What a Urinalysis Reveals About Your Health

A urinalysis is a simple and effective tool for doctors to find out what may be going on with your health. Read on to find out how it works and what it can tell you.

Led by board-certified family nurse practitioner Pamela Phillips, here at Phillips Family Medical we’re a primary care and family medicine practice that’s focused on helping you find the best health possible.

One of the most helpful tools we have to monitor your health is a urinalysis. Depending on your situation, we may use a urinalysis to check your overall health, diagnose a suspected condition, or monitor a condition we know you have.

Here’s more information about what a urinalysis can reveal about your health.

Why is a urinalysis done?

A urinalysis (also called a urine test) is an examination of your urine that helps us determine if you have a range of conditions, or if your existing conditions are being managed properly.

Urine is produced by your kidneys as they remove waste and excess fluid from your body. The appearance, concentration, and makeup of your urine can give us many clues about your health.

An urinalysis can be conducted to check your overall health as part of a routine medical exam or to screen for a range of disorders (such as diabetes, liver disease, or kidney disease) if you’re admitted to the hospital.

It can also be used to diagnose a medical condition, if for example, you have blood in your urine, are experiencing back or abdominal pain, or have pain when you urinate.

If you’ve already been diagnosed with a medical condition (such as a kidney disease), a urinalysis is an easy, effective way to monitor your condition over time.

For instance, if your urine is cloudy, that can indicate a urinary tract infection (UTI). If the lab shows an increased level of protein in your urine, that can be a sign of kidney disease.

What can the results show?

A urine sample is analyzed in three main ways during a urinalysis:

Visual exam

Urine is normally clear, so a visual inspection can give the lab tech a first round of information. If it’s cloudy or has an unusual odor, this can indicate an infection. Protein in your urine will make it foamy. A reddish tint can mean you have blood in your urine.

Dipstick test

A dipstick is a thin plastic stick with strips of chemicals on it that is placed in the urine to check your acidity, protein, bilirubin, sugar, ketones, blood, signs of infection, and concentration.

Microscopic exam

A lab tech will also check several drops of your urine under a microscope to check for a few elements:

Bacteria or yeasts can be signs of infection
White blood cells can be signs of infection
Red blood cells can be signs of kidney disease or a blood disorder
Crystals can be a sign of kidney stones
Casts are a protein that can indicate a kidney disorder

By itself, a urinalysis usually does not provide enough evidence for a definitive diagnosis, but it can provide clues and point the way to further testing. We will examine your results along with any other tests to determine the next steps in diagnosis or treatment.

If you think you may need a urinalysis, Pamela Phillips, Ph.D., FNP-C, and our team at Phillips Family Medical are here to help. Just call our DeSoto, Texas, office at 972-861-1151 or use our convenient online scheduler to book your own appointment anytime!