Kidney trouble from binding?

[MacG]

I've been having blood in my urine for three days. I'm being assessed for uti, kidney infection, kidney stone. I don't really have the right symptoms for these, just all the blood and aching kidneys. I had a hyster in 2009 and have not had any kind of period since.
But I was wondering if any of you have experienced or heard of anybody having this kind of trouble caused by wearing a tank style binder.
My binder doesn't seem too tight... No trouble deeply breathing or anything like that. But sometimes I wear it like 16 hours before I get to take it off.
I will have a CT tomorrow, as well as repeat labs and another doctor visit.

[Adam (birkin)]

Was it a full hysterectomy? Like did they leave your ovaries in? I know sometimes ovarian cysts can cause blood in the urine.

I don't think that that sort of pressure from the binder could cause kidney issues, but it might aggravate existing ones. Having had a really kidney infection, I would recommend not binding until the pain is gone and you've had some time to heal, because pressure in that area does make it worse when the organs are actually inflamed and tender.

FWIW when I had my infection I didn't have any of the "typical" symptoms, no pain with urination, no frequency, I just got really sick to my stomach and my pee looked like milk.  Hope you get your results back soon and the mystery will be solved.

[MacG]

Ah! Thanks for the info. My pee looks like black tea. And tender achy kidneys. But no urgency, no burning.

[MacG]

I still have cervix n ovaries.

[Felix]

I didn't usually bind with a long binder, but when I did the binder usually got stretched out so quickly (even when I was skinny) that I don't think there was ever heavy pressure on my kidneys for long enough to cause problems.

I did have a bad kidney infection once, before I was binding, and my primary symptoms were red urine and crampy pain. I had mild pain and cloudy urine before it got to that but I was working a lot and didn't realize it mattered enough to take a day off to get checked out.

I have no clue, but good luck with it. That's not fun stuff.

[Sebryn]

I had severe kidney problems after my hysterectomy but it was fairly close to the operation. Nine weeks after surgery, when I returned to work. What had happened is a ureter was accidentally cauterized causing all kinds of problems including severe infections of my left kidney.

And guess what...I had atypical symptoms. No severe pain, just the blood in my urine. Later on I had high fevers but to this day I do not get any symptoms of infection until it's too late. The last infection I got landed me in the hospital for a week. No symptoms at all...just a super high fever.

The problem was taken care of with a corrective surgery thankfully but I now have an altered ureter on my left kidney and will have to be super cautious of all future UTIs since they can easily move into my left kidney now as there is no more valve there to keep urine from going back up the ureter and into the kidney.

The point I am trying to make is don't wait. Harass the doctors and find your answers as quickly as you can when it comes to things like blood in urine.

As far as a binder causing/contributing to kidney problems I was told by a urologist, surgeon, and MD that it was very unlikely to have caused it but could contribute in a minor way to overall health and healing if it was impeding circulation.

Try drinking only water and a lot of it.

Did they do a quick test on your urine? They usually do that while you wait at the doctor's office with a sample and can tell you in a few minutes if the urine is "dirty" (ie. infection probable) and then call later after seeing if anything grows when they do further tests.

[MacG]

I went to zoomcare (a basic place for urgent basic medical care) Saturday where they did a quick test and sent some urine off to see what grows. The initial quick dip showed possible infection.  They started me on cipro. Since I was still having lots of blood Monday afternoon, I called the university hospital and they are having me redo the urine lab, plus blood labs and a CT and an exam today (Tuesday). The culture lab from zoomcare showed some infection, but wasn't detailed enough.
I will ask about my binding causing this or hindering healing.
Thanks guys.

[blink]

  They started me on cipro.

Did they discuss possible side effects of this drug at all with you, or possible alternatives?
Many people don't know cipro (a quinolone) carries a risk of permanent tendon damage. It's a powerful antibiotic that is sometimes prescribed when a different antibiotic without that risk would do the job.
Not trying to alarm you, but so many medical professionals don't seem to bother with the inform part of informed consent to medication. If you're cool with taking cipro, that's your decision, if not, you have a right to call and request a prescription for an antibiotic that isn't a quinolone.

[MacG]

You're right about cipro. Luckily I get to stop it. Because unluckily, what I have is a large kidney stone (but no uti or kidney infection).

[Arch]

Ugh, I'm sorry. Any chance you can have one of the nonsurgical options? I don't know whether they are contraindicated for large stones.

[MacG]

I've gotta see what the radiologist says about the size. Then I go to urology. Kidney stones run in my family big time.

[Adam (birkin)]

Oh dude, ouch, sorry to hear that.

[blink]

Oh man. On the one hand it's great you don't have an infection, but... ouch. Sorry.

[Sebryn]

Ow. At least it isn't an infection?  Hope it's a small enough so they can maybe use the ultrasonic method to break them up like they did for one of my cousins.

[MacG]

The stone is only 5 m&m, turns out. Do I have pain meds ready for when /if the pain hits bust have to wait. Glad there's no infection.

[MacG]

Wow. Sometimes Tapatalk does crazy stuff with my typing, and editing doesn't work.

[Tysilio]

Ugh. Not a fun date, that.

Drink lots of water, Mac... I hope you can get rid of it on your own, without too much pain.

[Felix]

I didn't know that about cipro. I haven't taken it since 1999, but I used to have chronic swelling and pain and eventually cysts on a tendon in my foot. It was chalked up at the time to ramifications of stress fractures in nearby bones.

Anyway, that's great that you have no infection. Stones are notoriously painful, but hopefully passing it won't be the end of the world and you can get through it okay and have it done.