ammonia in urine

sometimes my urine has a very strong smell of ammonia.I have HCV and cirhosis. What could be causing that?

[pugdaddy]

my understanding is that a healthy liver processess and removes ammonia from the body (after converting it to urea).  a struggling liver does so less efficiently - hence the smell remaining in your urine.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

The ammonia smell in urine as described by you, sometimes occurs in kidney diseases, when it is described as fishy smell. If the liver is decompromised it cannot metabolize the waste products hence there is an elevation of blood ammonia levels resulting in increased excretion in the urine. Also, increased levels of ammonia may also be seen with gastrointestinal bleeding, where the  blood cells are haemolysed in the intestines, releasing protein.  Please discuss this with your doctor am sure he will provide further assistance.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.