Thread: Bld in urine

man, good luck to you. Hope it is nothing serious.

Thanks P-funk. Sure it's not, just scary when I see people everyday find out horrible news when they thought they were doing well, you know?

Glad you are checking it out.... although I wouldn't be surprised if it was just a simple prostatitis and maybe a prostate stone (These are not detected by CAT scan). (The nitrates in the urine give it away...by products of bacteria and infection.) This would give pain right at the bladder area. Just a conjecture, not a diagnosis. Creatine can cause some cases of interstitial nephritis but this would not involve any pain. It's good that you have access to the docs so expeditiously!

Originally posted by rock4832
Hey all, just thought I'd share my experience from today. I work in an ER so I have lot's of access to Dr's. Earlier today my bladder area was hurting like it's done in the past lately. I mentioned it to one of the Dr's and he said to go ahead and dip my urine. When I dipped it it showed blood, proteins and nitrates. Not good.

So then we did some bld work. My BUN came back elevated as did my creatinine. It was the creatinine that really concerned the doctor. So then we did a CAT Scan. Came back ok, have a benign cyst on one of my kidneys but that wouldn't cause the problems I'm having.

Dr said we'll run the tests again next week to see if it is still the same, but he told me in the meantime not to take Creatine or protein. Must admit I'm a bit worried but just wanted to share with my family here!

It is perfectly normal for ANYONE taking creatine and working out on a regular basis to have elevated creatinine levels!

Thanks Gopro. The problem with ER docs is they weren't sure if that would be the case or not. They don't understand anything about supplements. I'm glad you said that though buddy!

Originally posted by rock4832
Thanks Gopro. The problem with ER docs is they weren't sure if that would be the case or not. They don't understand anything about supplements. I'm glad you said that though buddy!

It was in the context of the blood and protein in the urine that worried them, creatinine supplementation alone does not do that.

Hope all turns out well!

Originally posted by bandaidwoman
It was in the context of the blood and protein in the urine that worried them, creatinine supplementation alone does not do that.

Actually it was the Creatinine levels that worried the docs. Bld in the urine can come from rigorous exercise (which I do) but the docs were worried that my kidneys weren't working up to par as evidenced by elevated Creatinine.

Are you drinking enough water daily rock?

Originally posted by rock4832
Actually it was the Creatinine levels that worried the docs. Bld in the urine can come from rigorous exercise (which I do) but the docs were worried that my kidneys weren't working up to par as evidenced by elevated Creatinine.

Dr said we'll run the tests again next week to see if it is still the same, but he told me in the meantime not to take Creatine or protein. Must admit I'm a bit worried but just wanted to share with my family here!

He or she sounds like they wanted you to stop the creatine and check the creatinine level again, if it trends down, then it hopefully confirms that the creatine supplementation was the culprit. Overall, studies show that creatine is very safe on the kidneys even with long term supplementation. Hopefully, when all this sorts out, you can get back on it in the near future.

Long-term oral creatine supplementation does not impair renal function in healthy athletes.

Poortmans JR, Francaux M.

Chimie Physiologique, Institut Superieur d'Education Physique et de Kinesitherapie, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. jrpoortm@ulb.ac.be

PURPOSE: Oral creatine supplementation is widely used in sportsmen and women. Side effects have been postulated, but no thorough investigations have been conducted to support these assertions. It is important to know whether long-term oral creatine supplementation has any detrimental effects on kidney function in healthy population. METHODS: Creatinine, urea, and plasma albumin clearances have been determined in oral creatine consumers (10 months to 5 yr) and in a control group. RESULTS: There were no statistical differences between the control group and the creatine consumer group for plasma contents and urine excretion rates for creatinine, urea, and albumin. Clearance of these compounds did not differ between the two groups. Thus, glomerular filtration rate, tubular reabsorption, and glomerular membrane permeability were normal in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Neither short-term, medium-term, nor long-term oral creatine supplements induce detrimental effects on the kidney of healthy individuals.

