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In all cases of liver damage, there is a change in the color of the urine. The organ in which urine formation occurs is the kidneys. Thanks to their uninterrupted operation, valuable substances undergo separation after they enter the body along with food. This article explains how the color of urine changes with hepatitis.
Urine color in liver disease
Many people do not know what color urine should be when a person is healthy. However, with changes in health, the color of the discharge often changes, which people try to ignore, attributing the symptom to the composition of the liquid drunk the day before.
Some people are not even aware that they have some form of liver inflammation. This is due to the asymptomatic course of the pathology, so the patient often learns about the presence of the disease only after a scheduled fluid test for general or biochemical analysis.
The color of urine in liver disease indicates the presence of a pathological agent in the human body, the development of which is in an acute stage, requiring special monitoring by a specialist. Not only the color of the urine helps to determine the presence of the disease, since it becomes similar to a beer drink, but also the foaminess, smell and transparency of the patient’s discharge.
In diseases of the gallbladder, urine changes not only these indicators, but also its composition, which causes a change in physical characteristics. Often flakes appear in urine, which may also indicate the presence of liver cell diseases.
Darkening of the secreted fluid during hepatitis indicates that a large amount of bilirubin has accumulated in the body, as well as enzymes that are produced by liver cells.
Other signs of cirrhosis
Liver diseases are often asymptomatic because this organ lacks nerve endings. The liver just doesn't hurt. Unpleasant sensations arise when the organ increases in size and puts pressure on the hypochondrium and other organs and systems.
If you notice a change in the color of your urine, pay attention to other symptoms:
- digestive problems – feeling of heaviness, flatulence;
- nausea, vomiting;
- weakness, fatigue of the body;
- all signs of intoxication - severe headache, disorientation in space, confusion.
Changes in urine color in cirrhosis occur in the early stages of the disease. Often this symptom is noticed before a diagnosis is made. The sooner you see a doctor, the greater the chance of saving your liver. Be sure to monitor your health, pay attention to the smallest symptoms, and pay attention to prevention.
Cirrhosis often develops against the background of infections, but liver diseases do not manifest themselves in any way. The same hepatitis C, which is the most common root cause of cirrhosis throughout the world, is called the “gentle killer.” It develops in the body over decades, constantly changes, and destroys the liver.
Don't be afraid to turn to narrow specialists. Sometimes a detailed consultation with an infectious disease specialist or hepatologist is required for absolutely healthy people so that they learn what cirrhosis is, what consequences it has, and how to avoid this problem.
Reasons for color change
Urine indicators largely depend on the functioning of all organs and systems, including the biliary system. This is due to the fact that the normal production of fluid in the body is closely related to the work of tissues and cells that absorb and distribute this fluid throughout the body. Thus, disruption of the functioning of the gallbladder may indicate the production of pathological agents that enter the kidneys with the blood , and due to the fact that the human body rejects these pathological agents, they come out along with the urine, thereby modifying its consistency and composition.
There are many natural reasons why urine is not a normal color:
With liver disease, urine becomes brown or brown in color
- Composition and amount of liquid drunk - the more water a person drinks, the lighter the urine becomes.
- Morning time - the fluid after sleep has a darker color, which is due to its stagnation in the bladder at night.
- For urinary tract infections.
- The older you get, the more intensely the color of your urine becomes.
- Consumption of products that color the liquid - beets, tomatoes, products containing dyes.
The main reason for darkening of urine due to inflammation of liver cells is excess bile, which forms bilirubin and enters the bloodstream and kidneys, from where it is excreted naturally through the urinary system. In some cases, the discharge takes on a greenish tint, which also indicates an excess of liver enzymes in the blood.
In addition, with liver diseases of various types, hemoglobin is released and disintegrated in the blood, and hematopoiesis is impaired. This also causes the urine to become brown or brown in color.
Associated symptoms
Changes in urine are only the first symptoms of liver pathology. Along with this symptom, over a certain period of time, the body most often develops concomitant clinical signs characteristic of the development of inflammation in the body:
- Increase in body temperature.
- The appearance of weakness, lethargy, apathy, increased sweating, chills.
- Disorders of the gastrointestinal tract - nausea, vomiting, flatulence, pain in the area where the hematopoietic organ is located.
- The appearance of yellowness of the skin and mucous membranes.
- an increase in the size of the affected organs.
It is important to understand that a change in the color of urine does not always indicate liver problems. Therefore, in order to make a diagnosis, you need to contact a specialist to fully decipher the data.
The causative agent of the disease
Viral hepatitis is designated by the following markings: A, B, C, D, G, E. How does virus infection occur? There are several routes of infection, and it is especially necessary to highlight the method through the blood (B, C, D, G) and enteral, which is most often characteristic of hepatitis A and E.
