Bubbles In Urine
Are Bubbles In Urine Serious?
If you notice bubbles in your urine and haven't experienced that before, it could be quite worrisome. As is often the case however, a one time or infrequent change in one of your bodily functions may not mean anything at all. If the bubbles in your urine persist, or begin to show up with increasing frequency, it could mean that something is not right and needs to be looked into.
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Having bubbles in your urine, or foamy urine is not necessarily even an abnormality. If you allow yourself to become mildly dehydrated, your urine will often become more concentrated, and is more apt to foam or bubble. There are also times when you've held back on urinating for just a bit too long. When this is the case, you tend to urinate more rapidly or forcefully, and this quite often will cause bubbles to form. There is always the outside chance that something else in the toilet bowl, a cleanser for example, could be reacting with the urine, causing it to foam or bubble.
If the bubbles are a sometime occurrence but not necessarily frequent, you can try drinking more water than you usually do for a time, and see if the frequency of bubbles in your urine goes down. This would suggest that a minor lifestyle change might be all you need to eliminate the bubbles, in which case they were not symptoms of anything wrong in the first place.
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The Case Of Excessive Bubbles Or Foam - If the problem persists, and bubbles or foaming are a frequent occurrence, there may well be a problem, and it would be a good idea to consult with your doctor or with a urologist. If it is your doctor, you'll likely be asked to provide a urine sample, and based upon the analysis of that sample, your doctor may refer you to a urologist for further examinations and testing.
What is happening in this case is that there's a good chance of there being an excess of protein in your urine. The urine always contains traces of protein, called albumin, but in a healthy body, the kidneys normally don't pass much protein into the urinary tract. If this is happening, there could well be a kidney problem associated with the bubbles in your urine. The condition of having too much protein in the urine is called proteinuria. Blood vessels in the kidneys filter out waste, but keep protein in the bloodstream. If these blood vessels become damaged in some way, some of the protein can escape into the urinary tract.
Cause And Symptoms Of Proteinuria - There are several diseases or disorders that can cause damage to these blood vessels (they are called glomeruli), including diabetes and hypertension. If the glomeruli suffer severe enough damage, it can result in kidney failure. Bubbles in your urine therefore could be telling you there is damage in one or both of your kidneys that requires attention. If you're diabetic, even an infrequent appearance of bubbles in your urine should be brought to the attention of your doctor, as it could be an early indication of a problem with the kidneys. Proteinuria has other symptoms as well, including swelling in the abdomen, hands, feet, or the face. Besides sampling the urine for an excess of protein, the blood is tested for creatinine, another indicator of proteinuria.
Summary - In summary, infrequent appearances of bubbles or foam in the urine, more than likely doesn't mean much. If the occurrence is more frequent, but still only occasional, see if drinking more water has a positive effect. If not, or if the presence of bubbles and foam has become quite frequent, or if you have diabetes, it would be in your best interest to see a doctor or urologist without further delay.