July 14, 2000
Other Illnesses
Question from Florida, USA:
My 15 year old son was diagnosed about a year ago with Type 1 diabetes. He went on a insulin pump 6 weeks ago and has blood sugars pretty well under control. Three weeks ago, he started complaining of back pain, took him to the physician and he had large amounts of blood in urine, and was diagnosed as a kidney/urinary tract infection. One week after antibiotics were done, he has large amounts of blood back in urine with no signs of infection.
Any thoughts? How long can he go with large amounts of blood in urine? Would this be considered an urgent problem? We are trying to get in with a specialist as I write this letter.
Answer:
There are many causes of blood in the urine. These range from harmless to serious. I would encourage you to visit your pediatrician as soon as possible. There are urine and blood tests which can help determine the cause of the bleeding. I would consider this to be an urgent problem.
This bleeding is unlikely to be related to the insulin pump.
MSB
