Smelly urine – NHS

Smelly pee on its own is not usually a cause for concern. There are often things you can do to help your pee return to normal.

Common causes of smelly pee

Pee is usually clear or pale yellow, with a mild smell.

Things that can often make your pee smell stronger include:

• certain types of food and drink, like asparagus or coffee
• not drinking enough fluids (dehydration)
• some medicines
• vitamin B6 supplements

If you have other symptoms such as pain when peeing, peeing more often than usual and pee that looks cloudy, you may have a urinary tract infection (UTI).

Less often, smelly pee can be caused by other conditions such as type 2 diabetes or kidney stones.

Things you can do if you have smelly pee

There are some things you can do to help keep your pee clear and smelling mild.

Do

• drink plenty of fluids, particularly water, so that you pee regularly during the day and do not feel thirsty

• drink more in hot weather and when exercising

Don’t

• do not drink a lot of sugary fizzy drinks, coffee or alcohol

• do not eat a lot of garlic or asparagus – they contain strong-smelling chemicals that can pass into your pee

• do not take more than 10mg of vitamin B6 a day

Non-urgent advice: See a GP if:

You have smelly pee and:

• you need to pee suddenly, more often than usual, or during the night
• you have pain or a burning sensation when peeing
• your pee looks cloudy

Urgent advice: Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if:

You have smelly pee and:

• there’s blood in your pee
• you have lower tummy pain
• you have pain in your back, under the ribs
• you feel tired and unwell
• you feel confused or agitated
• you have a very high temperature, or you feel hot and shivery
• your temperature is very low

You can call 111 or get help from 111 online.

Page last reviewed: 18 November 2020
Next review due: 18 November 2023

Foul-Smelling Urine but No Pain: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment

Your pee may smell bad after eating certain foods or taking medications. But a foul smell without pain could also indicate an underlying health condition.

Urine isn’t exactly a sweet-smelling substance in the first place. The liquid waste often has a distinct odor. Some people describe it as ammonia-like.

However, if your urine has a sweet smell — or a foul, fishy, or musty smell — it might be a sign of infection or another health issue. It could also just be the result of something you ate or not drinking enough water.

Here, we’ll explore why your urine’s smell can change without accompanying pain.

Urine is a waste product, so it can take on all sorts of smells based on what you’re eating, any medications you’re taking, what you’re drinking, and even what you’re doing.

While the foul smell may be alarming to your nostrils, it’s rarely a cause for concern. Consider these possible factors the next time you think your pee has a certain smell.

Diet

If you’re in the 40 percent of people who can smell a distinct odor in your pee after eating asparagus, you likely know how food can impact urine. But the spindly stalks aren’t the only food responsible for stinky pee.

Garlic and onions have sulfur-containing chemicals, and as they break down, they can taint your pee. Brussels sprouts, fish like salmon, and certain spices can change your urine’s scent, too.

If you suspect foods are responsible for the odor, try cutting them out of your diet for a few days to see if the smell goes away. You don’t have to avoid these foods forever. Just know that they may add a certain smell to your pee if you choose to eat them.

Dehydration

Urine is a combination of water and chemicals that leaves your body.

If you are dehydrated, the ratio of water to chemicals in the concentrated urine will be smaller. That gives those chemicals a stronger chance of producing an odor. Water dilutes the smell and chemicals naturally.

Other symptoms of dehydration include:

• dark urine
• dry mouth
• feeling tired
• headache
• dry skin
• increased thirst

Urinary tract infection

Changes in the smell of your urine may be the first sign of a urinary tract infection (UTI). Soon after, you may begin to experience pain when you urinate.

The smell is caused by bacteria in your urine. The bacteria can grow and spread into other parts of your urinary tract, like your bladder or kidneys.

UTIs are more common in people with vulvas because the urethra is short. That increases the odds of bacteria finding their way into the urinary tract and causing an infection.

Sexually transmitted infection

Several sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including chlamydia and trichomoniasis, can cause vaginal discharge. This atypical discharge may change the smell of your pee as it’s passing out of the urethra.

Other symptoms, like painful urination and soreness, may develop after the foul-smelling pee appears.

Medications and vitamins

Certain medicines, vitamins, and supplements may alter the smell of urine. Some drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, infections, and diabetes are known to impact the waste’s smell, too.

B vitamins, like thiamine and choline, may impact the balance of chemicals in your urine. These extra chemicals and vitamins can change your urine’s smell.

Bacterial vaginosis

A person’s vagina naturally contains different kinds of bacteria. Your body works to maintain balance between different bacteria, preventing specific types from growing out of control. This balance is sometimes altered, resulting in bacterial vaginosis.

