I suppose it's finally time to admit I have a -real- issue.

[KatherinaW]

I hope this isn't an overwhelming rant or is tedious to read.

I've been having kidney, bladder, and UTI issues since i was about seven years old, and was hospitalized several times for them with a chain of mis-diagnoses. During that period their final determination was improper hygiene practice but now as i'm twenty one I can confidently say I know that is not the issue. I've tried going to my local doctor a few times in the past ten years on my own accord from all my " flare ups " but i feel that they never take me seriously. They usually asserted the situation by having me urinate into a cup and if no bacteria was present they just threw it all out.
I know that one of my kidneys has shriveled and doesn't fully function and the other has expanded to try and compensate, so i'm a little bit more than concerned for how they are this many years later with continuous problems. For the past seven days i've had classic UTI symptoms of feeling the urge to urinate even when there is nothing to expel and when my bladder has nearly emptied i get that achey/burning sensation. The only thing that strikes me as odd is how long it's persisted to last without lapsing.
It's very common that maybe in a weeks time I will experience a day of UTI behavior, then another i'll have very painful kidneys at my lower back that seem to throb and i'll keep thinking i have to go to the bathroom but there's nothing. There's no burning during that time, and infact i haven't had that sensation for a very very long time. All of my issues have definitely worsened in the past few months and when they come they have been lasting.
Maybe two months ago there was a few days I felt really horrible and kept thinking I had unique problems but then by the fourth day It was obvious it had been my kidneys the whole time, because a very light ache and pressure ( i'd thought were sore muscles ) at either side towards the back all the way up to the bottom of my ribcage turned into what i know to be a kidney infection. This was a very aggressive ' infection' and left me very weak and generally ill feeling. Before it went 'away' it kept worsening instead of getting better. Then a month ago my usual false alarm to urinate had become even more realistic, which i didn't think was possible but i'd never stayed at the toilet for over two hours, before.
  I'm unsure if everything has kept coming back since childhood because the actual cause was never discovered or treated, and if anyone has any ideas what this could be. I just assume when i have no symptoms nothing is present. I know my fathers brother died from kidney disease when he was twenty three, and small symptoms suddenly turned into illness and then almost immediate, unexpected death. I know my mother had a very long chain of health issues but none that could be related as far as i know. My father has renal kidney failure and when it spikes he always barely avoids having to be put on dialysis, by five percent. He's also seventy one so that might be expected since he has a VERY long list of other posed medical conditions. My mother would have been around the same age, so sometimes i wonder if people in their fifties having a baby could pose medical concerns for that child.

I'm on here right now because of a very sharp and almost throbbing pain in my right side. It's mid level towards the front and clearly radiates down toward my pelvic bone. I suspect it's in relation to severe constipation that i've had for the past few months. My digestive tendencies always vary, however, which is attributable to my shifting eating habits and stress. lately it's just a nightmare trying to pass anything. This pain has been present since about seven pm last night and has been constant. When i'm lying down and half-sleeping it's still active, although if i'm trying to have a bowel movement it's more agitated. It is also causing nausea off and on. Seconds before it started I tried using the bathroom and my stool was far too hard and dry to achieve much, but I am sure i was VERY stopped up. I have not been eating regularly or enough for awhile since i've felt so horrible without breaking. At the same time I do over-eat and make good just as bad food choices. It's very hard to explain my diet. It's always changing. I feel like my kidney,bladder problems might be related to this.
Sometimes i get this really strange sensation in my colon/vagina area which feels like - and excuse my lack of eloquence - there is an electric rod being inserted inside of me. It's like a shocking but searing pain that comes and goes in waves but never lasts more than two hours max. I haven't noticed this since losing around an estimated fifty lbs or so.
I know that this is a mess but I would really appreciate any feedback, from anyone.

[KatherinaW]

Well it looks like Shelly was otherwise detained and hasn't yet been able to comment on her thoughts, or simply did not feel it was in her field. It's OK though and I definitely appreciate just having heard back from you at the time. I was a very, very sick lady and it was comforting just having someone to even briefly acknowledge my situation and talk to me. Thank you, very much; sir.

