Healthy urine consists of yellow waste products that dissolve in water. However, there are a series of shades or color of urine that may be telling us that we need to drink more water, or in the worst case a visit to the doctor. Keep reading because below we will explain the possible cause that you are not urinating of the normal and adequate color of optimal health.
The smell and color of urine can be an indicator of health
For a doctor, just as the colors and shapes of the stool can provide great information about the health status of a patient, urine can also be the key to knowing. One way for doctors to find out what is going on inside the body is to examine what is coming out of it.
So don't be surprised if the next time your doctor requests a urine sample for a seemingly non-urinary complaint. In fact, by submitting that small sample, you are participating in a medical tradition dating back more than 6,000 years.
Today, urinalysis can reveal a lot about a person's health. But even the simple color of simple urine alerts us when to seek medical attention. The color of urine can change due to something as harmless as medicine or food, or as malicious as infection or cancer.
Pink or red urine
If the urine is pink or red, due to the presence of blood, it is enough cause for alarm.
If you see blood in your urine, even once, you need to see a doctor. It may be nothing, but it could be a sign of an early kidney stone or cancer of some kind.
Color "Coca-Cola"
This red color is not the only indication of danger. Sometimes it has a color like Coca-Cola. This may be due to old blood from a tumor or kidney stone, or a blood clot in the kidney, which is very common in people with sickle cell disease.
Another reason people might get urine colored from this soda is from crush injuries, such as those suffered during earthquakes, because the muscle has been crushed, and pieces of this tissue enter the bloodstream. and are filtered by the kidneys.
Foamy urine
Don't be alarmed if a little foam remains in your urine when you urinate. It commonly happens when you urinate too fast. But if the foam still continues and you urinate slowly or as you normally do, you should consult your doctor. This condition could be indicating that there are high levels of protein in what you eat, or perhaps possible problems in the kidneys.
Color of urine of the brown type
Liver damage can also lead to brown urine, as can porphyria, an inherited blood disease. And also eating large amounts of fava beans or rhubarb can turn urine dark brown or black.
Clear urine
It might seem like a contradiction, since the cleaner the urine, the fewer the related problems, but having clear urine could mean that you are drinking more water than you need. It is recommended only to drink the amount of water necessary for your body, which would be more or less between 6 to 8 glasses of water daily.
If you urinate transparent, it means that your body is over-hydrated, and perhaps this could lead to a series of complications, such as that your kidneys may not be able to work that fast to remove urine out of your body accumulating a lot of water in the body.
This can cause imbalances between the sodium and water in your blood.
Blue or green urine
Green or blue urine can be due to a genetic condition called "hypercalcemia", which is a rare inherited disorder that even affects babies.
Commonly, this color in urine results from dyes in food. Certain dyes used in some tests to determine bladder and kidney function also turn urine blue. If even after these tests you still have this color, get the relevant tests to rule out urinary tract infections.
Orange
There can be a number of causes orange colored urine. Problems in the bile duct or liver, can be possible problems that cause this color. Also check if your stools are of this type of color, since if they are, this can be closely linked to similar conditions.
Dehydration can also cause a deep, concentrated orange color in your urine.
Urine color from medications
But not all abnormal urine colors are bad news. In fact, if you've eaten large amounts of beets or blackberries, don't be surprised by red or pink urine. And certain laxatives can also turn it red.
The same goes for orange urine, if you've taken a urinary tract pain reliever that contains phenazopyridine , your urine may look like orange soda. That the medicines change the color of the urine, this is already something very well known.
Methylene blue, which is part of some common medications for bladder discomfort, can turn urine blue or green. And too much water-soluble vitamins can make urine appear brighter yellow than normal.
Strange smells
An inherited condition, maple syrup urinary disease, so named because it makes urine smell as sweet as maple syrup, comes from the body's inability to digest certain amino acids.
It is usually diagnosed in children treated with dietary restrictions, who must start early to prevent brain damage or other problems. In many states, every newborn is tested for this disease.
The sweet smell of urine can also indicate diabetes mellitus, as excess sugar in the blood makes its way into the urine. And as medieval doctors already knew, sugar also affects the taste of urine, but this is a diagnostic test that you probably prefer to do as little as possible.
But that is not all. The studs provide urine a peculiar smell that only some people can perceive.
At the laboratory
According to doctors, the probability of seeing patients with strange colored urine is one percent. So most of the clues that doctors look for in urine are invisible, only detectable in the laboratory in a urinalysis.
There are test strips that you can dip into your urine and determine the likelihood of infection. Analytical labs can also test for tiny amounts of blood sugar, amino acids, and other molecules.
This assumes a concentration number in the urine, and in the drug filter. And by examining the tiny crystals in urine under a microscope, doctors can diagnose certain types of kidney stones.
Dehydration is the most likely urinary problem people will encounter. And dehydration, as seemingly mundane as it is, can be a very serious and fast problem, especially for the urinary system.
The problem appears when the urine becomes concentrated, the ducts can become clogged. When the kidneys become occluded, it can lead to kidney failure.
An average adult needs to drink about one and a half liters of water a day, and try to pee that same amount of water, so if you sweat a lot, you may have to drink a lot more.
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