Oliguria

Hello,

I am a 19-year-old female with seemingly sudden urinary problems.

When one talks about oliguria (as in kidney failure), is this typically associated with an urge to urinate but little success, or no urge/very little urge? I ask because over the past few days, I seem to urinate very little.On top of this, I have swelling in my ankles that is very slight. It does pit, but only in certain spots. The majority of it is non-pitting, if that makes any sense. I am trying to see a doctor as soon as possible but I was wondering if this decrease in urination could be attributed to anything else, because it's not as though I feel like I have to go badly and cannot - when I have to go, I do and I feel satisfied afterward, it's just that the urge had become very infrequent.

When I do go sort of lemon yellow, maybe a little darker. It looks normal in the toilet but when I urinated into a bottle to get a closer look, I saw some white particles floating around. I do feel pretty fatigued but I also suffer from anxiety, so the fatigue is really nothing new.

[Stephen Liroff, MD]

Oliguria refers to the production of urine by the kidneys, not the frequency of urinating. By your description the storage and emptying function of your bladder sounds to be normal, it is the production of urine that may be an issue. Your physician can easily check on how much urine is left in your bladder after you urinate in order to demonstrate that there is no issue in this regard. In the meantime, reduce your salt intake to a minimum and keep a record of how much fluid you are truly drinking. You can also weight yourself at the same time each day and on  the same scale and see if you are gaining weight day by day. (Do this after you move your bowels and on an empty stomach.) This type of gain would go along with kidney failure. Also, look at the medications you  are taking. There may be a drug which affects kidney function.
S.A.Liroff, M.D.