Hypochondria attack!

[Anonymous]

Just now I peed and it burned a little coming out at first, because I'm a little dehydrated, and for a split second it looked like my urine had a slight reddish tint to it, but I think it was probably just the poor lighting in my bathroom, as it didn't look that way in the bowl. Then I made the mistake of googling bladder cancer, which is apparently painless and only detectable by traces of blood in urine, not to mention that most cases are related to smoking, and I'm a light smoker (save it, I already heard it all). Now I'm so scared to pee and I'm dreading it so much I feel like I could pass out. Now I really want to know if I was just seeing things or not, was it red or just orange from not drinking any water last night?

Guys I'm seriously having a full-on panic attack right now, I got myself all worked-up over something so small but it's all plausible! The "what if" just won't go away... I can't get myself to calm down.

[ChadCoxRox]

a panicky reaction is understandable but if it's a pattern for you it should be dealt with professionally...and it's probably just as important as having a visit to the doc for labs. The urine check is a simple test and you can't SEE the trace blood in the urine, so discoloration is likely something else. BUT I'm no doctor, so you won't have REAL relief until you see a doc! Best wishes!!!!

[AdamAndWill]

(Adam) If you have anything at all going on, it night be a UTI (urinary tract infection) - a common and easily treated problem. Burning on urination is usually the first symptom of UTI, and there may be a slight discoloration of the urine.

Drink enough water for the rest of the day to get your urine flowing freely - the recommendation would be 8 8oz glasses --- if burning or discoloration persist, you need to get a simply urine test, either at your doctor's office or at a clinic. Treatment is a simple course of antibiotics.

You need to make sure you always drink enough water (not coffee or cola, as caffeine is a diuretic).

It's easy to overreact and imagine the worst, we all do it sometimes. Go, get this checked out, and let us know what happens.

[Rawr]

Don't worry about it to much, the worst thing you can do is Google your problems. It always ends up with you having the craziest disease, or in most cases, cancer.

Go for a pee and pay more attention this time, look for the same symptoms and if they persist, go to the doctors.

In terms of advice, you're going to hear repetitive answers; If you think there is a problem, go see a Doctor, the sooner a problem is found, the less damage it will cause and the sooner it can be fixed.

[LJay]

if you pick up the phone and call your doctor, the panic will subside. say that you think you have noticed blood in your urine and you want to have it tested as soon as possible. When you see the doctor, be sure to discuss the possible causes for this sort of thing. Treat it as a medical problem and your nerves will be much easier to deal with.

The web has a lot of information but the doctor has the training to sort out what is really going on.

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys, I'm feeling a little calmer now. Truth be told I'm terrified of the doctor's, I've made a lot of bad health decisions since the last time I had a checkup, like picking up smoking (please don't judge), not eating enough, and drinking way too much coffee, I'm terrified to find out that something's terribly wrong with me.

I know, that's a really, REALLY bad mindset to have, and I want to go in for a checkup soon, but I just can't help this fear I have. I know multiple people this year who have died/are dying from cancer. It creeps up so quick and so quietly, and before you know it the doctor's giving you three weeks to live.

I'm sorry, I'll try not to do this again, I just had a really bad episode of anxiety and venting about it anonymously gave me at least some comfort.

Thanks again for your input, everyone, honestly I didn't know if anyone was gonna take this one seriously.

[LJay]

Take some tiem when you go to the doctor to talk about your problem with visiting the doctor. You can get past all this with a little work. Good luck.

[Borg69]

Lay off the Kool-Aid. It does funny things to the potty functions.

[East]

That was exactly the first thing that happened when I had my first kidney stone. By the time I went in...there was a lot of blood (brown) and ALOT of pain. It just started out as burning. if you can avoid passing a kidney stone...do it at all costs. It is painful beyond belief. If you catch it early enough they can break it up easy and it will come out like sand....

I have had UTIs as well and the pain is similar but I haven't had any discoloration as I did with the kidney stones

[Anonymous]

I have a long-standing fear of kidney stones, please let's not even go there. On the optimistic side, I have no other symptoms of that, no lower back pain and no VISIBLE blood. Mind you, I though I MAY have seen blood, but I really think it was my imagination and my tendency to fear the worst. Also, I just checked my urine again, it's kind of dark but not suspiciously so, just looks golden.