Originally Posted by
Barbarossa
Thank you for your question. Urine normally has a strong smell first thing in the morning, as at this time it is very concentrated. If you are at all dehydrated, as you may well be after being in a warm bed for several hours, there can be the distinctive smell of ketones in the urine as well as by-products from certain foods that you may have eaten the night before. Asparagus is a typical example of a substance that is passed through the kidneys into the urine that gives a powerful aroma, but even medication such as penicillin may do this too. In addition there are many other substances such as nitrates and phosphates in the urine that can colour it and give it a distinctive odour. The more dilute your urine is and the blander your diet, the less you will notice these smells and this simply means drinking lots more water: up to 3 litres a day if necessary. The stinging and frequency you experience may simply be due to the acidity of the urine you produce, but there are other possible explanations. It is important that a cystitis or kidney infection is ruled out with a urine sample test, but you say your test came back normal. If there are no germs it is also possible that you have an inflammation of the urethra, the pipe from the bladder to the outside, known as urethritis. A urethral swab can test for this and so can a special urine test. If that is excluded, there is also the possibility that you have narrowing of the urethra, perhaps due to previous inflammation and it may be appropriate for you to be referred to a urologist or gynaecologist for uro-dynamic studies which would include measuring the flow rate of your urine to see if there is any need for your urethra to be dilated surgically.
Sertraline is sometimes capable of causing urinary symptoms, particularly difficulty urinating, and should only be taken with great caution if there is any degree of kidney impairment. A blood test can check for this. Finally I would first ask you to see if you can solve the problem by changing the acidity and dilution of the urine. Try drinking 3 litres of water every day with cranberry juice or lemon barley water to flavour it. This simple measure alone may solve your problem.
Bookmarks