SLIDESHOW What Your Urine Can Reveal About Your Health ( courtecvy;-webMD ) Smell, color, or even blood in your urine can be signs of deeper medical conditions.
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SLIDESHOW |
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What Your Urine Can Reveal About Your Health
( courtecvy;-webMD )
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What Your Pee Can Tell You
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Your Urine and Your Health
You or your doctor may
be able to tell some things about your health simply by looking at the color of
your pee and how clear it is. But a urinalysis, a test of your urine, can tell
a lot more. Your doctor can use it to diagnose or keep an eye on several health
conditions.
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Blood in Your Urine
Call your doctor right
away if you see blood in your urine. It could be caused by something fairly
harmless, like hard exercise or medication. Or it may be a sign of
something more serious like kidney disease, an enlarged prostate, bladder
cancer, or sickle cell anemia.
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A Closer Look
Some foods and medicines
can change the color of your pee. For example, beets can make it reddish or
dark brown, asparagus can make it green, and carrots can turn it orange.
Certain antacids can turn your pee a shade of blue, and some chemotherapy
medicines can make it orange. Sometimes an unusual color can be a sign of a
health problem. Talk to your doctor if your pee suddenly changes color and
you’re not sure why.
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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.
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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 usually happen because
bacteria has gotten into your bladder or your urethra, the tube that carries
pee out of your body. Your doctor can test a sample of your urine to find out
if you have one. If you do, it can be treated with antibiotics.
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Hyperglycemia
This is when you have
too much sugar (glucose) in your blood. High levels of glucose also can show up
in your urine. You can't tell by looking at it, but your doctor can check by
testing a sample. It can be a sign of diabetes and can lead to heart disease,
stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and other problems.
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Diabetes
If your doctor thinks
you might have diabetes, she might test to see if you have things called
ketones in your blood and urine. Your body makes these when it starts to break
down fat for energy because it can’t use sugar for energy like it should.
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Dehydration
If your pee looks dark
and you’re not going as often as usual, that could mean you don’t have enough
water in your body. 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.
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Pregnancy
A chemical strip from a
drugstore pregnancy kit can test a woman’s urine for a hormone that will only
be there if she’s pregnant (it's called human chorionic gonadotropin or hCG).
The results are most likely to be accurate 5 to 10 days after a missed period.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Kidney Stones
If your doctor thinks
you have kidney stones -- when certain minerals form tiny rocks that block the
tubes you use to pee -- she’ll test your urine for calcium and a certain kind
of acid. These tests can also help find problems with your small intestine,
parathyroid glands, or kidneys.
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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.
There’s no cure, and doctors aren’t sure what causes this condition that mostly
affects women.
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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.
This tool does not provide medical advice
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