Why is urine sediment?

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Pham Thi Thuy Nhung - Head of Laboratory Department - Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital.
The urinary system excretes urine to remove wastes and toxins that the body produces during metabolism, maintaining stability in the body. When the body is healthy, urine is usually clear or slightly yellow in color. When the body has a certain disease, the urine is white sediment. Urine sediment can be caused by a number of reasons.

1. Due to dehydration

If the urine is dark in color, it can be easily confirmed that white sediment is the result of dehydration - when a person is not drinking enough fluids. Children and the elderly are more at risk of becoming dehydrated (which can be caused by diarrhea, vomiting, or fever).

2. Due to food

The foods we eat affect the color and appearance of our urine. When eating foods high in phosphorus or vitamin D, urine deposits appear because the kidneys excrete excess phosphorus through the urine. Other foods like orange juice, milk, beets and asparagus can also make urine cloudy. Alcohol will reduce the clarity of the urine. Therefore, when changing the daily nutritional intake, the urine will be clear and return to normal.

3. Urinary tract infections

One of the most common causes of urine sediment is a urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infection is an infection of parts of the urinary tract, characterized by the presence of bacteria in the urine or the appearance of symptoms indicative of bacterial colonization in one or more parts of the urinary tract. urinary.
This disease causes the urine to be white or milky in color. Urine may also have a foul odor. The infection can cause pus or blood to enter the urinary tract, making the urine cloudy. The appearance of sediment in the urine can also be due to an accumulation of white blood cells. When bacteria or viruses invade and damage and cause disease inside the urinary tract, urine will turn cloudy. In addition, when having a urinary tract infection, the patient may feel pain and burning when urinating.

4. Kidney infection

Most infections affect the kidneys. It is a urinary tract infection at first, which can then spread and get worse if not treated properly.
Kidney infections may appear as urine deposits because the infection produces pus, which mixes with the urine. Similar to the symptoms of a urinary tract infection, a kidney infection can cause fever, chills, cramps, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, back pain, and white, bloody, or foul-smelling urine. . Kidney infections can also be caused by kidney stones.

5. Urethritis due to gonorrhea, Chlamydia

When the urethra is inflamed, it will affect the excretion of urine and semen and can leave adverse complications for the patient. Urethritis due to gonorrhea can cause urinary sediment.
Inflammatory bacterial and fungal infections can also be triggered by certain ingredients in soaps, detergents, fabric softeners, care products, etc. Gonorrhea urethritis can cause itching around vulva, foul-smelling vaginal discharge, thin, pale vaginal discharge, colored, fishy-smelling discharge that worsens after sex and painful urination. Cloudy urine can also be caused by prostatitis causing painful ejaculation, abdominal pain, and blood in the urine.
In addition to cloudy urine, you will have other symptoms such as painful urination, fever, back pain, even pus in urine. You need to go to a medical facility for ultrasound, urine tests to help diagnose the disease.

6. Primary care acceptance

Chyluria is a disease of the urinary system due to the leakage of circulation from the lymphatic system into the renal pelvis, the cause of the disease may be congenital, trauma or parasitic infection with filariasis. Chilli is mainly composed of lipids including triglycerides, phospholipids and free cholesterol. Disease caused by filariasis Wuchereria Bancrofti or congenital malformations, mediastinal tumors, after trauma obstructing the lymphatic passages.
Symptoms of chylothorax are white, milky sediments like milk or rice water, with fatty scum, colloidal films, white patches like curd or curd fat. This phenomenon occurs intermittently.

7. Primary phosphate

This phenomenon is caused by the presence of a lot of phosphate excreted in the urine. Patients who urinate in the urine sometimes see urine like rice water (usually in the morning), when it settles, there is a residue like lime scale. Phosphateuria is not pathological. But if this condition lasts for a long time and you drink less water, it is easy to form kidney stones due to the deposition of phosphate crystals.

8. Due to drug use

Some medications can also cause urine sediment to appear, such as: diabetes medications, vitamins such as vitamin B and vitamin C because these two vitamins contain a lot of phosphorus.
In addition, there are many cases of urine sedimentation due to not drinking enough water every day. The amount of water is not supplied enough, so it is not able to filter out what is inside the urinary tract. The simple fix for this situation is to drink more water every day (make sure to drink enough 1-2 liters per day), urine will return to normal. Or because certain foods we eat affect the color and appearance of our urine. Eating lots of fruits and vegetables will make your urine clear and odorless.
In short, if you change your daily nutritional intake, the urine will be clear and back to normal. However, urine sediment due to diseases needs to go to a medical facility to examine and detect the disease for timely treatment.

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