Here Are Several Reasons Why Your Urine Could Smell Bad
Have you noticed that your urine always has a bad smell? Do you want to know the reasons why it smells bad?If so, keep reading and we’ll tell you the most common reasons.
Urine has a characteristic smell given to it by urea. According to the concentration of urea in your body, your urine will have a stronger or weaker smell.Normally, your urine doesn’t have a strong or unpleasant smell.
When a bad smell appears, this is a sign that something is happening in your body. Could be a simple question of changing your diet. Or, it could be due to a more severe health problem.
#1 Dehydration
Smelly urine can also be caused if your body is extremely dehydrated, as dehydration can make your urine very concentrated. So drink enough water every day!
#2 Diabetes
Diabetes can create a sweet or fruity urine smell. Sweet smelling urine can mean your kidneys are filtering out excess glucose. If you have diabetes, this could be a sign you're disease is not being properly controlled. If you haven't been diagnosed with diabetes, it's time to visit your doctor for a screening test.
#3 You’ve Eaten Asparagus
Certain foods can give your urine a strong smell. Asparagus is a likely culprit. It contains a specific compound that, once in your system, gets broken down into sulfur compounds. These are responsible for that smell of rotten eggs. No reason to worry though - the smell goes away after a few rounds of urination. Certain medications can cause a strong odor, too.
#4 Kidney stones
Smelly urine, especially if it’s pinkish in color, could be an indication of kidney stones. You will also experience severe pain where your kidneys are located.
#5 Holding Urine
If you need to go, let it flow. Urine starts to get old and smelly when you frequently hold it in throughout the day.This condition is referred to as 'teacher’s bladder' or 'trucker’s bladder' because those are the people who tend to hold it in a lot since they don’t have as much time in the day to go to the bathroom due to their hectic schedules.
If you’re prone to infections or bacteria then the bacteria will grow and grow until you pee them out.But if you’re holding on to it, you will get extra pungent urine.
#6 Urinary Tract Infection
If you notice an ammonia smell immediately after you urinate, you might have a urinary tract infection (UTI). A very strong ammonia smell may indicate a severe infection, although some people with a UTI do not notice a change in urine odor. Other symptoms of a UTI include burning pain with urination and the need to urinate frequently but passing little urine. Fever and back pain might also occur. Contact your healthcare provider if you suspect you might have a UTI.
#7 You drank a ton of coffee.
Ever drink a ton of coffee on a particularly exhausting day, and thought you were going crazy because then your pee kind of maybe smelled a little bit like coffee? Well, it's not your imagination.
Coffee beans contain a compound called caffeol, which is released during roasting—giving coffee that delicious, drink-me-now aroma. But it’s insoluble in water, which means it remains intact as it runs through your system and out when you take a leak.
So if you drink enough coffee—especially if you’ve been skimping on water and you’re a little dehydrated—the caffeol will be more concentrated and that can give your pee a slight coffee-like smell.
#8 You started a new Supplement Or Medication
Some vitamins, medications and supplements have ingredients that can change pee smell, and sometimes the appearance as well. Anyone who’s taken a multivitamin—especially one that contains vitamin B—and peed neon yellow after can attest to that.
Medications like antibiotics can also cause your pee to smell, because those that contain penicillin are derived from mold. That can give your urine a yeasty or fungus-like funk, but it should dissipate once you run through your antibiotic course.
#9 You're Ovulating
The same hormones that help you during the fetal gestation period (estrogen and progesterone) also regulate your menstrual cycle.
These hormones have a small effect on the smell of your urine. Because of this, when you’re ovulating, you can notice that your urine has a bad smell similar to ammonia.
#10 Sexually transmitted diseases
As if sexually transmitted diseases weren't enough of a bag full of fun, some of them can also cause foul-smelling urine. Chlamydia is the most common culprit, followed by trichomoniasis, a sexually-transmitted parasite. If you even suspect you have one of these diseases, get screened immediately. Both often show no or very mild symptoms at their onset—wait too long and smelly pee will be the least of your problems
#11 You ate a bunch of garlic and onions.
They don't just make your breath reek, but garlic and onions can actually make your urine smelly, too. Something the body produces when it breaks these down maintains the odor even in the urine.
It's not surprising, when you think about how permanent the stench seems in your mouth, that it can somehow survive the body's most rigorous cleansing process, too.
