Causes of White Specks or Particles in Urine: See a Doctor
If you’re seeing white particles or specks in your urine, you need to see a doctor.
“Your urine is usually clear and any debris, white specks or otherwise, is not a good thing and should get checked out,” says Michael D. Lutz, MD, board certified urologist with Corewell Health/Beaumont Hospital; President, MIU Men’s Health Foundation.
Causes of White Flecks or Specks in Your Urine
“The most common cause is a urinary tract infection and easy to determine by performing a urine dipstick test or microscopic urinalysis,” says Dr. Lutz.
“The other common cause of white specks would be phosphate or other crystals in the urine which is a sign of possible kidney stone formation.”
Kidney stones are made up of minerals and salts. Thus, it’s easy to understand how some of these constituents can make it into your urine stream, appearing as tiny white particles.
Treatment for kidney stones ranges from pain medication and drinking high amounts of water to pass the stones, to surgery.
Additional Symptoms of Kidney Stones
• Severe pain in the side and back, below your ribs
• The pain may radiate to the lower abdomen and groin
• Red, brown or pink urine (from blood)
• Urine may appear cloudy, but this is due to the white specks
• Frequent urination
• Nausea, vomiting
• Fever from infection
Dr. Lutz further explains, “Lastly, in men who have developed retrograde [declining] ejaculation either from prostate surgery, medications or underlying health conditions, will notice semen mixed with the urine which will appear with white flecks.”
Additional Causes of Seeing White Things in Your Urine
• Untreated yeast infection. A yeast infection, also known as candidiasis, is an overgrowth of a type of fungus called Candida.
It typically affects warm, moist areas of the body, like the mouth, throat and genital area.
• Untreated parasitic infection. A parasitic infection occurs when parasites invade the body and cause illness.
These infections can range from mild to severe and affect various parts of the body.
• And for women — use of estrogen vaginal cream (some of the cream may disseminate, causing tiny white particles of it to come out with urine flow).
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Dr. Lutz is experienced in all areas of adult urology and has special interests in urological cancer, male fertility and urologic stone disease. Men’s Health Foundation
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image credit: Federico Candoni
Why Urine that Looks Like Bubbly Beer Can Mean Serious Disease
It’s not funny if your urine bubbles or foams like beer; this can mean a life threatening condition.
If you’ve noticed lately that your urine is full of bubbles, here is an explanation from Michael D. Lutz, MD, board certified urologist with Corewell Health/Beaumont Hospital; President, MIU Men’s Health Foundation.
“Bubbly urine with the appearance of a ‘head of beer’ can occasionally occur during periods of mild dehydration and a rapid, forceful, and/or turbulent stream.”
Urine that foams or bubbles like beer is NOT caused by drinking beer.
Dr. Lutz further explains, “However, if you have a consistently foamy [or bubbly] urine, it is likely that you are spilling excess amounts of protein in the urine which is usually secondary to an underlying kidney disease.”
A simple urinalysis from a sample of your urine can show if there is excess protein.
Shutterstock/plenoy m
If you’re noticing persistent bubbling, make an appointment with your doctor.
Kidney disease, says Dr. Lutz, “is one of the earliest effects of diabetes mellitus upon the kidneys in addition to the spillage of excess sugar in the urine which may give it a ‘sweet’ odor.
“If you start spilling significant amounts of protein in the urine, you may develop secondary effects like swelling of the legs or around the eyes.”
The swelling in the legs is called edema, but the absence of this or any swelling around the eyes does not mean that you’re in the clear from kidney disease.
Diabetes Mellitus
The term “mellitus” does not indicate type of diabetes; it’s simply used as part of the name of this condition.
Type II diabetes is closely linked to lifestyle choices. The pancreas produces insulin, but the system of insulin delivering blood sugar to muscle cells is impaired in type II.
Type I diabetes seems to have no connection to unhealthy lifestyle choices.
The body’s ability to metabolize blood sugar may be in perfect working order.
The problem in type I is that the pancreas does not produce insulin.
Additional Causes of Bubbly or Beer-Like Urine
• Enlarged kidneys from pregnancy
• Excessive protein consumption
• UTI (urinary tract infection)
You should keep a regular visual surveillance of your urine for any abnormal or unexpected changes in its color or other characteristics.
Collecting your urine in a plastic cup will help you more readily see if it’s bubbling abnormally or truly looks like foamy beer.
Dr. Lutz is experienced in all areas of adult urology and has special interests in urological cancer, male fertility and urologic stone disease. Men’s Health Foundation
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Very few women use Fat Gripz, and I’m supposing this is because they think this device will give them big forearms.
I want big forearm muscles and have not been able to get them using Fat Gripz.
Maybe I’m not using this device often enough, but you need not use Fat Gripz often if you simply want to increase your grip strength.
Why Fat Gripz Will Not Make a Woman’s Forearms Huge
The muscles that control your hand grip are in the forearm.
These are small thin muscles. Do you realize just how difficult it is to make naturally small thin muscles big?
This is why many men struggle to blow up their forearms.
I have a very strong grip. I never use gloves or straps for pulling exercises, and can deadlift 215 with either an overhand grip or an underhand grip.
I put Fat Gripz on a 135 pound barbell that’s racked on the lower pegs of a bench press station.
I stand over the bar, then grasp the blue devices and lift the bar off the pegs and hold for several seconds. NO mixed grip.
I alternate between an overhand and underhand grip for several sets.
This is exceedingly difficult for a woman to do. I’m sure that most men pulled off the street wouldn’t be able to lift 135 pounds this way even a millimeter off the pegs.
However, this exercise has done nothing for forearm hypertrophy.
Maybe if I add Fat Gripz to my rows I’ll start seeing forearm hypertrophy, but I doubt these muscles will ever develop Popeye proportions.
Women should incorporate Fat Gripz into their regimen to increase their grip strength.
These devices are advertised as a means to make one’s forearms big.
But I seriously doubt that a woman has to worry about getting huge unsightly forearms from this ingenious tool.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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