Should I be concerned? - urine test

[SmithyBaby]

Hello ladies,

Having a bit of a freak out as I had a letter from my hospital following my 12 week appointment. The letter said the urine sample I gave was basically invalid and showed "growth" and they wanted to rule out a urine infection . They've asked me to repeat the urine test. Should I be concerned? What on earth does growth of cells, or whatever the wording was I forget now, mean? Anyone else had this wording on their letter? I don't even feel like I've got as urine infection as I've got no signs of it.

Help I'm freaking out

 

[SmithyBaby]

I checked the letter again and the term they used was "growth of organisms". Doesn't sound good..

 

[night owl]

When I gave my urine sample to the midwife at my booking appointment she did say to me quite often they find bacteria and ask you to repeat the test but it turns out to be nothing, so not to be too surprised if I get a letter for another sample, I never did get asked for another sample, I wouldn’t worry too much I would just phone your midwife Monday, unless they have a weekend service then give them a call today and just ask them what it means, if it actually is some kind of infection it will probably be easily treatable and the fact that you have no symptoms probably means it’s nothing serious x

 

[WinterWolf]

Pregnancy UTIs aren’t the same as regular ones for some reason. They often get missed because they can have no symptoms! That’s partly why they do the routine tests. I wouldn’t worry - If you do have some kind of infection they’ll be able to treat it and if you have no symptoms it won’t be a particularly bad one x

 

[SmithyBaby]

I wish they had warned me. The letter had such scary wording with "growth of organisms", sent my brain into overdrive. I keep telling myself if it was really serious they would call not send a letter. I'm assuming it is a potential uti from what you ladies have said then. Why is pregnancy so scary? lol

 

[Abi88]

I was told the same thing. In my case they said it was low and told me to make sure I drink enough water and retest and I was fine. Worst case scenario sounds like a UTI and can be treated with antibiotics but drinking plenty of water can help avoid getting to that point in the first place.

 

[Radleycat]

It's nothing to worry about. When you take a sample to the GP or midwife they do a urine dip test (it's pretty crude and inaccurate). SIgns of a UTI could be protein, leukocytes (white blood cells) or nitrites (to do with bacteria). As the dips aren't that accurate, rather than handing out antibiotics willy nilly, they send it to the lab to culture. So if there is a bacterial infection then they will see growth and the GP can prescribe you antibiotics. They are really really common in women and even more so in pregnancy. They will probably give you a course of Nitrofurantoin which is the one that is safe to take when pregnant.

I'm on a course of it currently as I felt like shite, did a urine dip (nicked the strips from work) and then rang my GP. They cultured and rang me the next day to get the antibiotics. I've had a fever for 4 days so really feeling poo but I think it's starting to turn a corner today.

Try not to worry, I've also read that you can get UTIs when pregnant with zero symptoms hence why they always so the urine test