Publication Types:
Clinical Trial

Originally posted by PreMier
Are you drinking enough water daily rock?

I was gonna ask that same question. Are you drinking enough water rock?

I drink TONS of water guys! I go to the bathroom like every hour or more!!

Then your not drinking enough water rock. Only every hour or so? You got to drink water even if you are not thirsty. Keep a bottle of water with you and always drink it and refill it whether you are thirsty or not.

That's what I do dude! How often do YOU go to the bathroom?

Originally posted by rock4832
That's what I do dude! How often do YOU go to the bathroom?

Once a week! But im a camel hehehe

Too much actually! All kidding aside when at work prolly every 25 or 30 mins or so. I really do drink a lot of water all day long and even at night when I get up to go pee I have a drink of water also. You get used to it after awhile. At the gym I refill my water bottle at least twice, sometimes three times during my workout. That is a fact.

Originally posted by rock4832
Thanks Gopro. The problem with ER docs is they weren't sure if that would be the case or not. They don't understand anything about supplements. I'm glad you said that though buddy!

No they don't...but also as a bodybuilder your rate of creatine turnover is alot higher than a normal person...this creates by products and liver enzyme increases that are simply a normal function under those circumstances.

I AM concerned with blood in urine though.

Drummers get blood in the urine at times, in Africa native drummers there saw it something along the lines of a job well done.

The creatinine has freaked people out though because supposedly it is one sign of kidney illness, although those levels are raised with supplementation of creatine anyway and supposedly is of no harm, as GP said.

Originally posted by rock4832
I drink TONS of water guys! I go to the bathroom like every hour or more!!

That may or may not be a sign of drinking enough water, I would not call it a good rule to go buy because its different for everyone. If more is better, then people with benign prostate hypertrophy are in good shape, which we know they are not

I have heard the rule .66 x bodyweight (in pounds) = ounces to consume daily

Just wanted to pop in and wish Rock good luck with this situation - good thing you work in a hospital! Many people wouldn't even have checked that situation and it might have gotten much worse. Hopefully it's just nothing.

With all the standing around you do, could it be possible you simply have some sort of UTI? Many people I know who are servers or people on their feet constantly who do drink a lot of fluids have to often hold their bowel movements because it isn't convienient to go right away, and often they don't even realize it. This can cause problems, as you probably already know.

Originally posted by Mudge
Drummers get blood in the urine at times, in Africa native drummers there saw it something along the lines of a job well done.

The creatinine has freaked people out though because supposedly it is one sign of kidney illness, although those levels are raised with supplementation of creatine anyway and supposedly is of no harm, as GP said.

It depends.... the creatinine rise is usually in the immediate loading phase and after about 12 weeks on the maintainance dose, the serum creatinine actually returns back to normal due to the normal steady state physiology of most kidneys. However, in some the serum creatinine remains high. Strangely enough, this is more so in men then women. Women on creatine usually just have the rise in BUN and not the creatinine as much as the men. This is probably something the ER docs don't see since their main task is acute triage and stabilization of the patients for other specialists (internists, gps, surgeons etc.) and they don't follow serial creatinine.

Bandaid, Are you a nurse or doctor?
Considering your forum name, I take it that you must be in the medical field. You sound pretty sharp.

A little blood in the piss never hurt nobody. Suck it up!!! lol

Seriously, good luck man and keep us updated.

Bloody Mary anyone

It's not a UTI, or a kidney stone. that was one of the first things the Doc checked for. No burning or anything. I'm giving it a week and then redo the blood tests then and see if it was a fluke or still the same. Thanks for all your replies, makes me feel better

Rock,

Just search the net man. You will find all kinds of possibilities for that symptom. Then it's just a matter of your doctors ruling it down to the one culprit causing it.

Good luck buddy...

Oh yeah, and bandaidwomen seems like the one with the best answers in the medical arena

Originally posted by Randy
Bandaid, Are you a nurse or doctor?
Considering your forum name, I take it that you must be in the medical field. You sound pretty sharp.

Doc and former organic chemist.