‘How I knew I had inflammatory breast cancer’: 6 survivors' symptoms
The Truth About Urine
Let's face it: Most of us don't give much thought to our pee before we flush it out of sight. But the basic details of your urine — color, smell, and how often you go — can give you a hint about what's going on inside your body.
Pee is your body's liquid waste, mainly made of water, salt, electrolytes such as potassium and phosphorus, and chemicals called urea and uric acid. Your kidneys make it when they filter toxins and other bad stuff from your blood. Many things, such as medications, foods, and illnesses, can affect your pee.
You can learn a lot about your health from the color of your urine.
The color of your urine can change depending on things like what you eat, what medicines you take, and how much water you drink. The color can range from light to dark. Most color changes are harmless, but some may indicate health issues. If you notice unusual colors, contact your doctor right away.
Pale/amber urine
If everything is normal and healthy, your pee should be pale yellow to golden. That hue comes from urochrome, which is a waste product from hemoglobin.
Clear urine
If your pee has no color at all, that may be because you've been drinking too much water. Drinking too much water can flush all of the electrolytes from your body, especially sodium, and can create all types of problems in your body, including pressure on your brain. It's known as water intoxication or water poisoning, and it can be fatal. If your kidneys function properly, it's hard to drink yourself into water intoxication. Let your thirst tell you when and how much to drink.
Dark yellow urine
Very dark yellow urine could be a sign that you're dehydrated and just need to get more fluids.
Orange urine
When your pee is tinged orange, it could be caused by one of several things:
Talk to your doctor if your pee is orange.
Pink or red urine
Eating foods such as blackberries, beets, and rhubarb can turn your pee a pinkish-red color. But certain medications, such as the antibiotic rifampin (Rifadin), the UTI drug phenazopyridine (Pyridium), laxatives that contain senna, and certain cancer drugs like anthracyclines can also turn your pee pink or red.
Pink or red pee could also indicate blood in your urine. It doesn't always mean there's a problem, but it can be a sign of kidney disease, a UTI, prostate problems, or a tumor. Always check with your doctor if your pee is pink or red.
Green urine
Green (or blue) urine is pretty rare, and the color is probably caused by dyes in food or medicines you've taken. Medicines that can turn your pee green or bluish-green include amitriptyline (Elavil), cimetidine (Tagamet HB), triamterene (Dyrenium), and promethazine (Phenergan). A few rare medical conditions can also turn your pee green, including familial benign hypercalcemia. Contact your doctor if you have green pee that doesn't go away.
Brown urine
Dark brown pee is usually a sign that you're dehydrated, but it can also be caused by several other things, including:
Black urine
Black urine is caused by a rare condition called alkaptonuria. It results from a genetic defect in your HGD gene. This gene tells your body how to make the enzyme homogentisate oxidase, which mainly works in your liver and kidneys. When you have alkaptonuria, your body can't break down certain amino acids, causing homogentisic acid to build up. The acid is excreted in your pee, turning it brownish-black when exposed to air.
Purple urine
You'll likely never have purple pee, but there is a rare phenomenon called purple urine bag syndrome. It happens mostly when people have long-term catheterizations and the urinary catheters and bags turn purple. The pee usually stays yellow. There's no scientific proof of why it happens, but researchers think it could be from bacteria in the urine or a change in how the amino acid tryptophan is being broken down in the body.
Milky urine
Milky or cloudy pee is usually not much of a concern but it could signal a health condition, such as highly alkaline urine, kidney problems, or an STD. But milky urine also could just mean you're dehydrated or you've been eating a lot of fruits and vegetables. Talk to your doctor if you're worried about having cloudy pee.
Foamy urine
No matter what color your pee is, talk to your doctor if it consistently looks foamy and frothy. It may indicate protein in your urine, which may suggest kidney issues.
Urine color changes in early pregnancy
When you're pregnant, your pee can change color depending on several things, including your hormones, diet, and hydration. If you don't drink enough water, your pee can turn dark in color. The hormone hCG, which is produced by your placenta, also can slightly darken your pee's color. If your pee looks pink or red, that could be a sign of a UTI or kidney infection. Talk to your doctor right away if you have an abnormal urine color or if your pee is pink or red while you're pregnant.
Pee doesn't usually have a strong smell. But some foods and supplements can change the odor. If you catch a whiff of something really strong before you flush, it might also be a sign of a UTI, diabetes, a bladder infection, or a metabolic disease.
Sweet smelling urine
Several things can make your pee smell sweet, including a UTI, high blood sugar, or uncontrolled diabetes. If you notice your pee suddenly smells sweet, call your doctor right away for a urinalysis. The sweet smell could be from chemicals in your pee that your body is getting rid of, such as bacteria, glucose, or amino acids. Your doctor will need to find out the cause to treat it.
Sulfur smell in urine
Eating asparagus will make your pee smell like sulfur. That's because your body converts asparagusic acid into sulfur-containing chemicals, which you end up peeing out. But a few other things, such as dehydration, vitamin B supplements, and some medications, can cause your pee to have a sulfur smell. Rare conditions such as hypermethioninemia (too much amino acid methionine in your blood), liver problems, and bladder problems might also create a sulfur smell in your urine.
Ammonia smell in urine
When you're dehydrated, your pee gets very concentrated and can be foul-smelling like ammonia. But it could also be a sign of a UTI, kidney stones, liver disease, some STDs, prostate infection, or even menopause.
