Stupid question

[Falkenbach]

.... but if you don't ask questions, you will never understand.

I've heard people on this forum referring to the "no pee club" and I don't fully understand. Does urination stop altogether for people who are at end stage renal failure, or on dialysis, or something?

I'm about to have a pre-emptive transplant. I am only 46kg in weight, and my creatinine is over 500, so I'm pretty well at (or close to) end stage. I still visit the toilet (bathroom, for you US forumers!) quite regularly.

This might seem a bit tasteless to post, but the urine seems to be fairly clear in colour, which I've assumed is due to the kidneys not filtering the waste out properly. But as for actually GOING, I have no problem. In fact, I probably go too often, if anything (usually every two hours or so). Maybe this is habitual/behavioural?

[keefer51]

I am a member of the no pee club. When i knew my transplanted kidney was failing my urine was colorless. My creatine was 4.5. I still urinated for the first year on dialysis. However the last two years i have not. My creatine is 16.7 now and i am told i have no kidney function at all. I am so thirsty all the time but i have to watch what fluid i drink. Usally i put on around 2 to 4 kilos a treatment. That paticular part of my body has now become a useless appendage!

[Falkenbach]

Oh, and something else I've noticed, which might just be related to my kidney failure.

So, when I do this colourless urine, perhaps there is less odour to it, also, and I've therefore become more sensitive to the odour of a normal person's urine?

Because I've noticed just recently that if another family member visits the bathroom just before me, when I walk in the smell of urine seems SO strong, and I desperately pour bleach all around the inside of the toilet sometimes several times a day!

[LightLizard]

To pee or not to pee.... whether 'tis nobler...

wups, sorry 'bout that!

From what I understand, whether one continues to produce urine or not varies from patient to patient, and I don't believe that even the medical professionals can answer why in a 'generic' sense.

My neph told me a story of a guy who didn't pee for five years,  then he got a transplant and immediately started peeing again, So, it is surely related to kidney function (or 'malfunction')-we can assume.

I pee too, just about as regularly as I always did. Sometimes it's pretty clear, for the reasons you mentioned. Since I've been on P/D, it sometimes looks quite normal, though.
Last bloodwork I had done shows my GFR is 10%, that may be relavent....for me, anyway.

love

~LL~

[Chicken Little]

I still pee, but my understanding is that as KF decreases or ceases the peeing stops all together.    Before dialysis, I had the clear pee.  Now I have less pee, but it's colorful.   

The goal of every transplant is to get you peeing again.  If you're not peeing, it didn't work.   

[Rerun]

Well said Chicken Little.

Kidneys produce urine.   

I didn't know I had renal failure.  My husbands pee was so pungent and yellow I was getting after him for drinking so much pop and not enough water.  As mine was clear.  Well, I had ESRD.

After my 17 year transplant failed and they took it out.....  I was still dribbling some pee.  That meant ONE of my native kidneys was still trying to work.....bless it.  It finally stopped too.  Just gave up. 

The ultmate goal is to get a kidney transplant and start peeing right on the operating table.

[silverhead]

Sharon has a Nephrostomy tube going into her back that goes into the left kidney (right one has stopped functioning and has shriveled) this is to "drain" the output of the kidney, her tubes leading from the kidneys to the bladder were so very heavily scarred from long term undiagnosed bladder infection that it resulted in the ESRD, in fact she goes into the hospital tomorrow for routine replacement (every 2-3 months because of clogging) but we know that her normal output is about 1500 ml daily, when it starts decreasing and her bladder starts outputting urine we know that the pressure in her kidney is causing the urine to force its way past the obstruction, also her blood pressure starts to rise during this phase. It has become so routine to have it changed now that she goes into the operating room, the Interventional Radiologists all know her and she does the whole procedure now without any sedative so that when it is over (only takes about 30 minutes) she can go back to recovery and as soon as they remove the tubes from her hand that they administered the antibiotic through, she can dress and go home. when she first started on hemo the Nephrologist spoke about possibly removing the left kidney, but we said no way right now, sure am glad we did, because we really believe that it is still functioning well enough to let her enjoy some of the best blood work results all along, all of the critical measurements are in the normal range for an ESRD patient and when something, like potassium rises we can correct it with stricter diet control for awhile (she does love her potatoes after all!)
Tom

[LightLizard]

spuds...

it might not be the right place to post this, but, Silverhead, did you know that if you soak sliced or diced potatoes in water for a couple of hours, it removes a lot of the potassium from them. (Discard the water before cooking.)

love

~LL~

[livecam]

I still pee, but my understanding is that as KF decreases or ceases the peeing stops all together.    Before dialysis, I had the clear pee.  Now I have less pee, but it's colorful.   

The goal of every transplant is to get you peeing again.  If you're not peeing, it didn't work.   

Have you noticed that your urine is bubbly or frothy?  That is a clear sign of kidney failure.  I spent three years on dialysis and never stopped urinating.  Of course the right things weren't in it nor were my kidneys doing the other things they were supposed to do.  They were making alot of renin while I was on dialysis which was driving my blood pressure sky high during treatment.

[Chicken Little]

Have you noticed that your urine is bubbly or frothy?  That is a clear sign of kidney failure. 

Oh, man.   I thought those bubbles were the toilet bowl cleaner doing it's thing.     

[stauffenberg]

Medical texts always say that it is unsafe to attempt to diagnose anything from the appearance of urine, which can vary with diet, the amount of water consumed, etc.  Only frank hematuria is diagnostic of anything, but frothiness can be due to a number of harmless causes.

Notincing a strong smell of urine while approaching or being in endstage renal failurine can actuallly result from smelling your own breath, which can take on the smell of urine from the increasing uremia.

Many patients continue to urinate after initiation of dialysis.  I produced urine for the first five years of my period on dialysis before anuria set in, which brought with it all the horrors of strict fluid control.

[Falkenbach]

Notincing a strong smell of urine while approaching or being in endstage renal failurine can actuallly result from smelling your own breath, which can take on the smell of urine from the increasing uremia.

But I only notice it when I walk into the bathroom immediately after my husband has been in there.

[Bajanne]

This is my 20th month of dialysis - I started September 2005 - I still pee a bit.  However, it is nothing compared to my pre-dialysis days.  I have asked other when you would stop altogether and noone seems to know.

[thegrammalady]

normal kidneys filter toxins from the blood. the darker the yellow the urine the more dehidrated your are. most people don't drink enough water. soda, coffee, juice and milk don't count when your kidneys function normally. milk as an example reacts in your system as a whole food.

[Falkenbach]

This is my 20th month of dialysis - I started September 2005 - I still pee a bit.  However, it is nothing compared to my pre-dialysis days.  I have asked other when you would stop altogether and noone seems to know.

I guess it must be different for everyone? Well, I'm getting my new kidney in two weeks, so I guess this won't be happening to me anyway - at least not at this point in my life.