ammonia in urine

[sweetmagnolia]

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

[ladylove20004059]

I get the ammonia smell at times and the fishy pee smell at times. The doc diagnosed me with interstitial cystitis but who knows . It's always worse before my period and during ovulation. I suffer from terrible bladder pain. Right now it smells like ammonia and I can hardly pee even though it feels like I really need to. The ONLY thing that ever gives me any relief is drinking some alcohal. I know that's not the best thing for me but when I'm having intolerable pain I can't take it. And it actually gives me relief for a while. This has been going on for a year and a half I need help

[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.

[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.