After the virus has entered the blood, it is delivered to the liver, where membrane fusion of the virus and the liver cell occurs, as a result of which the virus is reproduced by the organ cell.
Toxic hepatitis develops due to the accumulation of a huge amount of toxins in the liver. The liver stops functioning normally and the cells die.
The autoimmune by a failure in the human defense system: antibodies are produced to the tissue structures of the liver, and it is destroyed.
The most common type, especially among children, is hepatitis A. The pathogen is dangerous and quite resistant to the external environment and belongs to the picornavirus variety. It is very viable and only dies when boiled for 5 minutes. The hepatitis A virus is able to live in the external environment for several months at a temperature of +4 degrees, and at -20 degrees - up to several years.
At the pre-icteric stage, patients must be isolated from others. Then they are no longer so dangerous for others, since jaundice manifests itself in full, and the virus disappears from the blood.
Hepatitis A can be contracted under the following conditions:
- By eating food that was prepared by a person infected with the virus;
- When consuming fresh foods that are contaminated and not treated with boiled water;
- If seafood comes from contaminated sources;
- During homosexual relations with a patient.
The following people can be considered at risk:
- people living in the same apartment with a person affected by hepatitis A;
- people who have sexual intimacy with the patient;
- children living in areas where the spread of the disease is high;
- employees of children's institutions, catering, water utilities;
- children attending preschool organizations;
- drug addicts and homosexuals.
Types of hepatitis and urine color
An experienced specialist can determine the disease not only by research, but also by the shade of the liquid
An experienced specialist can determine the disease not only by research, but also by the shade of the liquid. In addition, many doctors claim that dark urine and its consistency and shade can indicate not only the presence of pathology, but also what form is inherent in this shade. It is possible to determine the presence of the disease even from a regular photo of urine, looking at its color and foaminess.
So urine with hepatitis A, D and E takes on the color of dark beer or strong brewed tea , which causes a strong toxic effect of the virus in human blood. At the same time, feces, on the contrary, become colorless. In addition, a feature of the hepatitis D virus is that it is a parasitic virus that cannot be alone in the human body, so most often it joins hepatitis B, having similar clinical symptoms.
The color of urine in hepatitis B in the jaundice stage is also brown , and abundant foam appears, which gives rise to suspicion of this form of pathology. However, the anicteric form always occurs without any significant changes in indicators.
Hepatitis C, on the contrary, does not have a strong effect on changes in fluid , so most often it remains unchanged in color and is not much different in appearance from regular urine and has a light tint. This is due to the fact that the damage to liver cells in this form occurs quite slowly and asymptomatically, which causes a gradual accumulation of bilirubin and there is no excess bile. However, an acute form of hepatitis C can also cause a brown color change.
Features of disorders in children
Acholic feces in childhood can be observed due to congenital atresia of the biliary tract, which is accompanied by a lack of bile outflow.
Also, the cause of clayey stools is hepatitis, cancer and pancreatic diseases. Separately, it is worth highlighting enzymatic deficiency, which leads to impaired digestion of food. A change in the nature of bowel movements is observed due to violations of the mother's dietary intake if the baby is breastfed. The reaction of the child’s body may also be due to the introduction of complementary foods that are not age appropriate.
Urinalysis indicators
Urine examination for liver inflammation is a fairly informative method for diagnosing diseases.
Qualified specialists may suspect that the patient has liver disease based on the study indicators.
In the analysis for suspected hepatitis, the level of bilirubin is first taken into account - the breakdown product of hemoglobin and blood components and fractions that determine the presence of this disease. In addition, liver diseases are characterized by the presence of protein in urine and an increase in the release of urobilinogen, a bilirubin derivative responsible for energy exchange.
The study often reveals microhematuria associated with tissue trauma and blood leaking out in the urine. If glucose appears in the discharge, this may also indicate a violation of metabolic processes associated with diseases of the gallbladder. And the presence of toxins and impurities in the blood are indications for a detailed study of tests and additional diagnostic methods.
Urine examination for liver inflammation is a fairly informative method for diagnosing diseases, however, to fully confirm the diagnosis, a comprehensive examination is necessary, including laboratory and instrumental research methods.
Video
How is human urine formed? Types and diseases.
Hepatitis is a viral liver disease characterized by inflammation of the organ cells, which has various symptoms and manifestations. One of the symptoms of the pathology is a change in the color of urine. In a healthy state, urine has a straw-colored hue, and during inflammatory processes in the organ, its color is darker.
This article will help you understand what the color of urine is during hepatitis, the reasons for the change in shade, and what indicators a urine test has for this pathology.
