What are the signs of urinary problems?

Urinary symptoms are any changes in your urine from the normal, including changes in how often you urinate, how urination feels, how well you are able to control your urination, the color of your urine, and whether you experience pain when you urinate.

Urinary symptoms can vary widely in both severity and underlying cause. Mild symptoms, such as the need to urinate often, can be normal, especially after drinking a lot of water, for example. More severe symptoms, such as blood in your urine or severe pain when you urinate, can also occur, and the underlying cause must be determined to treat the problem successfully and minimize complications.

The most common causes of urinary symptoms are drinking too much or too little, urinary tract infections, passing of kidney stones, changes in urine color, and problems controlling urination. Urinary symptoms can happen to anyone. Rarely, urinary symptoms can be due to serious causes, such as cancers of the urinary tract.

Seek immediate medical care (call 911) for urinary symptoms accompanied by high fever (higher than 101 degrees Fahrenheit), decreased urine output, inability to urinate, severe abdominal pain, or persistent vomiting. Seek prompt medical care if you have serious urinary symptoms, such as blood in your urine, or if you think you may be passing a kidney stone.

If your urinary symptoms are persistent or cause you concern, seek prompt medical care.

What other symptoms might occur with urinary symptoms?

Urinary symptoms may accompany other symptoms, which vary depending on the underlying disease, disorder or condition. Changes in urination frequently occur with diseases or conditions of the kidneys or reproductive systems, for example.

Urinary symptoms that may occur along with urinary symptoms

Urinary symptoms may accompany other symptoms that affect the kidneys including:

Abdominal or pelvic pain
Bloody or pink-colored urine (hematuria)
Bloody ejaculate
Changes in urine color
Cloudy urine
Loss of bladder control
Pain in the lower left flanks or back
Pain or burning with urination
Pus in the urine

Reproductive system symptoms that may occur along with urinary symptoms

Urinary symptoms may accompany other symptoms that affect the reproductive system including:

Pain during sexual intercourse
Vaginal infection
Vaginal itchiness

Other symptoms that may occur along with urinary symptoms

Urinary symptoms may accompany symptoms that are related to other body systems including:

Fatigue
Fever and chills
Joint and ocular complaints (Reiter syndrome)
Loss of appetite
Malaise or lethargy
Nausea with or without vomiting

Serious symptoms that might indicate a life-threatening condition

In some cases, urinary symptoms may be a symptom of a life-threatening condition that should be immediately evaluated in an emergency setting. Seek immediate medic al care (call 911) if you, or someone you are with, have any of these life-threatening symptoms including:

Decreased urine output or inability to urinate
High fever (higher than 101 degrees Fahrenheit)
Persistent vomiting
Severe pain

What causes urinary symptoms?

Urinary symptoms have a wide variety of causes. They can vary from mild changes in the frequency or color of urine to serious infections that can spread to the kidneys and be life threatening.

Pelvic causes of urinary symptoms

Urinary symptoms may be caused by a wide variety of conditions located in the pelvis including:

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH; prostate enlargement)
Bladder infection
Bladder prolapse
Genital piercing
Infection of the prostate
Infection of the urethra
Interstitial cystitis (chronic inflammation of the bladder)
Kidney infection or inflammation
Kidney stones or urinary stones
Overactive bladder
Prostate cancer
Sexually transmitted diseases, such as gonorrhea or chlamydia
Surgery involving the upper or lower urinary tract
Trauma
Unsafe sexual practices
Use of deodorant tampons or douches
Use of spermicides or lubricants with irritants
Yeast infection in women

Systemic causes of urinary symptoms

Urinary symptoms can also be caused by systemic diseases or conditions including:

Dehydration or overhydration
Diabetes insipidus (lack of antidiuretic hormone)
Diabetes mellitus
Genetic conditions
Influenza (flu) or other whole body infections
Medication side effects or interactions
Pregnancy
Sepsis (life-threatening bacterial blood infection)
Spinal cord injuries
Various types of cancer

Questions for diagnosing the cause of urinary symptoms

To diagnose your condition, your doctor or licensed health care practitioner will ask you several questions related to your urinary symptoms including:

When did you first start to experience urinary symptoms?
What other symptoms have you noticed?
What medications are you currently taking?
When do you notice your urinary symptoms the most?
How are your urinary symptoms affecting your daily life?
Do you have a family history of cancer, diabetes, heart attack, or stroke?

What are the potential complications of urinary symptoms?

Urinary symptoms vary widely in severity and cause. The treatment and complications depend entirely on the underlying cause of your symptoms. Mild symptoms, such as urinating frequently after drinking lots of fluid, or even minor urinary tract infections in women or children, are often free of any complications. Serious infections of the urinary tract or symptoms due to conditions such as prostate cancer, however, can have life-threatening complications.

Because urinary symptoms can be due to serious diseases, failure to seek treatment can result in serious complications and permanent damage. Once the underlying cause is diagnosed, it is important for you to follow the treatment plan that you and your health care professional design specifically for you to reduce the risk of potential complications including: