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Strong Smelling Urine like Ammonia: Causes, Foul, Fishy, no Pain

urine color chart

urine color chart

In most cases, pee usually tells a lot about the health of a person. Also, while the color your pee has is a clear indicator of your hydration levels, dietary habits, and potentially, undiagnosed medical condition, the smell produced by it is also a clue of what is going on in your body.

Strong smelling Urine – Overview

Naturally, urine has an odor that is unique to everyone. It doesn’t usually have a strong odor. Most cases you may notice that your urine occasionally has a stronger smell than it normally does.
This might not at all the time cause for concern. Sometimes strong or unusual smelling urine is a sign of an underlying medical problem that can be treated by home remedies or over the counter medication.
Odor in urine is a symptom of many conditions. It can be as a result of many symptoms that may include infection, feeling of inflammation and some other conditions of ureters, bladder and urethra. This urine odor can also be caused by some disease such as dehydration and diabetes, which affect the urinary tract as well as other body systems.

Smelly Urine Causes

Many conditions can cause unusual or strong smelling urine. Strong odor in urine can be a good way to tell you a lot about your body health. When it is bright yellow, it is a pretty good indicator of hydration levels, potentially dietary habits and undiagnosed medical conditions, this smell can also clue you in to what’s going on inside your body. The most common causes include:

  1. Dehydration

Dehydration is a condition that occurs when you don’t drink enough fluids. You are likely to notice that when you are dehydrated your urine appears bright yellow and smells like ammonia. This is due to lack of enough water for dilution which make the urine to be concentrated with waste products making it to appear bright yellow with a strong odor. Most people may experience minor dehydration and may not require medical treatment at quick as it appears. Drinking more fluids most of water, will generally cause urine odor to return to normal. Alcohol and coffee are both diuretics, which mean they make you urinate more often.

  1. Diabetes

Sweet-smelling urine is a common symptom of diabetes. When you have diabetes that is not treated you experience high blood sugar level. High blood sugar levels cause the sweet urine odor. If you don’t have diabetes and just go on a sugar binge, it won’t have the same effect, because your body effectively makes insulin and keeps your blood sugar levels in check.

  1. Urinary tract infections

Some urinary tracts infections like STIs mostly are the causes of strong smelling urine. A strong urge to urinate and sometime a burning sensation upon urination are most common symptoms of STIs. Bacteria in your urine are major causes of urinary tract infections. After you have been tested by your doctor they’ll give you antibiotics to kill the bacteria.

  1. Bladder fistula

Bladder fistula is a condition that occurs when you have an injury or defect that allows bacteria from your intestines to enter your bladder. Bladder fistulas condition can occur due to surgical injuries and diseases such as ulcerative colitis, inflammatory bowel disease or Crohn’s disease.

  1. Pregnancy

Hormone changes associated with pregnancy can increase the risk of bladder infections and vaginal discharge both of which can produce smelly urine.

  1. Maple syrup disease

Maple syrup is a genetic disorder in which your urine smells like maple syrup. Usually in this condition, certain proteins are unable to be broken down. If a patient does not change their diet accordingly to adjust to their disease, it normally results in brain damage or even death.

  1. Eating too much garlic and onions

Garlic and onions are usually associated with strong smelling urine. Your body produces this odor when it breaks them down and maintains the odor even in the urine. Let it not surprise you when you think about how permanent the stench seems in your mouth. It can somehow survive the body’s most rigorous cleansing process also.

  1. Liver diseases

Liver diseases can be a condition that is associated with a strong urine odor. Liver disease has many other symptoms that may include vomiting, nausea, body weaknesses, weight loss and abdominal pain. You are advised to see a doctor if you have symptoms of liver diseases

  1. Phenylketonuria

This is a genetic disease that is incurable present at birth. This disease makes it unable for breaking down amino acid called phenylalanine. When these metabolites accumulate in the body, you may produce a strong smelling urine. Some other symptoms of this disease include mental defects, decreased skin pigmentation and slow-developing social skills. Usually, if this disease is not treated early, it can lead to severe mental handicaps

  1. Vaginitis

Vaginal infection is another condition that results to bad smell in urine. Bacteria yeast and sexually transmitted diseases can cause vaginal discharge, painful urination, itchiness and discomfort during sex.

  1. Prostatitis

Men who suffer from this type of a disease my develop infections in the bladder which may lead to strong smelling urine along with pain in the abdomen, frequency in urination, back pains and sometime pains in the groins.

  1. Food, drinks and vitamins supplements

There are some drinks and food and natural supplements that can change the smell of your urine. Some of them may make the smell strong than usual while others may only increase the normal smell of the urine a little. Some of the common examples may include: asparagus, Vitamins B and caffeine

  1. Some medications

If you are under some medications such as antibiotics or any medicine derived from mold, this may result to changes in the normal smell of the urine. Also, multivitamin medications can produce the same side effects. In this case, you may talk to your doctor either to switch your medicines to another one or stop if necessary to control strong smell in urine if it is causing embarrassment in you.

Foul smelling Urine no Pain

Usually if there is no pain associated with strong smelling urine, it is usually not a cause for alarm. Maybe it is a high concentration of uric acid or urea in the urine which makes it to produce foul smell. In most cases it might happen to people who assume the urge of urinating and therefore this allows the urine to become highly concentrated hence resulting to a foul smell.
In this case, you only need to drink more water and respond to the call to visiting the wash rooms. In some cases may acquire some pro-biotic over the counter and within a few days the results in restoring your normal urine smell.
The pro-biotic generally help[s to keep the immune system pretty healthy and help to starve off any low level infections. Another way to control smelly urine condition is by drinking cranberry juice or other drinks that may help in flashing your kidneys.

