What Your Pee Can Tell You
- Dietitian.Lauren Hmede
- May 8, 2019
- 4 min read
Your Urine and Your Health
Changes in urine color between clear and dark can tell many things about your health but a urine test is better for diagnosing any health issue.
Blood in Your Urine
Blood in urine could be caused by hard exercise or medication and it could be more serious condition like kidney disease, an enlarged prostate, bladder cancer, or sickle cell anemia.
A Closer Look
Some types of food and medicines can change the color of your urine. For example, asparagus can make urine green, beets can make it reddish or dark brown while carrots can turn it orange. Some antacids turn your pee into shade of blue while some chemotherapy medicine make it orange. You need to consult your doctor when you have a sudden change into your pee color and you are not sure about the reason.
A Closer Smell
Foods, vitamins, and medication can all change the way your pee smells. For example, asparagus causes an ammonia-like odor for some people. Your pee also may smell stronger if you don’t drink enough water or you take vitamin B-6 supplements. But some health conditions can do it, too. Diabetes, bladder infections, kidney infections, and liver failure can all change the way your pee smells. Talk to your doctor if there’s a sudden change and it doesn’t go away.
Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)
If you have one of these, your pee may be red or brownish or have spots of red in it. Or it might be green or cloudy and have a strong smell. UTIs are usually caused by a bacterial growth into bladder or urethra. Urine test is needed for diagnosis and treatment will be antibiotics if the condition is present!!
Hyperglycaemia
It is a high blood sugar.Too much sugar could be present in the urine. It can be a sign of diabetes and can lead to heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and other problems. You cannot detect the problem by looking at your urine so a urine test is needed.
Diabetes
A urine test is needed when you have diabetes to check if you have ketones in the urine. While you are diabetic your body cannot use sugar efficiently to produce energy so it breaks down fat and produce ketones body.
Dehydration
Dark color of urine could be a sign of dehydration. You also might feel tired, nauseated, or groggy. Your doctor may test a sample of your urine to see how much water is in it.
Pregnancy
HCG hormone is for pregnancy. A urine test could tell you if you are pregnant or not.The results are most likely to be accurate 5 to 10 days after a missed period.
Diabetic Kidney Disease
Foamy pee can mean you have more protein in your urine than normal. This is often the earliest sign of this disease, which is the leading cause of kidney failure. It damages your kidneys’ small blood vessels. That leads your body to hold on to more salt, water, and waste in your blood than it should. Your doctor can test your urine for a protein called albumin to find out if you have it.
Glomerulonephritis
Bloody or foamy urine can be a sign of this disease. It also can make your face or ankles swell and cause muscle cramps and itchy skin. It happens when the tiny filters in one of your kidneys get inflamed. That can make fluid and waste build up in your body and cause problems like high blood pressure or kidney failure. Glomerulonephritis can be brought on by several health issues, including diabetes, an infection, or an autoimmune disease.
Vasculitis
If this affects your kidneys, your pee may be tea-colored and you may have a fever and body aches. It happens when your own antibodies which your body makes to fight germs attack the small blood vessels in one of your organs instead. It may lead to blood and protein in your urine and can make your kidneys stop working.
Blockage
If you can’t go or you feel like you have to go often but don’t pee much when you do, that can mean something is keeping it from coming out. You may also see blood in your urine, or it might look cloudy. A blockage can be caused by an enlarged prostate, kidney stones, bladder cancer, or blood clots, among other conditions.
Kidney Stones
A urine test of calcium and oher urine acids is ordered by your doctor if you have kidney stones. These tests can also help find problems with your small intestine, parathyroid glands, or kidneys.
Lupus
This disease happens when your immune system mistakenly attacks a certain part of your body. If it affects your kidneys (lupus nephritis), it can cause bloody or foamy urine. Causes are unkown and there is cure. This disease is mainly affecting women.
Liver or Gallbladder Problems
If your pee is very dark, something could be going on with one of these organs. Too much of certain drugs, like acetaminophen (Tylenol), can lead to problems. And cancer, a stone blocking the way to your gallbladder, viruses like hepatitis C, and other illness can, too. These issues can cause your body to make a yellow fluid called bilirubin that turns your pee very dark. And it can leak out of your liver and into your blood and make your skin and eyes turn yellow (this is called jaundice). Blood and urine tests can measure your level of bilirubin.
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