Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog. Today we would be talking about a bye product of the body that we send out every day. Some do it in the morning, some doing it in the midnight; I can even bet some of you have done it before reading this article. Let your mind not wander too far, we would talk about urine!!!
INTRODUCTION
I won’t be surprised if you think urine is made up of only water, well you are partly correct. I believe after reading this article, you would have been able to get more information about the urine you produce on a daily basis.
Firstly, Urine is produced by the kidneys. The kidneys two paired- flattened bean-shaped structures which weigh about 300g found lying close to the waist region a little towards the vertebral column (They are said to be retro-peritoneally located)
The urine produced by the kidneys come out via the urethra and finally through the external openings in the genitals. When you take a pee, you can observe the color and see it’s obvious colorless, (well we call that amber color). But what happens when the color changes? Say to Red or yellow, it calls for concern because there may be some on-going problems with the kidneys.
URINE COLOURS AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE
RED URINE: if the urine passed is red, then this condition is called haematuria. This can originate from any part along the urogenital system when they are exposed to an infection, trauma or even exercise! When haematuria is the main complain made to a doctor, would have to make sure he asks further questions to exclude x-linked diseases like Alport's syndrome, Fabry’s disease or even kidney stones which is more prevalent in white than black race amongst the list of another differential diagnosis. Drugs could also cause a red discoloration of the urine so every information is vital to help your doctor decipher the cause.
BROWN URINE: The urine can also turn brown; this can also be as a result of some medical causes like myoglobinuria which occurs when part of the muscles is shed in the urine, alkaptonuria - a familial condition in which urine turns brown on exposure to air, or even a porphyria.
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YELLOW URINE: Yellow urine maybe as a result of jaundice, or dehydration. A number of other infectious diseases peculiar to the tropics can also be implicated e.g. malaria!
INVESTIGATIONS THAT CAN BE DONE WITH URINE
When these colors are observed, the urine is sent to the laboratory for further analysis. An important investigation called Urinalysis can help point out some other problems in the urine!
URINALYSIS
This is a simple test done with a standard dipstick to access the presence of majorly protein, blood, and glucose in the urine. It can also be used to access other parameters like the PH of the urine, the specific gravity etc:
URINE MICROSCOPY SENSITIVITY AND CULTURE
This is also an investigation done to identify the culprit organism in the urine. It also helps to point out the best line of treatment for any on-going bacterial infection present in the urine.
There are other urine investigations that can be done, but I would not bother you with the details.
DIAGNOSIS.
This is the identification of the particular type of illness that was gotten from the urine investigations and the urinary symptoms, including any past important medical history of note.
SOME KEYNOTES
- If glucose and ketone bodies are picked up during a urinalysis, it may be a pointer towards diabetes mellitus.
- If urobilinogen is picked up, it may point towards a kidney problem
- If protein is present in urine in a pregnant woman, that can be talking about preeclampsia.
- If calcium is seen in urine, it may be a pointer to kidney stones
- If some bacteria are found in urine, it may be a pointer towards urinary tract infection
CONCLUSION
From the above, it could be seen that with urine can tell so many stories about the health of the body. So whenever you experience any abnormality in the normal process in the passage of urine, e.g. passing urine frequently (frequency), painful urinating (dysuria) or even waking up at night to go to the toilet to take a pee (nocturia).
Maybe you are not passing enough urine as compared to before (oliguria) and you think it’s cool, there may be something really going on in your body! All these urinary symptoms can coexist with others that have nothing to do with urine. You do not have to wait until you see a change in the color of your urine before going to the hospital to make a complaint. You can always raise an alarm to get help early by an expert.
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