Help? hematuria?

I had blood on my urine (fresh bright red blood) 4 months ago and it was painless. it happens once in two weeks up until today. yesterday, it was worse since i had to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes and i had fresh blood again 4x. I asked my family doctor and he said to put ice on my kidney and drink lots of cranberry and water... well.. i felt much better but still have some doubts if he might really know whats going on... i wanted to go to the hospital for checkup but he discouraged me since its bad (the IVP xray?) for my age (18). family doctor said this is painless hematuria and surely not uti... So i wanted to ask for your advice? would you know what this is? any advice before i decide for myself to go to the hospital?

I would definitely seek a second opinion. Blood in the urine can be a sign of a problem which needs more attention than an ice pack (I have never heard of a MD suggesting an ice pack over the kidneys to help with hematuria) and cranberry juice.

As for the dose from an IVP exam, it is not a huge dose. The risk of the radiation does not outweigh the potential benefit of a correct diagnosis. A diagnosis can help a COMPETENT physician map out your treatment:

"The effective radiation dose from this procedure is about 1.6 mSv, which is about the same as the average person receives from background radiation in six months."

http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm...

Another exam we do for hematuria is a CT KUB. It is a CT scan of your renal system. You can read about these studies here:

http://www.saintjosephs.com/healthinfo/p...

"When blood is visible to the naked eye, prompt and thorough evaluation is always needed. In children, hospitalization is often necessary to complete the work up."

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/...

"Hematuria, whether it be gross or microscopic, is abnormal and should be further investigated."

http://www.medicinenet.com/blood_in_urin...

Blood in the urine is not normal even if it is painless. I work at the hospital and we have had people younger than 18 have an IVP with no problems. My advice is to see a urologist who specializes in that type of problem. When I had hematuria, my urologist found a kidney stone that had to be removed. See a urologist for sure....

Ironically pain though troublesome, is an indicator of problems (infection/stone) that are easily curable. Painless hematuria may be something serious, you have to get a second opinion ASAP. Your family doctor's advice is questionable.
Good luck!

Blood in the urine is NEVER a normal finding. I think your GP was pretty glib (and highly medically irresponsible) to just placate you like that. Additionally, if s/he doesn't think it's a UTI, then why is s/he having you drink cranberry juice, a traditional UTI remedy? It may also be that you have a bleeding hemorrhoid. Is the urine coming out red and do you actually see blood in the stream as it's coming out, or are you seeing streaks and spots and clumps of blood in the toilet bowl? I do really feel that going to another dr. for a second opinion is a very good idea, preferably a urologist or nephrologist.

Agree with Fran. Blood in the urine is not normal and needs to be checked out. If your insurance will not cover a specialist (urologist) then try a walk in clinic. If you can, take a list of how often this has happened and what you were told to do for it. The more information you can give your doctor, the easier it will be for him/her to find the real problem.