I ended up going to the emergency room at my local hospital on the 17th. I really started feeling like I was going to DIE since i was NOT improving what-so-ever. It was discovered I had a kidney infection from E-coli which had made its way into my entire bloodstream. There's a super long fancy name for it, but, it's not on my discharge papers. So basically Sepsis. WHY?! I cannot stress enough how careful I am to be sanitary with this.
Staff sure had a fun time trying to find my veins in the ER, continuing throughout the duration of my stay when moved upstairs. Seriously, my veins are so elusive it's ridiculous. Warm compresses, smacking, rubbing, 'alcohol baths', arm dangling, fist squeezing, 'advanced' tourniquets - NOTHING will give even the slightest hint of their location. I had a couple of CAT scans with and without dye, taken orally and injected through my IV to contrast/highlight and locate any possible issues with my kidney function and excretion process.
I was given sooo much morphine and nausea medication but was in so much pain very little relief was provided by it 'till the day before I was discharged. I kept running high fevers that would respond to tylenol then come back but by my last day FINALLY broke. I was discharged on the 21st at around 8:00pm despite the doctors will because none of the staff ( EVERYONE thought THEY would be the one to master my defiant veins by piercing success, prior ) could get another IV site. Early that morning the one i'd had started inching it's way out and leaking. It remained that way for over six hours since the nurses at that time didn't know if they should remove it, informed of my weaselly veins and personally seeing nothing promising.
  My blood-work was improved enough to permit my leave, but, my doctor wanted to keep me for an MRI because he saw a " spot" on my pancreas in my CAT scan photographs (x-rays?). I asked what a " spot" would usually suggest and he replied " well cancer, but since you're not fifty I wouldn't expect you would have that. It's probably nothing, a shadow or something floating at random. We just have to do the MRI to be certain, naturally."
I'm not TOO stressed over it just mildly concerned because (I didn't discuss this with my doctor as ATM it's irrelevant) about four years ago there was a two year period where i was having extreme emotional and coping issues which lead to mental affliction and severe alcohol abuse. I was drinking a fifth of vodka a night and whatever else i could get my hands on about five days a week and blacked out almost EVERY time. The past two years I haven't had this problem (avoidance of triggers due to possible and past relapse) but it's causing a bit of worry given current circumstance.

Lastly, I'm still taking Ciprofloxacin 500MG for sepsis with instructions to schedule the MRI with my doctor this week. A urologist that'd scheduled the CAT scan with dye also found a very small kidney stone, but, was not concerned with it. I'm to schedule a KUB with him for this week, as well. I don't actually know what a KUB is or why i'm having one. I no longer feel any pain, discomfort or nausea. I'm feeling WELL for the first time in a long while.

[KatherinaW]

I think I should add that the pain at my right side is actually also at my left side, now, too. It's not as intense ( yet ), but certainly still bothersome and apparent. It's very sharp and makes my lower throat swell with nausea. I wouldn't have thought it's my kidneys before but the left side actually ( to what i'm aware ) is shifting father back when it sears with the pain.

[KatherinaW]

I have never in my adult life, no, and I don't recall ever seeing one in my childhood. Just a lot of tests administered by nurses under either my then doctor's care or whichever doctor employed at the hospital was in charge of me.

I never understood why they decided to determine improper hygiene practice whenever there was enough to concern them that they misdiagnosed (alot) and even told me they were going to remove my appendix and then when that was ruled out a rape kit test was ordered. I think that has stuck with me and has made me very hesitant to seek medical help since it has always been either shrugged at or left alone and i'm not very financially compensated.

The older I'm getting the worse my symptoms get and the less able i am to ignore them. I've decided I HAVE to go to someone, but I want to locate a recommended specialist in this general field in my area.

Thank you very much for your response and i look forward to her take on matters, as well.

[el_em_en_oh]

You mention that you've been to the local doctor a few times... have you seen an actual Urologist about your issues?

What you describe sounds a lot like MSK (Medullary Sponge Kidney).

I'll send a PM to Shelly. She might have some insight into what you have going on (she's our resident MSK expert).

My thing is stones and cysts, which it doesn't sound like you have.

Hang in there.

LMNO