Pee is not the most fun subject, but it is an interesting one, especially when it comes to your health! Your urine can tell you a lot about your health, especially when it changes or something seems wrong.
Dehydration
If you had a great workout or just spent too long in the heat without enough water, you might be dehydrated. When this happens, your urine will appear cloudy. If you don’t have any other symptoms and it clears up pretty quickly once you get your hydration levels up again, there’s likely nothing to worry about. However, if you up your water intake and still have cloudy urine, it’s time to talk to your doctor.
Kidney stones
Foul-smelling or cloudy urine can be a sign of kidney stones, along with crystallized substances in the urine. These salt and mineral deposits vary in size and normally don’t send out symptoms until they start to move out of your kidney and into the urinary tract. Other symptoms include pain in your stomach, bloody urine, severe pain in your side or back that moves with the stone, vomiting, nausea, chills, fever and the urge to urinate frequently.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Some sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including gonorrhea, cause discharge from the penis that can end up in your urine and make it cloudy. An STD can cause serious issues if it’s not promptly treated, so see your doctor if you could possibly have one.
Diabetes
As reported by Medical News Today, it’s believed around 13.8 to 17 percent of all men in the US have diabetes (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/311173), so it’s definitely something to watch out for. Diabetes can cause your urine to appear cloudy, and the presence of ketones–the byproducts of your body breaking down fats–in urine is among the first signs of this condition.
Prostate infection or enlargement
When your prostate is enlarged, it can cause you to be unable to completely empty your bladder. When the bladder doesn’t fully empty and flush out all of your urine, any microbes present can multiply and move into other parts of the urinary tract. This bladder infection, known as cystitis, can cause bloody and/or cloudy urine. It also may cause painful and frequent urination.
If something changes when you pee, don’t ignore it as it can be the sign of more than one health condition. See your doctor about the issue as soon as possible.
