Prednisone and kidney pain

As a long-time kidney stone maker - If I were you  I would ask that you get an ultrasound/ xray to start with to see if they see any stones. (sometimes it takes a Cat scan if they are uric acid stones) I've been up and down on Pred for 3 years and any kidney or back pain, trace blood and feelings of UTI have always been either UTI or stones moving.  Never a pred side effect.  Good luck!

You can buy clinitest stix from the chemist and do your own urine sample test. If you have Giant Cell Arteritis, this could cause the problem.

How did you get a positive test for a UTI. Did you get a clean catch? Did you clean your self before testing. Did you use a dipstick? I get the idea from taking with Dr. And this website, we seem to have many different problems. When I'm reducing I feel flu like, think it's my adrenal glands.

Hi Carol; as I've said before to others, I don't have PMR/ GCA, but from your pain, and having blood in urine, I too agree with others re being Kidney related....and nothing to do with your PMR.....pain in the Loin area (kidney location in body), and the blood in urine, does sound like ?kidney stones (is it constant, or come and go like in waves?)   The blood would be secondary to your system trying to break down the stones, and causing minor "scratching....for a better explaination" which would cause you to have blood in your urine.   Some other symptoms would be "wanting to pass urine more often than usual, and the pain can radiate into front of abdomen into groin"....does this happen?.....As one other replier stated, you should be having an Ultra-Sound on Loin area/a dye CT scan...the CT is much more effecient than Ultra-sound, as it will Completely show how the Urinary System (from kidneys to Urethra....passing along Ureters and Bladder)....it will definately show if there is a Stone/anything....it is a good idea for you to have this done, to ensure all is well, and if not, then appropriate treatment will/should follow.   We are all here, and will be waiting for any news.......hoping I have helped, and not made things worse for you?      Until we hear more from you, a special thought for you, as I know you already have enough problems, and really don't want any more..................Bron

Both PMR and pred can cause something called irirtable bladder syndrome - it mimics the symptoms of a UTI. Lots of people have compalined about it on the forums and one of the PMR research consultants - who had been surprised at the assertations from the patients in the group - stared asking her patients. And yes - a lot had this problem, with or without pred.

Once I was on pred I found it often happened after a day where I hadn't drunk as much as usual - eventually we came to the conclusion that I was excreting excess calcium in my urine and as it was concentrated because of low fluid intake it was forming grit and that irritated the bladder/urethra. When I consciously drink plenty when travelling I'm fine.

You should ask your doctor for a blood test for kindney function. Just because there is no infection showing on dip stick test, it doesn't mean that blood, protein and other values are normal.