You should not brush your urine under the carpet if you have blood in it.
This could be nothing at all, but it is something that is uncommon and worth keeping an eye on.
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A sign that something is wrong with your organs could be bloody pee.
It could be a sign that you have cancerous cells in your bladder, prostate, kidneys.
Patients on certain medications may see it more often, but it is not a cause for concern.
However, it is important to check the toilet bowl with a doctor if you find it.
Dr Richard Viney is Consultant Urologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. He stated that blood in the urine was a serious observation and should be investigated.
“Where bleeding is associated with pain, the cause is usually infection or stones within the urinary tract.
“More troubling is urine that is contaminated with blood and no pain.
“In this instance, we need to rule-out a cancer of bladder, prostate (in guys) or kidney.
“Individuals on blood thinning treatments are a greater risk of seeing blood in the urine but will still need investigating by your doctor.”
It is not usually anything that is serious but can indicate a problem such as bladder or kidney cancer.
It could also be an infection or kidney stones.
If it’s the first time you’ve experienced this, and you don’t have any other symptoms, contact your GP.
One of the most prevalent forms of cancer in the UK, kidney cancer, is also known by the name renal cancer.
It is most common in people over 50, but it can also affect those in their 60s and 70s.
It’s possible to treat it if detected early. However, this is not always possible if it spreads beyond the kidneys.
Other symptoms include:
- A persistent pain in the lower back or side, just under your ribs
- A lump or swelling in your left side (although you may not feel it as a sign of kidney cancer).
Although the exact cause of kidney cancer remains unknown, there are some things that can increase your chances of it happening, such as:
- obesity – a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more (use the healthy weight calculator to find your BMI)
- smoking – the more you smoke, the greater the risk
- Hypertension is high blood pressure
- family history – you’re more likely to get kidney cancer if you have a close relative with it
- Some genetic conditions are inherited
- long-term dialysis – a treatment for chronic kidney disease where a machine does some of the jobs of the kidneys