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Pale, Yellow…, What the Colour of Your Urine Says About Your Health

A trip to the toilet may be more revealing than you think. “The appearance and smell of your urine—as well as the frequency with which you have to go—can provide many clues to what else is going on in your body.

I stumbled on this article by MSN, and I felt it’s worth sharing here.

Looking pale
If your urine is as colourless as water, well, that’s probably because you’ve been drinking a lot of water. And besides the inconvenience of going to the bathroom many times a day because your bladder is filling up with fluid faster, there’s really nothing medically worrisome about having a light coloured output.

Too dark
If your urine has a brownish, iced tea-coloured tinge, that could be a sign that you are dehydrated and the kidney is producing more concentrated (as opposed to diluted) urine. The urine gives good indications of the body’s level of hydration. Another reason to get yourself checked out if you see dark urine—especially if it doesn’t lighten up after you drink a few glasses of water—is that the cause could actually be blood. It won’t be as obvious as a bright red drop in the toilet, but it could be a sign of bleeding higher up in the kidney which could indicate an infection, kidney disease or even cancer.

Sweet smelling
Catching a whiff of something sugary sweet after you pee might actually be a clue to something very serious going on in your body. A sugary smell might indicate the presence of blood sugar that’s being excreted in the urine. You should see a doctor if you notice this sign

Funny smelling
It can be a little bit disconcerting, but, smelling an odd odour when you pee is probably nothing to be worried about. Certain foods—asparagus, most notoriously—produce a sulphur-containing amino acid. So when the food is broken down in the digestive system, those smelly substances are released, filtered through the kidney, and then make their way into the urine where they create an unpleasant scent. As soon as the food responsible has been fully digested and flushed from your system completely, the smell will vanish as well.

Bright yellow
Urine that looks nearly neon-coloured may seem somewhat alarming, but the cause is most likely nothing more sinister than your daily multivitamin pill. The B vitamins and carotene in particular give the urine a deeper, more golden colour. And don’t worry: That brightly coloured urine means you’re simply pissing away all of your expensive supplements.

A spot of blood
Seeing a splash of red in the toilet can mean many things—some quite benign, others quite serious. For that reason, you should always have your doctor check your urine if you see blood.

Always gotta go
You’ve seen the commercials of people racing to the bathroom in a panic because they have to go so often and so urgently. There are a variety of possible causes, and unless you are going so often that it’s truly affecting your life, frequent bathroom urges probably are not cause for concern (or for taking the medications advertised in those commercials). Look first at your diet and lifestyle. If you’ve suddenly picked up the habit of toting a water bottle with you everywhere and have greatly increased your H2O intake, the reason could be as simple as the fact that you’re filling your bladder up more often and more quickly than you used to—and, consequently, it needs to be emptied more frequently than it used to. Or maybe you’ve recently changed your diet to include foods that contain more water (such as fruits and vegetables) and act as diuretics, or begun taking medications (like drugs used to treat high blood pressure) which are also diuretics.

A burning sensation
If you are suddenly experiencing pain when you pee, it’s highly likely that you are experiencing one of the first signs of a urinary tract infection. Such infections are incredibly common among sexually active, pre-menopausal women, thanks to the fact that the female anatomy puts a relatively short urinary canal in close proximity with the vagina and rectum. That proximity makes it very easy for bacteria to find its way into the urethra and up the urinary canal. The male anatomy makes urinary tract infections a much rarer event for men, but they can happen. Related article: Don’t Ever Pee In The Pool! It Can Kill You!!

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