Blood and protein in urine found during a urinary tract infection test

Hello,
Thank you all in advance who will take the time to read and hopefully comment on my condition. I should note that I am a male, aged 43, in reasonable shape with no prior, major illness.

I woke up the other day with an overactive bladder, and I ended up urinating every 10-20 minutes until making it to the emergency room. There, I provide a urine sample and they did blood work, eventually stating that I had an "acute urinary tract infection". But, because they found protein and blood in my urine sample, they told me that I need to follow up with a urologist and a nephrologist in the near future. I am presently on an antibiotic and pyridium to treat the infection.

The amount of red blood cells was between 25-50 HPF, and the protein amount was 30 mg/dL. The urine sample also was positive for nitrite, hence the finding for a urinary tract infection. Both my creatinine and BUN quant levels were normal/within range.

I have been on the antibiotic for almost two days now with no noticeable result (that is, I still have the need to urinate unless I take the pyridium) but am hopeful that this will pass soon. The ER physician stated that it would take between 3-4 days for the symptoms to pass.

My concern is more over what the blood and especially the protein in the urine might mean. I have read in some cases that these are a result of a urinary tract infection but in others where the presence of protein in urine is a very bad thing.

As I stated above, any help on this would be greatly appreciated, and thank you again.

MS

Thank you for the reply, which is very comforting.

I have run into another issue since I first wrote, and it is that they got back my urine culture and found it to be negative for bacteria. At the same time, the red blood cell markers are all in the low range, including total hemoglobin (although that falls within the low-normal range).

I am hopeful that there are simple explanations for these findings and remain optimistic while waiting to see a urologist (next week) and a nephrologist (when one will see me!).

In the meantime, the ER nurse has suggested that I stick with the antibiotic since the nitrite test was positive and that I keep popping the pyridium for urinary frequency.

If anyone has any advice on whether this is the best mode of action or whether I should be doing things differently, then please let me know. Again, I should point out that my only symptoms thus far have been those related to frequent and urgent urination and not much else. In fact, I would never have gone to the ER if it were not for those symptoms as I otherwise feel fine. Last famous words?