smelly urine

Hi there,
for the past 6months almost now I have had strong smelly urine, its so strong the whole bathroom smells of it after i've passed water.
I regularly drink lots of water, and no i do not have a urinary tract infection because I often get these and when I do it is accompanied by lots of pain, and I am not in any pain at the moment.
The only symptom I have is strong smelling urine and I do get a lot of lower back pain.
Could this be a kidney infection?
I have had a urinanalysis, this came up clear.

[sanasia]

Hey my symptoms are the same as student2411. whats the resolution?

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the forum!
Generally bad odor is due to infection, mainly by E coli. This can be diagnosed by urine culture. Strong fruity odor is due to uncontrolled diabetes. Interestingly urine odor changes in menopause too. Urinary bladder infection and kidney infections do produce strong smelling urine. Another reason is dehydration. Strong ammonia smell is due to protein breakdown. A routine urine examination along with a urine culture will be able to detect the problem. Drink plenty of fluids and water and see if that helps. Also if you are on crash diets etc then protein breakdown can cause an ammonia smell. Also diet rich in protein can be the cause.
There are some bacteria in the gut that produce hydrogen sulfide gas. Sometimes this gas is produced in such huge quantities that the sulfide oxidase enzyme in the wall of the gut is not able to oxidize all of it and convert it to thiosulfate. Hence the gas enters the blood stream and gets filtered by kidney into the urine. This gas has a smell of rotten eggs. You can test its presence by test strips available OTC. If this is positive and you have smell of rotten eggs in urine then you need to cut down food items that contain sulfites. Most of this gas comes from sulfites a person consumes, which is a part of all preservatives. Sulfites are present in all juices, molasses, yellow dye in ready made food stuffs, and red wine. Sulfites are present in lesser amounts in mashed potatoes made from dry powder, pickles, tinned shrimp, cookies, crackers, and readymade pie dough.
If you have been taking these things in a good amount, then cut down the intake. Also take a lactobacillus preparation and yoghurt with your meals. In all probability the smell will go. If it persists, then talk to your doctor.
For proper treatment and resolution you need to identify the smell.
Hope these tips help. If symptoms persist consult an urologist or an internal medicine specialist. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!