Pee that smells like ammonia If you detect a hint of ammonia in your urine, it could be a sign of a urinary tract infection (UTI). The odor suggests that bacteria may be swimming around in your urinary system, most likely in your urethra, kidneys or bladder.
Urinary tract infection: Foul-smelling urine is a symptom of a urinary tract infection. Other symptoms are cloudy urine, an urgent need to urinate, or a burning sensation while urinating. The foul smell may be the only symptom of a urinary tract infection.
Sometimes you can sniff out a UTI. Often, your urine has a foul smell when you have a bacterial infection of the urinary tract. For some women with mild infections, strong smelling urine may be the only symptom.
Some foods and medications, such as asparagus or certain vitamins, can cause a noticeable urine odor, even in low concentrations. Sometimes, unusual urine odor indicates a medical condition or disease, such as: Cystitis (bladder inflammation)
Kidney disease causes chemicals in urine to become concentrated and to cause a smell resembling ammonia. Kidney dysfunction can also cause high bacteria and protein levels in the urine, which will contribute to a foul ammonia smell.
Cloudy or milky urine is a sign of a urinary tract infection, which may also cause a bad smell. Milky urine may also be caused by bacteria, crystals, fat, white or red blood cells, or mucus in the urine.
Bladder infections are a type of UTI, but not all urinary tract infections are bladder infections. A UTI is defined as an infection in one or more places in the urinary tract—the ureters, kidneys, urethra, and/or bladder. A bladder infection is a UTI that's only located in the bladder.
If your UTI goes untreated, it may progress into a more serious infection. “An untreated bladder infection can become a kidney or prostate infection. These infections are more serious, because they can travel through the blood stream causing sepsis. Sepsis makes people very ill and can even be critical,” Dr.
What Does Diabetic Urine Smell Like? One warning sign of diabetes or high blood sugar is urine that smells sweet or fruity. The sweetness comes from sugar in your urine and is a sign your body is trying to get rid of extra sugar in your blood.
“Yes, a UTI could go away on its own, but some infections are different than others,” he says. “And if left untreated, it may linger longer.” UTIs are classified into two main categories: uncomplicated, also known as cystitis; and complicated, which may be catheter-associated or happen during pregnancy.
When urine is highly concentrated, it contains more ammonia and less water. This can cause it to have a strong smell. Urine tends to be more concentrated when a person is dehydrated. This is often the case first thing in the morning or when a person does not drink enough water throughout the day.
urinary stones – these may cause an ammonia-like odour (read about bladder stones and kidney stones)
Treatment for UTIs
Your symptoms will normally pass within 3 to 5 days of starting treatment. Make sure you complete the whole course of antibiotics that you've been prescribed, even if you're feeling better. Over-the-counter pain relief such as paracetamol can help with any pain.
When left untreated, the infection from a UTI can actually move throughout the body—becoming very serious and even life threatening. If you do not treat a bladder infection, it may turn into a kidney infection, which can then result in a more serious infection that's moved into the blood stream.
During the infection — and after — make sure to drink a lot of water, at least 12 8-ounce cups per day. This will flush out your system and help prevent future infections. If you feel like you've got to go, GO! Don't hold it, as this simply delays getting rid of more bacteria.
Simple bladder infections may go away on their own in about a week — even without antibiotics. If you don't have any symptoms of a kidney infection and you aren't pregnant or at high risk of developing complicated UTI, you may opt for a “wait-and-see” approach to antibiotic treatment.
If you're like most people, you probably think of burning or pain with urination being an unavoidable consequence of a UTI. In reality, many urinary tract infections do not cause painful urination, and some patients with UTIs are completely asymptomatic.
You can buy over-the-counter UTI dipstick tests at your local pharmacy or online. They work much like a pregnancy test: Each kit comes with a testing strip (usually three to a kit). You wet a test strip by holding it in your urine stream for a few seconds.
UTIs can be found by analyzing a urine sample. The urine is examined under a microscope for bacteria or white blood cells, which are signs of infection. Your health care provider may also take a urine culture. This test examines urine to detect and identify bacteria and yeast, which may be causing a UTI.
When your kidneys are failing, a high concentration and accumulation of substances lead to brown, red, or purple urine. Studies suggest the urine color is due to abnormal protein or sugar as well as high numbers of cellular casts and red and white blood cells.
Not everyone with a UTI has symptoms, but most people have at least one. Symptons may include a frequent urge to urinate and a painful, burning feeling in the area of the bladder or urethra during urination. It is not unusual to feel bad all over—tired, shaky, washed out—and to feel pain even when not urinating.