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What Causes Leukocytes In Urine?
If your doctor tests your urine and finds too many leukocytes, it could be a sign of infection. Leukocytes are white blood cells created in the bone marrow and found in your blood and tissue. They are part of the immune system. When you have allergies, inflammation, infection, or disease, your body makes more leukocytes than usual to seek out and destroy the germs causing them. Having more of these in your urine than usual often indicates a problem in your urinary tract.
What is the normal range of leukocytes in the urine?
The normal range for leukocytes is 4,000 to 11,000 microliters. A count of fewer than 4,000 is considered leukopenia, which can indicate a viral infection or a condition such as lupus. Leukocytosis means a higher-than-normal leukocyte count, which can be caused by inflammation, infection, or cancer. Stress can also cause leukocyte levels to rise.
High levels of leukocytes in your urine can indicate an infection, such as a UTI or an STD, as well as the use of certain types of medicines. (Photo Credit: E+/Getty Images)
Leukocytes in your urine may stem from a routine immune response in your body or from a variety of conditions, which doctors will then treat to help restore your levels to normal. But sometimes high levels may be cause for greater concern.
Urinary tract infections (UTIs)
Your urinary tract includes your kidneys, bladder, and ureters (tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder). An infection in your urinary tract is the most likely cause of leukocytes in your urine. Any time you have an infection, your immune system ramps up the production of these cells to fight off the bacteria.
More than half of women and about 1 in 5 men will get a UTI at some point in their lives. Signs that you have one are:
Your doctor can treat a UTI with antibiotics. A few days to a week on these drugs should clear up the infection.
How long you stay on the medicine depends on how severe your infection is, how often you get UTIs, and any other medical problems you have. To ease pain while the infection clears, take an over-the-counter pain reliever or put a heating pad on your back or belly.
Make sure to take the whole antibiotic dose that your doctor prescribed. Otherwise, you could leave some bacteria alive, and they could reinfect you. That new infection could be harder to knock out with antibiotics. If your UTIs keep coming back, your doctor might put you on low-dose antibiotics for several months.
Call your doctor if you have symptoms such as:
If you still have symptoms after antibiotics, consult your doctor again. You may need more treatment.
Kidney stones
Kidney stones are crystals that form when calcium and other minerals build up in your urine. They can be as small as a pea or as big as a golf ball. Larger kidney stones can block the flow of urine.
Kidney stones cause symptoms such as:
Call your doctor right away if you think you have a kidney stone or if the pain is severe.
A small kidney stone might pass on its own. Drinking extra water can help flush it from your system. Over-the-counter pain relievers will help make you more comfortable until the stone is gone.
A urologist can remove bigger stones. One treatment involves using powerful waves from a machine outside your body to break the stone into smaller pieces, which can then pass in your urine.
Another stone removal method passes a scope into the kidney through your bladder or through a small opening in your back or side. The doctor will use special tools to break up the stone and remove it from your body.
Inflammation
Inflammation in your body triggers the release of leukocytes. That inflammation can come from an injury, infection, or disease.
Interstitial nephritis and cystitis are two conditions that cause inflammation in your urinary tract. Interstitial nephritis is a disease where inflammation reduces kidney function. Cystitis is inflammation of your bladder, often from a urinary tract infection, but the bladder can also be inflamed without infection (interstitial cystitis).
If you have either one of these problems, you may notice symptoms such as:
Keep in mind that if you have interstitial nephritis, there often aren't any symptoms until the disease is very advanced.
Call your doctor if you have these symptoms. If an infection is to blame, you'll get antibiotics. Other causes may need treatment with corticosteroids or other medicines.
Certain kinds of cancers
It's rare, but high leukocytes (leukocytosis) can be a sign of certain blood cancers such as leukemia or lymphoma. Symptoms include:
Leukocytes in urine but no infection
The presence of leukocytes in urine with no signs of bacteria or infection is called sterile pyuria. It's a fairly common condition that results from sexually transmitted viruses, such as herpes simplex and human papillomavirus (HPV), and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as gonorrhea and chlamydia. Sterile pyuria is more common in women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB). Other causes include catheters inserted in the urinary tract, the presence of an underlying disease, or the use of certain medications such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), aspirin, penicillin-based antibiotics, and diuretics.
Anyone can get leukocytes in their urine, but increased risk factors include:
You can lower your risk by:
Your health care provider will likely order a urine test, called a WBC esterase test, to see if there are white blood cells present. To take the test, you pee into a sterile cup, which your doctor will send to a lab to check for blood, bacteria, or white blood cells in your urine.