One symptom of this condition is fishy-smelling discharge, along with:

• gray or white discharge
• a burning sensation when peeing
• itching or pain in the vulva

Ovulation

Ovulation occurs when an egg is released for fertilization during a menstrual cycle. The hormones estrogen and progesterone are responsible for stimulating that egg release.

Those hormones may also be responsible for making your sense of smell stronger.

Ovulation itself does not change the smell of urine. But a person’s sense of smell may be heightened at this point in the cycle, and that might make you more aware of the urine’s scent.

Pregnancy

As with ovulation, hormonal changes may make your nose more sensitive to smells if you’re pregnant. That means everything from your urine to the dinner you’re making may smell stronger to you.

Prenatal vitamins also contain some vitamins that may change the smell of urine.

Additionally, people who are pregnant are prone to developing UTIs, and in pregnant people, strong-smelling pee may be the only symptom of the infection.

Diabetes and diabetes medications

Specific diabetes medications can impact the smell of your pee. These include sulfonylurea drugs like glyburide, which is sold under the brand names Diabeta and Glynase PresTab.

Unmanaged or improperly managed diabetes can affect your urine’s odor, too. If there is too much sugar in your urine, you may notice a smell when you empty your bladder. This smell may seem sweet — that’s the excess sugar in your urine.

Other symptoms of improperly managed diabetes include:

• being thirsty often
• feeling tired
• peeing frequently

Liver or kidney problems

The body’s waste control system runs through your liver and kidneys. If these organs are not functioning properly, they may not be able to filter out waste well. This can lead to a change in the appearance, consistency, and odor of urine.

Trimethylaminuria

This rare metabolic disorder prevents the body from breaking down certain compounds. Specifically, the body cannot process trimethylamine, which is a compound found in meat, fish, and seafood.

Instead, your body releases the compound straight into your urine. That can make the urine smell fishy or foul, and it can even cause a strong body odor.

If the scent of your pee is giving you pause, you can take a few steps at home to sort out why there’s an odor.

Avoid odor-inducing foods

Though you may love Brussels sprouts beside your pork chops or crave sauteed onions on your risotto, these foods can have a real impact on your nostrils. If you suspect one or more foods may be causing your urine to smell, try giving them a break.

If your urine’s smell dissipates, you’ve found the food that’s causing it. If it doesn’t, you can keep looking.

While the foods may cause a strong odor when you use the bathroom, they’re unlikely to be causing health issues, so the choice to avoid them is a personal preference.

Drink plenty of water

Dehydration quickly impacts your urine’s smell and color. If you’ve not had enough water, you may notice the urine changes to a darker yellow and gives off a stronger smell.

Staying hydrated will help dilute the chemicals in your waste so the odor is more typical.

Try avoiding coffee and alcohol, too. These liquids increase your chances of becoming dehydrated.

Use the bathroom regularly

When you feel an urge to pee, follow it. Holding your urine may concentrate the chemicals, which will make the urine smell more.

Additionally, holding in pee may increase your risk of a UTI.

Take care of your health

Managing chronic health issues like diabetes may reduce or eliminate symptoms like strong-smelling pee.

Of course, if that healthy lifestyle includes more dinners with asparagus and Brussels sprouts, you may be inviting the smell back in.

If at-home treatments aren’t successful, you may have an underlying issue that requires treatment from a healthcare professional. These treatments may include:

• Antibiotics. Antibiotics can eliminate bacteria that may be causing UTIs. They may also clear up some STIs. An antifungal treatment may be needed to treat a yeast infection.
• New medications or supplements. If a medication you’ve been prescribed is causing foul-smelling pee, your doctor may be able to find a suitable alternative.
• Diabetes medication. If your blood sugar is not properly managed, your doctor may recommend several medications and lifestyle changes to help manage your levels.

Foul-smelling pee is usually a temporary issue. It may be caused by something you ate or a lack of water. But if the smell does not go away, it may be time to contact a doctor.

Signs of infection are also problematic. These can include:

• cloudy urine
• bloody urine
• pain
• fever

If the smell stays around and any of these symptoms or other issues show up, call your doctor for an appointment.

Most of these issues can be addressed quickly. However, if left untreated, issues like UTIs and STIs may become more serious.

When you see a doctor or other healthcare professional, they will likely ask you several questions. This includes any recent health changes you’ve experienced.

They’ll also want to know when the odor first appeared and what you might have done or consumed that could impact the smell.

A urine culture can check for bacteria or signs of an infection. For this test, you will typically urinate into a cup, and the sample will be sent to a laboratory for testing.

