Surely sometimes it doesn't smell like anything. Other times, like when you wake up in the morning, your urine has that strong smell. Or it could smell fruity, sour, or even fishy. But what do the different smells mean?
Urine has a characteristic odor that can be different for each person. But when something strange happens you probably have questions. However, before relying on urine odor to self-diagnose, keep in mind that odors can be interpreted. What you would describe as sweet smelling pee, someone else might say smells fruity.
Also, while odor is important, it is not as revealing as other signs, including the color of urine.
What do the different urine odors mean?
Ammonia smell
You may be dehydrated .
Urine is mainly made up of water, with the addition of waste products like urea. If you have foul-smelling or itchy urine that has a strong ammonia odor, you are likely dehydrated, leading to more concentrated urine.
You should be concerned when you have additional symptoms. For example, an ammonia smell along with burning, pain, and fever can indicate a urinary tract infection (UTI).
To fix this, drinking more water will dilute the urine, which will tame the smell. You will know that you are well hydrated if the pee is somewhere between a light and light yellow color.
Smells like fish
You could have an infection .
Trichomoniasis is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that can affect people of either sex. People assigned a boy at birth often have no symptoms, but women assigned to women may have a fishy-smelling vaginal discharge . Although the discharge is clearly different from urine, it may be the smell of when you are in the bathroom.
Along with the smell, the discharge may be greenish-yellow in color and you may experience vaginal irritation.
This infection is cured with a single dose of antibiotics.
Urine smells sweet
It could be an infection or it could be diabetes .
Some patients who have a urinary tract infection actually describe the smell of pee as sweet.
However, this could be a sign of diabetes. If you have uncontrolled diabetes, the sugar is eliminated in the urine, which can add a sweet smell.
This would be accompanied by going to the bathroom more frequently and a greater need to go.
Strong smell
It could be dehydration, or maybe it's the supplement you're taking.
Like we said before, it's more concentrated when you're dehydrated, so it has that strong urine smell. However, another cause behind that smell can be vitamin B-6 . The vitamin is soluble in water, which means that it is eliminated in the pee.
The solution, again, would be to drink more water if you are dehydrated. If it's your supplement, consider switching to a vitamin with lower levels of B-6.
Urine smells very bad
It may have a structural problem.
Sometimes the gastrointestinal tract can form an abnormal connection with the urinary tract, called a fistula . This causes part of the content of the stool to be eliminated when urinating.
It can have a really unpleasant odor from these fecal particles, with a brown color and you may hear the air passing through your urethra while you pee. However, foul-smelling urine could be the first sign.
Smell of sulfur
Did you just eat asparagus ?
Food changes the smell. Asparagus is by far the most famous for doing this, and that's because the sulfur by-products of the vegetable are flushed out in the urine.
Many people cannot smell "asparagus pee" due to certain genetic variants that make them unable to detect this smell. In a study published in The BMJ in 2016, about 60 percent of people said they did not urinate badly after eating asparagus. (They really did, but their noses didn't notice.)
Other foods that are known to change the smell garlic includes salmon, brussels sprouts and curr y.
There is not much you can do here, actually the smell will go away on its own.
Smell of coffee
Some people notice that they have a coffee smell in their urine after drinking their favorite beverage. Don't worry, this is harmless, keep drinking caffeine.