Maple syrup urine odor
Urine that smells like maple syrup is caused by maple syrup urine disease (MSUD). It's a genetic metabolic disorder that prevents your body from properly breaking down three amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, and valine. When these amino acids build up in your body, they cause pee to smell like maple syrup. Symptoms usually show up before age 7. If you notice your child's pee smells like maple syrup, contact their doctor right away because MSUD can be life-threatening if left untreated.
Everyone is different, but most people need to empty their bladders about seven to eight times a day. That number can change depending on how much you eat and drink or what medications you take. Pregnant women and older people usually have to pee more often.
If you notice you suddenly have to pee more than usual, it could be a sign of a health problem such as a UTI, kidney disease, diabetes, an enlarged prostate in men, vaginitis in women, or a problem with the wall of your bladder called interstitial cystitis.
If you often feel that you suddenly "gotta go" and sometimes can't get to the bathroom in time, you may have an overactive bladder. It's a common condition for older men and women, though it's not a normal part of aging. Your doctor can tell you how to treat it with lifestyle changes and medications.
Don't be afraid to contact your doctor any time you see an unusual change in your pee that isn't a side effect of medications. Call your doctor if the change lasts more than a day or so, or if you also have a fever, back or side pain, vomiting, excessive thirst, or unusual discharge. Your doctor can test your urine to see what's going on.
The color and smell of your pee can change because of several things, including your diet, water intake, medications, and how much you exercise. Most of these aren't reasons for concern, but sometimes, the color of your pee and how it smells could be a sign of a health problem. Talk to your doctor right away if you're concerned or if your pee's color doesn't return to the normal shade of yellow in a day or so.
Which urine color is abnormal?
Urine should be pale yellow to golden in color. If your pee is pink or red, orange, blue, green, or brown, it could be a sign of a health problem, although urine changes color for many different reasons.
What is the urine color when the kidneys are failing?
Dark brown pee could be a sign that you have kidney disease or you have kidney failure.
What causes excessive urination?
Several health conditions can cause frequent urination, including diabetes, enlarged prostate, UTI, neurological issues, and certain medications. Pregnancy also can make you pee more often than normal.
Watch A Trained Pup Detect Prostate Cancer From A Urine Sample
Electronic noses that detect cancers by their signature scents still can't match the accuracy of a dog's. That's why Andreas Mershin and his team are looking to canines to teach machine learning algorithms to sniff out cancers. In a study published February 17 in PLOS ONE, the researchers integrate canine diagnoses of prostate cancer, sniffed out from urine samples, with machine odor analysis.
The researchers' canine collaborators were Florin, a four-year-old female Labrador, and Midas, a seven-year-old female Wirehaired Vizsla, from Medical Detection Dogs in the UK. The dogs detected prostate cancer from urine samples with 70 percent accuracy. By combining the dogs' decisions and chemical analysis of urine scents, the researchers trained artificial intelligence to make diagnoses with similar accuracy.
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Urine-based Test Detects Aggressive Prostate Cancer
Traditional approaches to prostate cancer screening involve blood tests, MRI, and biopsies.
However, in addition to being uncomfortable, some of these procedures result in overdiagnosis of low-grade cancers.
In a new study, researchers at the University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center have clinically validated a previously developed urine test, which can potentially bypass these invasive procedures among men who are unlikely to benefit.
Prostate cancers are categorized based on their Gleason Grade or Grade Group.
Those with Gleason 3+4=7, or Grade Group 2, or higher are more likely to grow and cause harm in comparison with Gleason 6 or Grade Group 1 prostate cancers, which are considered non-aggressive.
The urine test, called MyProstateScore 2.0, or MPS2, looks at 18 different genes linked to high-grade prostate cancer.
The researchers had previously demonstrated that the test was effective in identifying GG2 or higher cancers, helping patients avoid unnecessary biopsies.
However, in that study, urine samples were obtained after a digital rectal examination.
"The process requires the prostate to be compressed, causing the release of cellular debris into a urine sample that the patient provides after the rectal exam," said Ganesh S. Palapattu, M.D., a professor of urology.
Such an examination may not be practical for many and is associated with some discomfort.
Developing a potential at-home test
In the study, the team modified the urine collection approach so that the MPS2 test could detect markers for prostate cancer, without requiring a prior rectal exam.
Using urine samples from a cohort of 266 men who did not undergo a rectal exam, they found that the test could detect 94% of GG2 or higher cancers and was more sensitive than blood tests.
Further, the team used mathematical models to demonstrate that the use of MPS2 would have avoided up to 53% of unnecessary biopsies.
"These results show that MPS2 has promise as an at-home test," Palapattu said.
"Its primary benefit is that the test can accurately predict your probability of developing aggressive prostate cancer, putting both the patient and physician at ease."
MPS2 can also help patients save on healthcare costs since it is significantly cheaper than an MRI.
The team is interested in repeating the study and corroborating their results with a larger, diverse population of men.
They're also hoping to study the test's performance in men as a surveillance screen for low-risk prostate cancer.
"MPS2 could potentially improve the health of our patients by avoiding overdiagnosis and overtreatment and allowing us to focus on those who are most likely to have aggressive cancers," Palapattu said.
MPS2 is currently available through Lynx Dx, a University of Michigan spin-off company that has an exclusive university license to commercialize MPS2. Patients interested in learning more can call the Michigan Medicine Cancer AnswerLine at 800-865-1125.
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