possibility there are two unrelated problems)

Quoted: Quoted: Bloodclot. A coworker ahd a blood clot move from his leg and it stopped in his lower back. He had simular pain that your mom has. Bloodclot wouldn't explain blood in her urine. (although I realize there is a possibility there are two unrelated problems)

True.

Quoted: She probably needs to see a specialist if the general practice doc doesn't know....

+1

These things can get bad really fast.  I have a lot of first hand knowledge in this area from personal experiences as well as experiences of some who I'm close with.  If she continues to show blood in the urine and/or has increasing back pain that is not relieved by motrin (or other anti-inflammatory drugs).

Also, some people don't get rid of an infection w/ just 3 days of antibiotics.  I'm surprised she only got 3 days worth.   UTIs (Bladder or Kidney too) sometimes require a 7 day course of antibiotics (quinolone family- Tequin, Levaquin, any-quin).  Cipro is often prescribed too for UTIs and usually completely erradicates the bacteria in 5 - 7 days.

I think it's time your mom went to a urologist - I vote for a kidney or ureteral stone, or a UTI.

Is there such a thing as an actual kidney infection, or bladder infection?

Usually when someone says they have a bladder infection, they mean they have a UTI.

Quoted: Is there such a thing as an actual kidney infection, or bladder infection? Usually when someone says they have a bladder infection, they mean they have a UTI.

Actually, a UTI is almost always in the Kidney or Bladder, however it can be isolated to the ureters but not usually.  Most of the time it's in the bladder and the major symptom is the feeling of incomplete urination, burning/tingling when urinating, or the constant feeling of having to urinate.  With a Kidney infection, add to those symptoms back pain that can become excruciatingly painfull.

Quoted: I think it's time your mom went to a urologist - I vote for a kidney or ureteral stone, or a UTI.

Gotta love John Deere HMO.

If you go around their physicians, anything you do is not covered by insurance.

She was not referred to a urologist.  I don't know if it is pride or administrative influence,
but these HMO doctors don't like to give referrals.

So I think the plan is to "wait and see".
It will either get better or worse.

Mom is relieved that it isn't appendicitis.  She figures she can deal with anything else
after Christmas.

Quoted: Also, some people don't get rid of an infection w/ just 3 days of antibiotics.  I'm surprised she only got 3 days worth.   UTIs (Bladder or Kidney too) sometimes require a 7 day course of antibiotics (quinolone family- Tequin, Levaquin, any-quin).  Cipro is often prescribed too for UTIs and usually completely erradicates the bacteria in 5 - 7 days.

Don't use Cipro for UTIs!

prostatitis.org/ciprochlamydia.html
Summary: Cipro (and also Levaquin) has been found to cause certain organisms to "persist" in cells.  It temporarily makes the organism "go to sleep", but the organism can reactivate itself once the antibiotics are stopped.

This may be a "class effect" for fluoroquinolone antibiotics, or it may be restricted to just these two specific drugs;  I haven't seen any further research reports on the topic.

This is probably limited to mycoplasma type organisms, which are common causes of UTIs.

Persistence of Chlamydia trachomatis Is Induced by Ciprofloxacin and Ofloxacin In Vitro Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy December 2000, p. 3288-3297, Vol. 44, No. 12 Ute Dreses-Werringloer1, Ingrid Padubrin1, Barbara Jurgens-Saathoff1, Alan P. Hudson2, H. Zeidler1, and L. Kohler1, Department of Rheumatology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany1, and Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan 492012 ABSTRACT An in vitro cell culture model was used to investigate the long-term effect of ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin on infection with Chlamydia trachomatis. Standard in vitro susceptibility testing clearly indicated successful suppression of chlamydial growth. To mimic better in vivo infection conditions, extended treatment with the drugs was started after infection in vitro had been well established. Incubation of such established chlamydial cultures with ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin not only failed to eradicate the organism from host cells, but rather induced a state of chlamydial persistence. This state was characterized by the presence of nonculturable, but fully viable, bacteria and the development of aberrant inclusions. In addition chlamydia exhibited altered steady-state levels of key chlamydial antigens, with significantly reduced major outer membrane protein and near constant hsp60 levels. Resumption of overt chlamydial growth occurred after withdrawal of ciprofloxacin, confirming the viability of persisting chlamydia. In vitro ciprofloxacin results are consistent with clinical data, thereby providing an explanation for treatment failures of ciprofloxacin. Parallel in vitro studies with ofloxacin suggest a better correlation between clinical and laboratory-defined efficacy, although the clinical studies on which this assessment is based did not include monitoring of chlamydial persistence. The data presented here clearly demonstrate that under at least some circumstances, standard determination of MICs and minimal bactericidal concentrations for C. trachomatis allows no more than a simple definition of whether an antibiotic has some anti chlamydial activity; however, such testing is not always sufficient to verify that the antibiotic will eliminate the organism in vivo.

I've had a bladder infection, Very unpleasant IMOP. Didn't have any back pain but it did feel like what I imagine getting stabbed in the lower gut with a knife and having it twisted would be like. They did some sort of radio dye injection and an X-Ray to diagnos/verify it and it took about 2 weeks of antibiotics to clear up. Pee'd pink and fire for a week....