Hey there, Adventurers! Urinestore for some interesting Qs & As today. Although pee might be the butt end (ha) of some pretty funny jokes, peeing is a normal and necessary function of all of our bodies. Knowing how peeing (or urinating)works is an important part of understanding your body! Some Know Yourself-ers like you sent in some great questions that you might have asked yourself before. Remember, if you have questions of your own, send them over to me at the link below or on social media!
Q: Why does my pee smell funny after I eat asparagus?
Great question, Adventurer. We can blame a compound found only in asparagus for that funky smell in our urine that some of us get after eating asparagus. The culprit is called asparagusic acid,and the process of breaking this acid down during digestion produces byproducts containing sulfur. When we pee after eating asparagus, it’s sulfur that makes it smelly!
Fun fact: Asparagus pee can show up quickly — as fast as 15 minutes after eating the vegetable!
Q: What would happen if I didn’t let myself pee?
Let me guess - I bet that this Adventurer was partially motivated to ask this question because he wanted to know if holding your pee for a very long time can make your bladder burst. Here’s the deal - a healthy human bladder can hold about 2 cups of pee. If necessary, it can stretch to hold a little more. However, it certainly has happened -in very, very rare circumstances - that the bladder is so full that the pressure causes it to rupture.
While a bladder rupture is an extreme circumstance, you can still cause harm to yourself by holding your pee for shorter amounts of time. If you’re holding your pee for longer than 10 hours, for example, you can develop something called urinary retention-that means that your bladder muscles are so used to holding in your pee that they can’t relax when you finally do want to let yourself go. If you’re retaining pee for long periods of time with frequency, you can cause damage to your bladder and to other parts of the renal system, like your kidneys.
If you often go without emptying your bladder, or if you’ve been holding it a lot for several days, you could develop a urinary tract infection (UTI).When you have a UTI, it might hurt to go pee, and you might feel the urge to pee much more often than usual. You could also run a fever, feel nauseated, and experience pain in your back. All that to save yourself a few trips to the bathroom? Not worth it!
So remember - the next time nature calls...you should answer!
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