What a Urine Test Can and Can’t Reveal About Your Health

When you’re trying to figure out what’s going on with your body, different diagnostic tools come in handy. If you’re squeamish about getting your blood drawn, there’s another noninvasive way we can use your body’s fluids to learn how your system functions. With a urine test — also called urinalysis — we can evaluate a number of key health indicators. 

Whether you think you might have a urinary tract infection (UTI) or a sexually transmitted disease (STD) or your doctor orders one as part of your physical, this diagnostic tool can be illuminating. And because our SmartClinic Urgent Care clinics have an on-site lab, we can get your results more quickly. Visit us in West Covina and Santa Clarita, California, for convenient, fast urinalysis. 

Let’s take a closer look at when you might take advantage of this diagnostic tool and when you might need other testing.

What you learn from urinalysis

After collecting your urine sample, the lab technician can use it to perform a variety of tests that your doctor may request. Evaluating the following can tell us different things about your health:

• Color
• Appearance to the naked eye (cloudiness)
• Chemical makeup
• Appearance under a microscope (presence of certain cells or bacteria)

We can use a urine test to diagnose or narrow down a diagnosis for a range of conditions, including:

• UTIs
• Liver disease
• Kidney disease
• Diabetes 
• STDs
• Certain types of cancer
• Pregnancy
• Vasculitis
• Lupus
• A blockage in your urethra
• Gallbladder issues

Your urine can tell us only so much about your health, however. Depending on the symptoms you’re experiencing, we may order different or additional tests, like a blood panel. This allows us to best evaluate your whole system — not just the parts that connect to your body’s waste removal processes. 

Preparing for your urine test

If we do order a urine test, we usually have you perform it via the clean catch method. That means we give you a specimen cup and sterile wipes. You use one of our restrooms to collect the sample. It’s key that you wash your hands beforehand to avoid contaminating the sample. 

Once we have your sample, it goes to our on-site lab for analysis. Some tests can be performed rapidly, while others take more time. We’ll let you know if you can expect same-day results or if you’ll need to wait a day or two, depending on the type of testing we’re doing. 

Then, we tailor treatment based on your results. If you have a UTI, for example, we prescribe an antibiotic to clear up the infection. 

In some cases, we may recommend additional testing. If your urinalysis results point toward diabetes, we might recommend a fasting blood sugar test. Ultimately, we work with you to find out what’s causing your symptoms and apply the right treatment to help you feel better while protecting your overall health.

If you think you might need a urine test, you can walk into SmartClinic Urgent Care or call the clinic nearest you.