When to see a doctor

By Mayo Clinic Staff

Make a medical appointment for:

  • Painful urination that doesn't go away.
  • Fluid coming from the penis or vagina.
  • Urine that smells bad, is cloudy or has blood in it.
  • Fever.
  • Back pain or pain in the side, also called flank pain.
  • Passing a stone from the kidney or bladder, also called urinary tract.

Pregnant people should tell a member of their health care team about any pain they have while passing urine.

From Mayo Clinic to your inbox

Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health. Click here for an email preview.

To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information, and understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your email and website usage information with other information we have about you. If you are a Mayo Clinic patient, this could include protected health information. If we combine this information with your protected health information, we will treat all of that information as protected health information and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices. You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail.

Oct. 11, 2023