Ask Dr Stupid: Why is wee Yellow
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Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:31:36 -0700
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To: Dr. Stupid
From: wowstar_2001@hotmail.com (karen)
Subject: wee
Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by
karen (wowstar_2001@hotmail.com) on Tuesday, July 24, 2007 at 08:31:36
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email: wowstar_2001@hotmail.com
realname: karen
subject: wee
Form-ID: Dr. Stupid Form
Message: why is your wee yellow??
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Dear Karen,
Dr. Stupid's wee is not yellow. Dr. Stupid is a doll, and as such has no reason to consume food or drink, and complicating this is a lack of internal organs. The end result is that Dr. Stupid can not urinate or defecate. Even worse, or maybe for the best, Dr. Stupic lacks the equipment to perform such acts.
Urine, by any other name, would, well, that would really mess up the language now, wouldn't it? I mean, for whatever reason, the assortment of letters that make up the word "urine" is the word that we properly use to describe the act of expelling liquid waste products from the urethra. So, if we used some other word, well, Dr. Stupid would have to use that word instead. That is the word for it, that is the word that shall be used.
To urinate, which means to expel urine, has so many names. A few such names are pee, pee-pee, wee, wee-wee, taking a leak, pee'ing, wee'ing and so many more colorful terms that may or may not be family safe. The most interesting term is #1, which for those familiar with potty lingo, you've long known that going #1 means to urinate, while #2 means to defecate. Dr. Stupid doesn't make this stuff up.
Urine is yellow for a wide variety of reasons. The most basic and straight forward explaination is the scientific chemical reason. The yellow color is caused by uroglobins. Uroglobins come from the breakdown of another chemical in bile pigment bilirubin. Bilirubin itself is a breakdown of the heme part of hemoglobin that comes from worn out red blood cells. While most bilirubin is broken down in the liver and stored in the gall bladder and broken down even further in the intestines and removed when one poops, some bilirubin remains in the bloodstream where the kidneys convert the bilirubin into uroglobins. Since the kidneys dumps its wastes products largely into the bladder, this is how the uroglobins get a chance to tint your urine yellow.
It is a common misconception that ammonia is what is responsible for the color of urine, but that has been shown above to be not true. The important part of urine is the urea, which is just part of a cycle of removing ammonia from the body or converting it to less toxic substances that can be more easily removed. While you're interesting in why pee is yellow, this nitrogen cycle is very important to fish tanks and aquariums for the same reason why it is important for people to urinate. The main waste product in question is ammonia, which can be highly toxic in even very small amounts. With people and most land and free crittes, simply excreting your urine resolves the issue. With fish, they live in an enclosed and controlled environment, and yes, fish do urinate. Because of this urine loose in the water, it is a function of your aquarium's filter(s) to remove this ammonia by converting it into less toxic substances, such as nitrite and nitrogen. It is also critical to do regular routine water chances on your aquarium as well to help remove these toxic chemicals, as well as use water conditioners and keep your filter media relatively clean. While this is not answer is not about which type of aqarium filter to get, you can do plenty of research on your own to learn that no SINGLE type of filter is best, but rather more than one type of filter is generally advised for the care of healthy fish. Dr. Stupid recommends cannister filters with another filter being some type that uses a biowheel.
Urine is typically varying degrees of yellow, ranging from dark yellows and almost browns, to clear. Less color is better. Clear is ideal. The darkness of your urine is showing that you have less fluids in your system to move waste products out of your system. The best way to fix this problem is to drink more water. Drinking in and of itself is not sufficient, especially when it comes to soft drinks or coffee or teas, although at least coffees and teas tend to contain less chemical stuff that needs to be filtered out. Drinking alcohol is not a good idea.le it may appear to quench one's thirst, in reality, it lacks sufficient water to be beneficial, so you end up drinking more alcoholic beverages. While Dr. Stupid is not advocating drinking, Dr. Stupid's position is anti-alcohol, but does not condemn people who do consume alcoholic beverages in a moderate and responsible manner. To the rest that constantly drink alcoholic beverages, keep in mind that alcohol kills brain cells, so it's just a matter of time before you stagger here in a stupor asking questions like "why does my sweat smell like beer" and "my pee is black. Is that a bad thing" or even better questions like "hfsoa sfa fio ofia br9w niofnwi fkjfwo ownofgo,mwx", which usually means that it is a good idea to not visit interactive web sites with your computer while drunk out of your mind. If Dr. Stupid can conver your babbling to English, Dr. Stupid will attempt to answer your question.
Do you want to have fun with urine? Dr. Stupid is not suggesting such pedestrian fare such as writing one's name in the snow or pee'ing out a fire. Dr. Stupid is also not hinting at filling up squirt guns or water balloons with urine. And under no conditions is Dr. Stupid advocating an organized "pee party" in which a bunch of people get into a public pool and then just pee in the pool. No, Dr. Stupid frowns on this low-brow entertainment and is suggesting something a tad more sophisticated. To varying degrees, you can alter the color of your urine. A chemical in beets can tinge your urine red. So, eat a lot of beets, then freak out your friends with a deep red stream and fool them into thinking you are urinating blood! You might want to have a video camera handy as I am sure the expressions on their faces would merit the big prize money on those Funniest Home Video Shows.
Dr. Stupid hopes this answers your question. In the meantime, keep looking out for #1 while trying not to step in #2. Sage advise to live by.
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Disclaimer: Dr. Stupid is not a licensed medical practioner. Studio42 is not responsible for any advise given on this web site.
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