Imaging scans, like a CT scan or MRI, may help your doctor check your urinary tract, liver, or kidneys for signs of problems.

Blood work can also help your doctor find other health issues, like STIs, liver or kidney problems, and chemical imbalances.

While smelly urine may be alarming, it’s likely not a cause for concern. Most changes to pee odor are temporary, even if it happens regularly.

Drinking plenty of water can help dilute odor-causing chemicals. However, a sensitive nose may always pick up on them. Urine often has a slight aroma, so changes to it are often typical.

If there is no clear cause for the smell, or if the odor does not disappear in a few days, you should contact a doctor.

Unpleasant smell of urine – causes and symptoms.

Anonymous Center

Venereology > Symptoms of STDs > Bad smell

In a healthy person, normal urine should be clear, light yellow, without a special pungent odor. Appeared discharge and an unpleasant smell of urine can become a symptom of problems associated not only with the organs of the genitourinary system, but also an indicator of a malfunction in other body systems.

Do not neglect these symptoms. If you have discharge and an unpleasant smell of urine that does not go away for a long time, consult a doctor.

Why can there be an unpleasant odor in the urine?

• Urological diseases in men

Infections of the urinary system causing cystitis, pyelonephritis, urethritis, balanoposthitis most often cause a strong smell of ammonia in the urine. This is caused by the ingestion of bacteria and their toxins directly into the urine. Often this symptom is the first to let you know about the infectious cause of diseases of the urinary system. Along with this symptom, in diseases of the urinary system, cutting pains are observed during urination; pain radiating to the lower back. Urine, except for the smell, acquires a cloudy color.

Statistically: 80-85% of men with STDs have no complaints

and only 15-20% of men may develop symptoms

The cause of an unpleasant odor can also be cystitis. This disease is caused by infections or it can be a side effect of long-term drug treatment. Medications, irritating the walls of the bladder, thereby cause its inflammation, and bacteria in this case are completely absent in the analysis. Urine has a chemical “pharmacy smell”.

Particular attention should be paid if the smell of urine has a putrid character. This symptom in both men and women indicates inflammatory processes with suppuration or even the formation of rectal fistulas.

You can take tests for venereal diseases and get effective treatment by making an appointment with us by phone:
(067) 911-85-54

In men bad smelling urine , along with weak erections and difficulty urinating, may indicate an inflammation of the prostate gland (prostatitis).

In women discharge and malodor may indicate vaginal dysbiosis or sexually transmitted infections.

The appearance of the smell of acetone in the urine may indicate diabetes mellitus or dehydration, be the result of starvation or serious diseases of an infectious origin, a consequence of impaired metabolism.

Remember!

• Most sexually transmitted infections are asymptomatic
• Detection and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases is much more effective at the initial stages of the disease: this makes it possible to completely eliminate severe consequences and complications after past infections
• Every sexually active man is obliged to take care of his health, the health of his relatives and friends and regularly conduct preventive examinations at the urologist and be tested for venereal diseases

Other factors causing bad smell of urine

Bad smell of urine is not always caused by a serious disease of the body. Urine is temporarily able to change its properties under the influence of external factors, for example, some food products, such as twill, pickles, spicy foods, alcohol, can cause an unpleasant smell of urine – all of them contain substances that change the smell of urine. But this smell does not remain for a long time and disappears after one or two days after their last use in food. The same effect is caused by B vitamins, some medicines, such as antibiotics ciprofloxacin and ampicillin.

Diets and lack of fluid in the body, impaired metabolism – all this also causes the appearance of a strong smell of ammonia in the urine.

If you are wondering why an unpleasant smell does not go away for a long period of time and you or your loved ones have one of the above symptoms, you should not neglect medical help. You need a comprehensive examination and, if necessary, undergo appropriate treatment.

An unpleasant odor may be associated with the following venereal infections:

• Syphilis

• Trichomoniasis

• Genital herpes
• Mycoplasmosis

9 0023

• Chlamydia

• Ureaplasmosis

• Gardnerellosis

• Papillomaviruses

• HIV-AIDS

• Hepatitis C

Unpleasant smell of urine may be combined with other symptoms:

• No symptoms – why?
  

• General symptoms

• Symptoms in men
• Symptoms in women

• Discharge
  90 003

• Cramps

• Pain, discomfort

• Itching

• Burning sensation

• Eruptions

• Urination disorders
• Swollen lymph nodes
• General weakness

An unpleasant odor may be characteristic of the following urological diseases:

• Urethritis

• Balanoposthitis

• Chronic prostatitis
• Vesiculitis

• Orchiepididymitis

• Cystitis

• Pyelonephritis
• Urolithiasis

• Im potency

• Infertility

• Rapid ejaculation

Urine smells bad: what happened? — HealthInfo

Normal human urine is clear and has a straw yellow color. Fresh urine almost does not smell, but after a while, as a result of alkaline fermentation in air, it acquires a sharp ammonia smell. A sudden change in the smell of urine should be a wake-up call: in most cases, this signals a health problem.