Treating high urine leukocytes depends on the cause. If a bacterial infection is the cause, your doctor will likely prescribe antibiotics. If you have allergies and asthma, then antihistamines or inhalers might be prescribed.
Other treatments may include:
A procedure called leukapheresis can be performed to reduce your leukocyte counts quickly. Sometimes, no treatment is required at all for your white blood cells to return to normal levels.
How to get rid of leukocytes in urine naturally
Apart from medicine, the best way to get rid of leukocytes naturally is to prevent them in the first place. Home remedies include:
Leukocytes are white blood cells that are part of your immune system. Leukocytes in your urine may mean a bacterial infection is present, but could also indicate that you have a viral or sexually transmitted infection or certain diseases such as cancer, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and sepsis. Long-term use of certain medications can also create leukocytes in urine. Typical symptoms are cloudy or pus-filled pee.
What does it mean if you have leukocytes in your urine?
Leukocytes (white blood cells) in your urine may indicate an infection, such as a urinary tract infection (UTI), or the presence of another condition.
Why do leukocyte levels increase in urine during pregnancy?
Your risk for urinary tract infections is higher when you're pregnant, particularly in the first and second trimesters, which can lead to higher leukocyte levels. The risk for UTIs is higher because of the increased pressure and weight of your uterus on the urinary tract, which can restrict the flow of urine. Being pregnant also suppresses the immune system, making you more susceptible to infections. The pregnancy complication preeclampsia, which increases bodily stress and inflammation, can also lead to higher leukocyte levels.
Can ovarian cysts cause leukocytes in urine?
Yes. In a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome, ovaries develop cysts because not enough hormones are produced to start ovulation. This can cause inflammation, leading to higher leukocyte levels.
What does it mean when leukocytes are high?
High leukocyte (white blood cell) levels can mean you have an infection, inflammation, injury, or immune disorder. Sometimes, it can be a sign of a more serious condition such as cancer.
When should I worry about leukocytes?
Contact your doctor if you have:
Go to the emergency room if you have symptoms of a stroke, chest pain, breathing difficulties, bleeding that won't stop, tingling in your limbs, or back pain that appears suddenly.
What level of WBC is alarming?
In adults, a white blood cell (leukocyte) count higher than 11,000 in a microliter of blood requires attention.
What does it mean if you have leukocytes in urine but no infection?
Leukocytes in urine with no sign of infection is a common condition called sterile pyuria. It can indicate the presence of several conditions.
What Happens If Someone Holds Their Pee For Too Long?
It is not advisable to regularly hold urine. Holding in pee may cause a urinary tract infection (UTI), pain, and more. In the long term, it can cause the bladder to stretch.
The urinary bladder is a hollow, pear-shaped organ that forms part of the urinary system. The bladder's role is to store urine until a person is ready to use the restroom.
The typical adult bladder can hold about one pint, or two cups, of liquid, though it can stretch to hold more than this. When the bladder fills about halfway, people will start to feel the urge to urinate.
In most adults, occasionally holding in pee will not cause problems, but people may experience some unwanted effects if it becomes a habit. It is not advisable to regularly put off going to the bathroom.
There are no hard rules for how and when it is safe to hold in pee. Some people may be more prone to side effects than others.
The capacity of the human bladder may vary slightly from person to person. However, a typical adult bladder can hold roughly one pint of liquid.
Children have smaller bladders because their bodies are still developing. People may be able to predict the size of a child's bladder by using the following equation: (age + 2) x 30 ml.
For example, according to this formula, a 10-year-old child would have a bladder capacity of roughly 360 ml.
A healthy bladder may also be capable of stretching and accommodating larger volumes of urine. However, it is advisable for a person to urinate at regular intervals.
Some people may believe that the bladder will burst if they hold in their pee for too long.
While it is possible for a spontaneous urinary bladder rupture to occur, there is often an underlying cause of the rupture, such as a blockage preventing the bladder from voiding.
In most cases, the bladder will override the muscles holding the urine in, causing the person to have an accident. Trauma to the bladder is more likely to occur due to blows or piercing objects.
It is important to note that without treatment, a spontaneous urinary bladder rupture can lead to severe complications.
In some cases, doctors may recommend retraining the bladder to urinate less frequently. This involves resisting the urge to pee.
The goal is to increase the amount of fluid the bladder can hold before it triggers the urge to pee. If successful, this will extend the amount of time between trips to the bathroom.
A doctor will often develop a personalized retraining schedule for someone, and they will typically oversee the training.
The following tips may help a person ease into the retraining process:
The key is to engage the brain and direct attention away from the urge to urinate.
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