please help me with this one

[jared]

I have noticed in the recent years that when I use the bathroom sometimes my urine is clear.... ok so 99% of the time its clear. Why is that? I think cause my sugars are so hi all the time. Is this true and is it doing harm to me?

[JasonSmithMT]

High blood sugar will cause polydipsia - which means excessive thirst. This is the body's response to try to compensate for the high blood sugar. As you can imagine ... as you are drinking a bunch more and as a result urinating more often the urine will be more dilute and will be clearer in appearance than someone drinking a normal amount of fluids.

[jared]

not what i thought but that makes sence.
thanks

[Shalyndria]

Urine is normally clear and straw-yellow in colour. Certain foods or drugs can affect this and cause a cloudy or discoloured appearance, even some dyes in candy can affect appearance.
White blood cells in the urine can cause cloudiness and an unpleasant odor, as well as UTI's, hematuria and renal failure.

Do you have a routine urinalysis done every 6 months Jared?

Shy

[jared]

Shy
Yeah I had that done a little while ago. Everything is all good I guess cause my doc didnt say anything about it.

[lgvincent]

Well, darn! I sometimes have an unpleasant odor when I urinate and it started I guess about 2 years ago. Oh, well.

[Harold]

Seen a nurse hold mine to light one time and asked her what she was looking for. She replied to see if it was cloudy or clear, and that it was clear and okay. Also told me if I ever notice it cloudy to come in and see the doc about it. So I guess your okay. :D How yellow depends on fluid intake how much and what kind.

[jared]

Thanks all. I guess its nothing to worry myself over. Another question for you guys. HOW MUCH WATER IS EVERYONE DRINKING EVERYDAY? I drink around 4-5-Diet Dr Pepper's everyday and no water, nor do I eat vegetables (which some contain water) should I be and how much?

[Shalyndria]

6-8 glasses of water a day. Large glasses preferrably :)

Just don't consider pop in your 6-8 glasses because it actually screws around with electrolytes and will go further to dehydrate than anything.

Shy

[jared]

Do you drink this much water or is this the suggested amount? Just curious to how much everyone drinks?

[TAutry]

Jared,

My goal is 64 oz or more of water each day. Some days I make it, some days I don't. I generally have a 16 oz Diet Coke with my midday meal and another during the day sometime. My water is in addition to those.

I have found that I feel better since I began adding more water to my routine.

Travis

[jared]

thanks travis. ill try drinking water.....

[SunniD]

Jared yellow is a normal color for normal peoples urine. Clear is a color seen in many diabetics who aren't taking any B vitamins.<smile> Clear is also seen when the Specific Gravity of the urine is lower and thus less concentrated. The more you drink the clearer the urine is. Those 6-8 glasses of water are essential to keeping those kidneys of yours functioning good and help to flush out the high bgs.

The high phosphorous levels in pop are harmful to kidneys and are the first thing dieticians make you give up when you get sent to them if you are having kidney problems.

The aspartaime in diet pop is addictive and I work with one girl who claims it's not -she only has one daily and she craves it if she doesn't get it. She doesn't believe one/day is an addiction.<smile>

The pop may also lead to more porous bones as the calcium in your bones combines with the phosphate in pop I believe. Positives attach to negative ions.

I had a girlfriend who's son was a heavy pop drinker and his bones got brittle at the ripe age of 7 so if you're in the growing years for bones, pop may also affect those bones. Another nurse I know had all 3 kids and herself develop humps on their backs which was attributed to them all overdrinking too much diet pops. The husband was ok because he didn't drink the pop.

If you want to liven up the water, add some lemon juice. Lemons have real live enzymes in them that are very beneficial and it tastes good too. Restaurants will gladly bring you lemon to add if you ask.

If you need to lose wt., a friend of mine on weight watchers says the only days she loses wt. are the days she drinks at least 8 glasses of water.

Normal specific gravities on urine are 1.010 - 1.030 so check out what yours is reading and see if your kidneys are concentrating
your urine enough. Frankly, that is the least of your worries and
it's much more important to see if your kidneys are spilling any microalbumin in your urine. That's the first indicator of any kidney and/or heart problems. Some heart docs are now screening people with an MAB also.

Remember to count your water on top of everything else you drink in a day.

SunniD

[DeusXM]

Actually I've gotta say it's probably not the aspartame that's addictive - it's more likely the caffeine, but either way it's still a problem.

Also if you get bored with water, have squash instead - as long as it's well diluted it's all still water.

[mg_2204]

Ok... reading about urine... I have this question :

When I'm due to bring a sample at the surgery, I always hesitate : should I put it in the fridge? Should I not? I get up early you see...

Long ago, a nurse told me you have to put your sample in the fridge (provided the bottle is well cleaned and put in a Ziploc!) if your appointment is more than an hour away.

Your views on this?

Marie
:)

[JasonSmithMT]

Marie -

Back when I worked as a medical technologist (or clinical laboratory scientist) at a large university hospital we requested that the urines for urinalysis be refrigerated if there was to be a delay in transport to the lab (> 1 hour). We would accept urines refrigerated up to 8 hours.

[lgvincent]

Whenever I've saved a urine sample to take in, I've always kept it in the fridge, although I'm not real comfortable with the idea. I wrap it in 2 plastic bags, kind of like a double hulled tanker, in the hope that if the first one leaks, I'll be able to catch it in time before the second one does.

[Mick]

I don't drink water. I don't really drink much of anything ever--I just can't. I have a half-cup of milk on my breakfast cereal, and 2 cups of coffee, st 7 AM. Nothing else all day, then 2 cups of coffee before or with dinner. That's my total liquid intake. Oh, a swallow of seltzer to down a handful of pills at both meals as well. I guess I'm just weird--I cannot drink water. I seem to have no kidney problems after 39 years with diabetes, so I don't think I'll change anything...

Michael