Prepared by Elena Orlova

Excretion Mechanism

There is a group of foods that can cause a distinct change in urine odor after consumption. As a rule, these are sharp-smelling seasonings, for example, garlic and horseradish. Seafood in large quantities can also produce a “fragrant reaction”, especially fresh or pickled mussels. But the undisputed champion in this regard is asparagus. After eating asparagus in any form, the urine invariably acquires a foul odor. Fortunately, this disadvantage of a plant that is useful in all respects can be easily eliminated: it is enough to add sea salt to the asparagus during cooking.

The waste fluid from our body passes through the kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra. The bladder is a muscular sac with a volume of 300-600 milliliters, designed to periodically dump urine as it accumulates. Fluid is expelled from the bladder through the urethra, the urethra. The organs involved in the process of urine output can give it an unusual smell. If you feel changes, most likely, some kind of malfunction has occurred in the work of the body.

Systemic disorders…

Pyelonephritis – inflammatory kidney disease . It can develop in healthy kidneys (primary pyelonephritis) or as a secondary infection against the background of an existing disease. Sometimes a sharp change in the smell of urine, along with pulling pain in the lower back, is a timely signal of the development of pyelonephritis. With timely access to a doctor, you can cure the disease at an early stage.

Cystitis – inflammation of the bladder. Cystitis can be of infectious and non-infectious origin. Inflammation of the mucous membrane of the bladder is accompanied by a violation of its functions, which, of course, is reflected in its contents – urine: it becomes cloudy, with sediment, an unpleasant ammonia smell appears even in fresh urine. It happens that cystitis is caused by drugs that irritate the bladder mucosa with their long-term use in high doses (for example, phenacytin or urotropin cystitis). In this case, the urine may acquire a “pharmacy” or “chemical” smell.

Urethritis – inflammation of the urethra caused by damage to its walls by bacteria or viruses. With urethritis, in addition to pain during urination, purulent or bloody discharge appears in the urine, which is naturally reflected in its smell. Moreover, the smell can change before discomfort and pain appear.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) – due to the proximity of the genitals and excretory organs, diseases in this area are in most cases interrelated. With infections of the genital tract (chlamydia, vaginosis, gardnerellosis, and others), urine, as a rule, becomes cloudy and acquires a sharp unpleasant odor.

… And other troubles

Changes in the smell of urine can also be associated with the intake of certain drugs, such as amoxicillin, ampicillin, omnipen, ciprofloxacin, proloprim, trovan, vitamins of group B. As a rule, it is celebrated in the instructions for the drug.

Dehydration – Urine can take on a strong ammonia odor due to dehydration, as water imbalance makes it more concentrated. Dehydration can occur even against the background of full health, when we, due to our busyness or for other reasons, drink insufficient amounts of fluid. You need to drink at least 1.5 liters during the day!

Diabetes mellitus – Dehydration and the accompanying change in the smell of urine can be one of the symptoms of diabetes. In severe diabetes mellitus, urine acquires a sweet smell of apples. This is due to the increased content of ketone bodies. When the level of ketone bodies is critically exceeded, acidosis occurs, and the urine begins to smell sharply of acetone. This is a warning signal: diabetes is out of control, and if urgent measures are not taken, a diabetic coma may occur.

Starvation – As with diabetes, fasting is fraught with acidosis with unpredictable consequences. The body needs carbohydrates, trying to compensate for their lack of fatty acids, which were stored in advance. Due to hypoglycemia (low sugar content), the blood becomes too acidic, acidosis develops, and ketone bodies begin to be excreted in the urine, giving it the smell of ammonia.

Liver failure – serious violations of liver function that occur in acute viral hepatitis, as well as drug, alcohol and other toxic liver damage. The efficiency of the liver is reflected in the state of urine. With jaundice, urine becomes a greenish-brown or dark beer color, as well as a thick, unusual odor.

Leucinosis (“maple syrup disease”) is a hereditary disease associated with impaired metabolism of amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, valine). Due to the characteristic smell of urine, reminiscent of the aroma of maple syrup, the disease received its second known name. This smell is due to the presence in the urine of a substance formed from leucine.

Be careful: if you notice a change in the smell of urine for more than three days, it is better to be vigilant and get tested, and then consult your doctor.