I’m 30F for context, just got over my third bout with COVID. It was a mild case and I got better within the course of a few days. However around the second to last day of my symptoms, I began having a lot of pain as though I had a UTI. I figured because I was sick, I slept a lot of the time and didn’t go to the bathroom as frequently as I should have and ended up giving myself an infection.

In the beginning, I had CONSTANT pain. AZO wouldn’t even touch it. I feel like I have to go to the bathroom all the time, even when I don’t have pain, I still have that sense of urgency & discomfort. Sometimes I get really bad pangs of pain, I feel them anywhere from my bladder area in my abdomen, my urethra, my perineum and I will even get butt lightning. It hurts sometimes when I go, and my urine is the typical yellow color, no visible blood.

I took two at home UTI tests, both indicated I had leukocytes, no nitrates however.

I went to my doctor, explained my symptoms. She did a pelvic exam ( though I’m not convinced she really knows what she’s doing because she tried to tell me my urethra was somewhere else other than where I was feeling my pain.) along with a urine culture, she even did a PAP, Wet Prep & STI testing. Everything came back negative for any sort of infection. (I’m still waiting on my PAP results.) In my urine there were no leukocytes , no nitrates, no bacteria, there was trace-lysed blood in my urine which I’m assuming is from the pelvic exam (because goddamn that was uncomfortable & spotting is expected.) I was told to just drink more water and take ibuprofen. It’s been a week now. My symptoms have improved, especially the constant pain. But now I just have everything else. My symptoms seem to improve when I drink lots of water. But god, it’s more irritating at this point.

I keep getting hit with negative UTI results and I’m just so disheartened. My previous GP would prescribe ABX just in case. But he left and I had to pick another doctor. I’m not sure where I should go from here. I guess that’s why I’m here, I’ve read about COVID bladder and related cystitis from the virus. So I’m hoping there are some people who have had an experience similar to mine.