Stream of knowledge

Urine analysis, an early diagnostic test, reveals what’s going on in the body

Go, go, go

How much and how often you urinate can be as important as the color and odor.

Most people take bathroom breaks about six to eight times a day, but you might go more or less depending on how much fluid you drink. If you’re constantly feeling the urge to go and it’s not because you’re drinking extra fluid, causes can include:

• Overactive bladder, involuntary contractions of the bladder muscle.

• Urinary tract infection

• Interstitial cystitis, a condition that causes the bladder wall to become inflamed and irritated.

• Benign prostate enlargement, the growth of the prostate that causes it to squeeze the urethra and block the normal flow of urine. When the bladder is prevented from emptying effectively, it creates the need to go more often.

• Neurological diseases, including stroke and Parkinson’s disease.

• Diabetes

It’s not healthy to try to hold your urine for more than five hours. The bladder stretches and contracts repeatedly, but if you continually delay urination eventually the bladder can stretch too much to bounce back.

“When you make a habit of holding your urine, the bladder can become dysfunctional over time, and as you get older you can have trouble emptying your bladder, which can lead to trouble,” said Dr. Carol Salem, a urologist with Scripps Health. “When you feel the urge, excuse yourself from what you’re doing and just go to the bathroom.”

R.J. Ignelzi

One way to find out what’s going on inside your body is to monitor what flows out of it.

Urine has a uniquely valuable role in medicine: It holds information not just about what we eat and drink, but also about how well our bodies are functioning.

The color, odor, clarity and other physical characteristics of urine, as well as substances dissolved in it, can provide clues to a wide range of problems, including infections, metabolic disorders, kidney disease, bladder cancer, diabetes, substance abuse, exposure to toxic substances, inadequate or excessive fluid intake and, as many athletes now know, the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

“It’s always important to monitor your urine because there are many disease processes that reveal themselves in urine. Changes in color or odor or blood in the urine may all be signs of diseases that can quickly be caught,” said Dr. Carol Salem, a urologist with Scripps Health, noting that the average person produces one to two quarts of urine a day, forcing them to use the restroom every three or four hours.


Centuries ago, long before modern sophisticated lab tests, urine was the only thing physicians had to help them diagnose a patient.

“Urine offers so many features, that doctors would taste their patients’ urine,” Salem said. “That’s how revealing it is. Urine is a picture of your overall health.”

Before you flush, here are a few urine changes to look out for and what they might be saying about your health.


