Bilirubin in Your Urine:Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

The Nurse calls you to the back room. "Will you please provide us with a urine sample?" she asks as she places a specimen bottle into your hands. You agree. After all, it part of the routine yearly physical. You give her the bottle, and then she takes you into a room and takes your weight, blood pressure, temperature, and pulse. She leaves, and then the doctor comes in. He has you go through the usual check-up observations and asks the usual questions. Then he leaves. Upon returning, the doctor is carrying a few papers. "You urinalysis shows that bilirubin is present in your urine. Would you please go get some blood tests done at the hospital?" He hands you the stack of papers and leaves before you have the chance to ask any more questions.

So what is bilirubin, and what does having bilirubin in your urine indicate? This article should answer a few of your questions.

Bilirubin is a normal byproduct of the body. As red blood cells, the cells that carry oxygen to the body, wear out, they are filtered out through the liver. The liver, when functioning correctly, will send these useless blood cells (bilirubin) out of the body by means of the large intestine. Normally, your kidneys, which produce urine, will not have to filter out the dead red blood cells. However, when the liver isn't functioning properly, bilirubin is filtered by the kidneys and comes out in the urine instead of through your colon.

The most common reason your liver wouldn't be functioning correctly would be because of liver disease and hepatitis. Jaundice, or yellow skin and yellow eyes, is a symptom liver disease and hepatitis. If a doctor detects both bilirubin in the urine and notices that your fingers and skin have a yellow tint, he will suspect hepatitis. Other causes of bilirubin in the urine include a blocked common bile duct. The liver creates bile and releases the enzyme into the intestines. When the common bile duct is blocked, the bile and bilirubin can't make it into the intestines and must be expelled from the body through the urinary system.