Q. Can gallstones cause blood in urine?
Doctor Answer is medically reviewed by SecondMedic medical review team.
Yes, gallstones can cause blood in urine. Gallstones are hardened deposits of bile and other digestive juices that can form in the gallbladder, a small organ located beneath the liver on the right side of your abdomen. If these stones travel outside of the gallbladder and become lodged in either the common bile duct or a ureter (which is responsible for draining urine from each kidney to be stored in the bladder), they can irritate those passages, leading to hematuria—the presence of red blood cells or microorganisms causing pinkish-colored discoloration i nurine.
In addition to showing up as microscopic particles in your urine sample, this condition could also present as gross hematuria with large enough amounts resulting from larger stones obstructing a ureter that it changes the color of your pee into red-brown. It’s not uncommon for some people with gallstones to experience flank pain or abdominal discomfort along with this type of bleeding, since even if there’s no obstruction involved yet, their bodies may still react negatively when faced with acidic components like bile salts travelling through their system.
If you suspect that you might have gallstones causing visible blood in your urine, it's important that you visit a doctor immediately so they can diagnose and treat accordingly—if left untreated it could ultimately result in kidney damage due to blockage which would require an invasive procedure involving either breaking up or removing said stones altogether via lithotripsy/surgery methods respectively. This type of issue should always be addressed by healthcare professionals who have been trained on how best to handle its various complexities—so don't wait any longer!