Urine smells like Ammonia

Urine can vary in color and smell based on the type of foods and drinks you take in a day. Moreover, there are some foods and drinks out of the ordinary that may result to urinating urine that smells like ammonia. A good example of this case is a sweet smell from the urine which is a clear indication that you took food rich in excess glucose.
Ammonia smell in urine is usually felt like a strong chemical smell. However, urine that smells like ammonia is usually not a cause of concern although some time you have to be careful with this condition.

Smelly Urine in Men

Smelly urine in men can result from a number of factors some of which we have already discussed above. In most cases, the odor of the urine in men is due to the concentration of various chemicals and toxins excreted by the kidneys. Usually the way your urine smell is normally attributed to urea content it has. Therefore, the higher the level of urea concentration, the stronger the odor it produces. Moreover, the smell of the urine a man produce may as well depend on the consistency of the urine, that is, concentrated urine has a strong smell.
Some of the common reasons why men produce strong smelling urine are because of dehydration, urinary tract infection, diabetes, bladder infection, asparagus and many other reasons that we have discussed above that are not meant for women.

Smelly Urine STD Symptom

Most people usually assume that smelly urine is automatically caused by sexually transmitted infections. That is not always the case as all the conditions we have talked about above are to be blamed. Chlamydia is one of the well -known sexually transmitted infection that can result in strong smelling urine.  It can be easily treated but usually difficult to detect. The reason behind this is that its symptoms can be disregarded or misdiagnosed as side effects for other conditions. Some of the other common symptoms for chlamydia include:

Sexually transmitted diseases are usually contracted by having unprotected sex. Therefore if you recently had unsafe sex you can therefore connect it to the strong smelling urine so long as it is associated with some of the other symptoms we have stated above.

Strong smelling Urine Treatment

When looking at the right treatment for strong smelling urine, you have to consider the underlying condition that result in this symptom. Treatment may range from simple things such as drinking more water to more complicated treatments like those involved when dealing with diabetes, kidney stones or liver problems. Treatment may involve the use of over the counter medication or just using simple remedies that are found at the comfort of your home.
Home remedies for strong smelling urine
This condition can lead to an embarrassing situation and can even lower one’s self esteem especially if you are using a bathroom in your guest’s place. There are several home remedies you can use to deal with this condition and most of them are easily found at the comfort of your home. You may use the following tips while dealing with this problem:

  1. Stay hydrated

When urine smells strongly in some cases it means that you have highly concentrated urine that contains much urea and body waste. This means that your body is dehydrated. Drinking a lot of water may help to bring the concentration down and therefore reduce the odor smell. It is advised that you should take at least 8 glasses of water in a day for a healthy living. Generally water helps in flushing out toxins and waste that may be one of the reason you have a strong smell in your urine.

  1. Lower down your protein intake

It is said that protein is the cause of much urea production in the body. Therefore if your protein intake is high it means you will produce much urea and therefore strong smelling urine. In this case, you may reduce the amount of protein you take to reduce the amount of urea produce by the body and as a result get rid of odor smell in your urine.

  1. Urinate more often

Although it is not very necessary but this condition can be controlled by peeing when you feeling the urge rather than waiting the bladder to be completely full. It has been confirmed that this can reduce the odor of the urine, as it spends very little time being in the bladder and therefore is less concentrated.

  1. Find out the medication you are using

There are some medicines that when taken they may make your urine to produce a strange smell especially if the medicine is very strong. This is normally considered as one of the side effect of such kinds of medications. Therefore b in case you started feeling a strong smell in your urine after taking a certain medicine, consider it to be the reason for the odor smell. Ask your doctor if you may switch your medication or dosage to deal with this problem.

  1. Watch on other symptoms

Although strong smelling urine alone may not be a call for much concern, in case it is associated with other symptoms, it may be a sign of other serious medical problems such as kidney stone, UTI or sexually transmitted infection. Therefore, find out the exact condition it may be and have it treated before the condition get to worse.

  1. Observe your personal hygiene

Observing personal hygiene especially in the genital area is very important as well when it comes to dealing with this problem. If you don’t observe cleanliness, the buildup of bacteria and remnants of urine can cause a strong unpleasant smell both when urinating and when not. Also bacteria may move into your genitals especially in women into the urethra and therefore cause urinary tract infection which is one of the reasons you may be producing strong smelling odor in your urine.

  1. Add some baking soda to water

This is also one of the effective home remedy you may use while dealing this problem. Mix a teaspoonful of baking soda into water in a glass and drink it at least every morning for a period of one week. Some studies confirm that drinking soda solution can prevent formation of kidney stones, reduce the uric acid and also remove ammonia smell from the urine.
However, if you are suffering from some conditions such as high blood pressure, heart problems, and swollen legs you need to keep away from sodium, and therefore this will not be the right remedy for you.

  1. Apple cider vinegar

Apple cider vinegar has the same effect as compared to baking soda, and therefore if you don’t like using baking soda you may opt for this. You just have to mix it with water and drink it, at least thrice in a day for better results.
When to see the doctor for strong smelling urine
You have to seek help from your medical provider immediately if the odor smell in your urine is accompanied by other symptoms such as abdominal pains, changes in the urine habits, or problems managing the diabetes.
More references

  1. Urine odor: https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/urine-odor/basics/causes/sym-20050704
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