Protein is one of the most needed components for our body to function in a healthy way. Protein, which has many functions, especially cell, organ and tissue growth, is taken through food and mixed into the blood as urea after being processed in the liver. Urea in the blood is filtered out through the kidneys. Thus, unprocessed wastes do not accumulate in our body.
Although low urea is not seen in the blood, high urea is a common situation because in some cases, waste urea cannot be excreted due to liver or kidney functions and remains in the blood and leaves a toxic effect. Of course, the effects of such a waste material in the blood on our health are quite negative. Let’s examine in all details the questions that are curious about what urea means in the blood, what is its low and high.
Let’s start with the basics: what is urea, what does blood urea mean?
The protein we get through food, that is, by eating, is first digested in the stomach and intestines. From there it passes to the liver and is processed. Untreated waste fractions are converted into ammonia, a type of waste material. This substance consists of wastes such as uric acid and urea. From here, the waste material that goes to the kidney through the blood is once again filtered and finally excreted through the urine.
This is the story of urea, but if something goes wrong in this journey, what we call urea occurs in the blood. In other words, due to an abnormal situation that occurs either in the liver or kidney, urea cannot complete its filtration processes and remains in the blood. As the level of urea in the blood increases, it harms the body because this waste material causes a toxic effect unless it is excreted. The amount of urea in the blood is determined by a blood test.
What does the blood urea value mean, what should the normal value be?
The rate of urea in the blood is evaluated over the amount of urea in 100 ml of blood. The rate of urea in 100 ml of blood should be less than 50 mg. That is, the ideal urea value is between 10 – 40 md / dL. Of course, this rate varies from person to person. In some cases, a urea value between 7 – 20 md / dL can also be considered normal.
What is low urea?
If your urea rate is below the normal value in blood test results, this is called low urea. The reason for low urea, which is not seen very often, is that the body cannot get the protein it needs due to malnutrition. Excess carbohydrate consumption can also cause low urea.
Causes of low urea:
- Excessive water consumption
- antibiotic drugs
- Anabolic steroid use
- Exposure to high radiation
- Liver ailments
- absorption problems
- pancreatic insufficiency
- pancreatic cancer
- Diabetes
- Cirrhosis
- Tuberculosis
- cystic fibrosis
- Crohn’s disease
- Zollinger Ellison Syndrome
In general, the conditions and diseases that cause low urea in the person are in this way. Although some of these are very common conditions, they do not necessarily cause low urea, but if there is such a situation, your doctor may suspect these diseases.
Symptoms and treatment of low urea:
Low urea does not have many symptoms other than going to the toilet frequently and foamy urine, but if it is caused by a disease, the symptoms of that disease become symptoms of low urea. If your blood test results reveal that you have low urea, your doctor may suggest a lifestyle change or follow a treatment method according to the disease or drug that caused this condition.
What is the urea height?
If your urea rate is above the normal value in blood test results, this is called urea elevation. Although some of the urea in our body is excreted through sweat, a large part of it is excreted through the urine, that is, by filtering through the kidneys, so high urea is considered a precursor of kidney disorders.
Causes of high urea:
- kidney problems
- Heart diseases
- blood circulation disorders
- Irregular and malnutrition
- prolonged starvation
- extreme exercise
- muscle breakdown
- febrile diseases
- infectious diseases
- Dehydration (excessive dehydration)
In general, the conditions and diseases that cause high urea in the person are in this way. If there is a continuous high urea condition, your doctor may suspect a disease, but sometimes your urea may increase temporarily and the reason for this may be lifestyle.
Symptoms of high urea:
- Weakness
- Tiredness
- muscle weakness
- Headache
- decreased appetite
- weight loss
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- dry mouth
- Ammonia smell in the mouth
- burning sensation in the mouth
- sleep disorder
- Irregularity in breathing
- clouding of consciousness
- hiccuping often
- Anemia
In general, some of the symptoms that occur in people with high urea are as follows. In cases of transient urea elevation, these symptoms may not always be seen, but if the cause of the high urea level is your ongoing lifestyle or a disease, one or more of these symptoms may be seen at the same time.
What to do if urea is high?
Urea elevation can both be a harbinger of a disease and may invite new diseases if it continues to be high. For this reason, your doctor may suggest a lifestyle change based on the results of the blood test, or if there is a disease that causes this condition, he or she may follow an appropriate treatment method.
Does drinking a lot of water reduce urea?
Even if the correct answer to this question is yes, it is not enough. Because drinking lots of water isn’t always a good thing either. The important thing is to drink water regularly and as much as your body needs. The recommended amount of water is 1 liter of water for every 25 kilograms. In other words, if you weigh 75 kg, you should drink 3 liters of water a day. Of course, this rate may increase depending on the intensity of the activity.
If you want to control your urea level, you must make changes in your lifestyle. You should drink water regularly, limit alcohol consumption, eat a balanced diet instead of protein, do regular exercise and keep your general health status under control at all times. In other words, if you take good care of your body, your urea level will remain between normal values.
Answering the question of what does urea mean in the blood, which is seen with the accumulation of waste protein that cannot be eliminated through the kidneys, we talked about what can happen in case of low and high. What we describe is for informational purposes only. Do not forget that you should get the most accurate and specific information about blood urea from a specialist physician, as in all health issues.
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