Why is my pee
What Your Urine Color Says About Your Health | Urinary System Breakdown | #DeepDives
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a quick peek into the toilet bowl can
reveal a lot about your health
of course you've heard the color of your
peek and help you figure out how
hydrated you are but that's not the only
thing your pee can tell you
urine color can vary
and while those changes are usually
nothing to worry about sometimes a shift
in the hue of your p can signal that
something's wrong
we asked keith and bidani vice chair of
urology at mount sinai to explain the
rainbow of possible p
colors if you think of urine it's like a
thermometer for the body not that it
tells you the temperature but it tells
you what's going on inside the body the
urine is what the kidneys make when they
filter your blood and so if you have
things like fluid shifts so if you're
dehydrated or if you're well hydrated
right the urine color will vary based on
how much fluid there is in your
bloodstream and how much filtering your
kidney is doing so what is p supposed to
look like
there isn't one exact hue that's
considered the gold standard of normal
urine but your pee should fall somewhere
on the yellow spectrum
urine gets its yellow color from
urobilin
also known as urochrome a compound
excreted by your kidneys
the organs that filter your blood and
produce pee
your urine can contain traces of
thousands of different substances mixed
in with plenty of water in general the
more water you drink the clearer your
pee will look because you're diluting
the other substances coming out of your
kidneys
if you guzzle lots of water and your pee
is completely clear you can probably
safely cut back on your fluid intake a
bit
after all it's rare but possible to
actually drink too much water
if your pee is the color of pale straw
or looks like a transparent shade of
yellow that's also a good indication
that you're probably well hydrated straw
colored is like the good urine and when
it's very diluted from water then you
don't really see the yellow it just
looks very clear if you go to the
bathroom after you drink a lot of water
or gatorade or even even liquor like
caffeine and alcohol are diuretics they
make you create more urine you'll notice
the urine is very clear very white it's
just because it's getting rid of all
that extra fluid now if you see a darker
shade of yellow in the bowl or a
different color altogether it could be a
sign of trouble
here's what to watch out for if your pee
is dark yellow like amber or honey or
dark orange you might not be consuming
enough water
kidney filters blood right and it
filters blood for a couple of things it
regulates how much water is in your body
and in your bloodstream on the flip side
if you're dehydrated if your body's
saying we need more water we need more
fluid what it does is it actually sucks
water back into your body from the
kidney so urine is made and then there's
a mechanism that says we need actually
all the water we can get and it will
actually take the water out of the urine
and put it back into your bloodstream so
what you're left with
is
urine that has much less water content
in it and so those solutes what we call
them the electrolytes and the proteins
and all the stuff that could be in urine
is highly concentrated and it changes
the color
additional signs of dehydration can
include fatigue
chills
bad breath
sugar cravings or muscle cramps
first try upping your water intake
doctors recommend 1.5 to 2 liters of
water daily in addition to other fluids
if that doesn't help schedule an
appointment with your doctor to rule out
any other issues
keep in mind too that certain
medications can turn your pee dark
yellow or orange examples include
finazzo pyridine a treatment for pain
for a urinary tract infection or uti
and sulfasalazine a treatment for
ulcerative colitis
if your pee looks dark brown like black
tea brown ale or cola ask yourself
did i recently eat rhubarb fava beans or
aloe
these foods can lend your pee a brownish
hue however dark brown urine can also be
a sign of severe dehydration
past the stages of dark yellow or orange
pee you're so dehydrated that your urine
is turning brown that's bad i mean
that's really your body screaming for
more fluids and that could actually be
very damaging to your kidneys you know
when you don't have enough water to
hydrate and get the kidneys going and
multiple organs are affected by that
another possibility is related to your
medical history
if you've recently undergone a urologic
procedure the brown you're seeing could
be the result of blood slowly dissolving
in your urine
in addition some antibiotics
laxatives and other medications can turn
your pee brown
dark brown pee can also be an indication
of something more serious that warrants
attention from a medical provider though
it can be a symptom of rhabdomyolysis
a dangerous condition in which muscles
break down
other symptoms can include muscle cramps
and severe pains and feeling weak or
tired after a muscle injury or extreme
exercise another possible concern has to
do with your liver when you have poor
liver function extra bilirubin a
pigmented component of bile can end up
in your urine turning at a darker hue
and if you have a history of melanoma
definitely keep an eye out for brown
tinge urine which can be a sign that the
cancer is progressing
if you're noticing dark brown pee
regularly
schedule an appointment with your doctor
if your urine has a pink or red tinge
you might be able to blame something you
ate like blueberries beets or rhubarb
yes rhubarb strikes again and as with
other suspicious pee colors medications
are a potential culprit for example
the antibiotic rifampin has been known
to turn a toilet bowl a shade of rouge
however if you aren't taking new
medications or filling your plate with
red or purple hued foods it could be a
tint of blood that's making your pee
pink
make an appointment with your doctor to
rule out a uti
kidney stones or another condition the
thing to keep in mind that can fool
people sometimes is that when you look
in the toilet and you see blood
that could also come from other places
which could be nothing it could just
mean that you wipe too hard or something
like that
but if it's dark red burgundy you know
that that very cabernet wine color
uh that's that's blood that needs to be
investigated if you see blue or green in
your toilet you might be tempted to
panic
fortunately these scary looking urine
collars often have innocuous
explanations
green or blue dye in something you ate
could be the cause of your cool tone
tingles asparagus can also lend a green
tinge to pee
in addition to its infamous smell
several medications from heartburn
reducers to muscle relaxers can also
make your pee blue or green
there are some distinct urinary
urine infections that cause your urine
to turn green they're not common
infections
but fungus and yeast can cause the urine
to look a greenish hint there's a
bacteria called pseudomonas
which can be found in the urine and that
can give it a green hue
and usually there's an odor and other
signs of infection right burning pain
fevers other things
rarely blue or green urine can be a sign
of familial hypocalceuric hypercalcemia
a rare genetic disorder
going to google and looking up p color
i highly recommend against it urinary
color is just not specific enough to
tell you enough about what's going on
it's it's enough to worry you for no
reason so
if you have other symptoms and you have
a change in your pee quality then you
can ask a healthcare professional to
look into it but if it's just
a normal variation of yellow
morning evening next day that's normal
the bottom line is that when it comes to
your pee
a mellow shade of yellow is best
sometimes your diet or medication can
change things up and occasionally
something more serious is going on
if you're concerned about what you see
before you flush
contact your health care provider
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