Mucus In Urine And Other Urinary Tract Symptoms: When You Need To Go To The Doctor

One of the overlooked but easy to read symptoms of myriad health conditions is the urine. Dozens of conditions are signalled by changes in the urine that should not be overlooked. Here is a list of what to look for in urine.

Mucus In Urine

There's probably no urine-related question asked more often than "What does mucus in my urine mean?" By itself, the presence of mucus in urine is not a particularly useful diagnostic symptom, but in context, it may point to serious health problems.

• Mucus in the urine is common in gonorrhea and chlamydia, usually about one to three weeks after sex with an infected person. 
• Kidney stones with extremely unpleasant urine odor may give advanced warning of kidney stone attacks, before the intense flank pain of an acute attack.
• Women who have Crohn's disease may have mucus in the urine. This mucus is generated by small intestine problems, but collects in the urethra and mixes with urine.
• Prostate infections, which are usually acquired in sexual intercourse by younger men but may occur even without sexual intercourse in older men, may cause bubbles, foam, and mucus in the urine.
• Urinary tract infections (UTIs), which can occur in both women and men, are the most common cause of mucus in urine. The most common symptoms of UTI other than mucus in the urine are difficulty with urination and an urge to urinate without being able to go.

Blood In Urine

Blood in the urine, also known as hematuria, is a particularly distressing symptom, but more often than not it does not indicate a serious illness. Among the conditions associated with hematuria are:

• Medications. Taking too much Aspirin can cause blood in the urine, and can taking too high a dose of a blood thinner. The chemotherapy drug cyclophosphamide also can irritate the urethra and cause this symptom.
• Strenuous exercise and contact sports. Injuries to the bladder or kidneys can cause bleeding that is more noticeable after dehydration concentrates the urine.
• Infections of the bladder, kidneys, or (in men) the prostate. Many of these infections also generate mucus.
• Sickle cell anemia can cause bleeding all over the body, including the bladder and kidneys, as can hemophilia. Blood in the urine, of course, is only one of many symptoms of these diseases.
• Bladder cancer and kidney cancer cause bleeding in their later stages. Cancer, however, usually is not the cause of this symptom.

Urge To Urinate

An urge to urinate that is followed by and easy flow of lots of urine can just mean one has waited a long time to go to the toilet. It can also be a sign of diabetes, both diabetes mellitus ("sugar diabetes") and diabetes insipidus (a condition in which the body doesn't make enough antidiuretic hormone to stop urination). Both forms of diabetes can cause intense thirst.

READ Urinary Tract Infections in Women: Why they occur and how to treat them?

A urge to urinate that is followed by an inability "to go" can indicate a UTI, kidney stones, a stenosis (narrowing) of the urethra, or in rare cases a tumor of some kind in the urinary tract.

More Urine-Related Symptoms and What They Mean

Mucus in the urine, blood in the urine, and an unusual urge to urinate are just some of the signs of diseases or the urinary tract. Other important clues to health status that can be found just by looking at urine include:

Cloudy Urine

Normal urine is clear or straw-yellow in color. Cloudy urine typically indicates the presence of unusual proteins in the urine. (The body makes mucus from complex carbohydrates.) Sometimes cloudy urine is a relatively benign symptom, like mild dehydration. As soon as you drink enough water, and it is not necessary to drink so much that you slosh, the cloudiness leaves your urine. 

Chronic kidney disease can cause protein to "leak" into the urine. Typically renal failure of this sort also leaves too much ammonia in the bloodstream. As the disease progresses, dialysis with low-protein, low-salt, low-potassium diet (even fruits and vegetables can cause problems at this point) may be needed to preserve life. How can you know you need to get to the doctor urgently for a test of kidney function? Another common symptom of chronic kidney disease is extremely itchy skin.

Foamy Urine

Men who are sexually abstinent, or whose bodies make unusually large amounts of semen, sometimes have foamy urine without any other urinary tract problem. In both men and women, foamy urine can be caused by the same conditions that result in cloudy urine.

Scanty Urine, Also Known As Oliguria

Having to go "just a little" can be a sign of dehydration. The solution is usually very simple. Rehydration, preferably with water and electrolytes, not just plain water (even water with a little salt and sugar, about a teaspoon, or five grams, in a quart/liter of water), is best. 

• Pre-eclampsia. This potential fatal complication of pregnancy is also accompanied by extremely high blood pressure. It is a medical emergency for both the mother and the unborn child.
• Hypovolemic shock. This is a condition of not having a sufficient volume of blood plasma. It can result from injuries that cause bleeding, severe burns (which cause "oozing" of blood plasma), and overdoses of medications that cause vasodilation, such as nitrates and nitroglycerin pills.
• Diabetic ketoacidosis (also known as DKA) is a condition that most commonly occurs in type 1 diabetics who are deprived of insulin. Unable to use glucose because of not getting enough insulin, the body burns fats, producing ketones, which can build up to toxic levels. DKA is a medical emergency.
• Hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketotic syndrome. Sometimes type 2 diabetics develop severely high blood sugar levels before they even know they have the disease. There is so much sugar in the blood plasma that it becomes "sticky," and circulation to the kidneys may nearly stop. Bringing blood sugar levels down with insulin, along with rehydration, is the usual treatment. This condition also requires emergency treatment.
• Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. When the kidneys and other organs shut down, urine production is greatly reduced.
• Urinary tract infections and urinary tract infections can also cause oliguria.