Hematuria: What Causes Blood in Urine?Plus Alternative Treatment.

 Has your urine ever been brownish or red? If so, you may have already experienced hematuria. What is hematuria? To simply define hematuria: it’s the presence of blood in the urine.

There are a lot of natural remedies for the possible health concerns that can be at the root of it. So what does hematuria mean? Hematuria is not a condition, but rather a symptom of something else going on in the body. Let’s talk more about the underlying causes of it and their natural treatment options. Hopefully your urine doesn’t visibly or unknowingly contain blood. But if it does, there are natural things you can do to help yourself.

What Is Hematuria?

The medical hematuria definition: the abnormal presence of red blood cells (RBCs) in the urine. When you have hematuria, your kidneys or another component of your urinary tract are permitting blood cells to seep into your urine.

There are actually two main types of hematuria. The first is microscopic hematuria. This type of hematuria means that there are red blood cells in your urine, but in such a small amount that a microscope is required to actually see them. Microscopic hematuria is often discovered by accident. For example, when someone gets a yearly physical and provides a urine sample the urinalysis may reveal microscopic hematuria.

When someone has microscopic amounts of blood in urine, the severity of hematuria is measured as red blood cells (RBC) per high power field (HPF) under the microscope. Usually, greater than three to five RBCs per HPF is considered an abnormal result. When the severity is over 20 RBCs per HPF, then a substantial urological or medical issue is likely causing the hematuria. 

The second type is macroscopic, or gross, hematuria. This blood loss in the urine can be seen with the naked eye. Someone who has gross or visible hematuria can have anywhere from one milliliter to one liter of blood in the urine. The color does not reflect the degree of blood loss. 

There is also a health condition called loin pain hematuria syndrome (LPHS). This involves long-term or reoccurring pain in the loin area accompanied by the presence of blood in the urine. People suffering from LPHS may also experience painful urination, nausea, vomiting and/or a a low-grade fever.

Hematuria Signs & Symptoms

How can you tell if you have hematuria? If you have microscopic hematuria, then you actually won’t be able to tell since the blood in your urine can only be seen with a microscope. However, if you have gross or visible hematuria then you will definitely be able to tell.

Common visible hematuria symptoms include having orange, pink, red, dark red or cola-colored urine. It only requires a very small amount of blood to cause urine discoloration. It’s typical for a change in urine color to be the only sign or symptom since it’s most common to have a case of painless hematuria. However, if you are also passing blood clots in your urine, then this can be painful.

Hematuria Causes & Risk Factors

There are quite a few health conditions that can lead to hematuria. For some, most often elderly people, microscopic hematuria can be the only sign that they have some type of illness or infection. This is just one reason why a yearly physical that includes a urine sample is a good idea for people of all ages.

Hematuria causes can include: 

• Urinary tract infections (UTIs)
• Kidney infections
• Kidney disease such as glomerulonephritis
• Bladder or kidney stones (both can cause microscopic or gross bleeding)
• Kidney injury
• An enlarged prostate gland
• Kidney, bladder or prostate cancer (when there is visible urinary bleeding). However, in the early stages of these cancers there may be no symptoms
• Alport syndrome (an inherited disorder like sickle cell anemia)
• Certain medications such as the chemotherapy drug cyclophosphamide penicillin and some anticoagulant (blood thinning) drugs.