- Green urine can mean what?
Five health conditions your pee color
may be trying to warn you about.
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Alright, brace yourselves.
Today, we're going to have a very important
and maybe even awkward or embarrassing conversation
about your urine.
Details like, why do we pee?
What color should your urine be?
And how many times
you should be running to the restroom every day?
You definitely will be shocked
when you hear some of these colorful details.
Hey everyone, I'm Dr. Jordan Wagner.
I'm an emergency room doctor who treats everything
from COVID to gunshot wounds, burns, you name it.
I created this video series to help answer
some of your medical questions,
and the questions I get from patients each and every day.
If you find this video helpful
please do me a favor and subscribe.
Alright, let's dive right in.
What you may or may not realize
is that having a healthy bladder and a urinary tract
is an important part of being a healthy human,
any species for that matter.
In other words, peeing, although maybe not a topic
you wanna discuss loosely in front of just anyone,
it is important to understand why we urinate,
and why is it so important for your body's natural processes
and for maintaining a healthy lifestyle?
That's also, why today we're going to go over five things.
your pee color can tell you about your health.
It can seriously be detrimental.
But before we get into our list
it's important to know why in the world
we urinate in the first place.
The body produces pee as a way of getting rid of waste
that the body doesn't need,
and extra fluids, such as excess water.
Most people may not realize that before leaving the body
urine travels through the urinary tract,
which first starts at the kidneys.
In other words, one of the kidney's
most important roles in the body
is to filter waste out of the blood and to make your urine.
Yes, the kidneys make urine.
And then from there, urine travels down through the ureters,
into the bladder, and out through the urethra
when it is time to do so.
But here's the kicker.
How one produces pee is only half of the discussion.
The color of your urine is also a big part
of your urinary tract health.
In fact, when the color of your urine is abnormal
or things, say, burn in regions they shouldn't,
that's when people and patients
usually have to come see doctors like me
in the emergency room,
or urologists who really specialize in this topic.
In general, your pee should be a light yellow color
because urine is a mix of excess water, waste,
and other things like electrolytes,
as I mentioned before,
gets filtered out of your bloodstream.
So it's totally normal for the color of your urine
to somewhat vary from day to day a little.
This could mean it goes from almost colorless some days
to maybe more of a honey color the next,
really depending on the amount of fluid you're consuming,
When you are healthy and hydrated,
your urine should really sort of fall
into the light yellow category.
But when things take a dramatic and colorful turn,
or when your pee starts to resemble
the colors of the rainbow,
this could be a sign of possible dangers to your health.
So what can your pee color tell you about your health?
Here are five things you need to know ASAP.
Number one. Your urine is pink to reddish in color.
If you haven't recently eaten something like a beet
or some other brightly colored fruit or food
that tends to have dramatic effects on your urine color,
(white noise)
Houston, we may have a problem.
For instance, pink or reddish colored urine
could be a sign of blood.
Yes, blood in your urine or kidney disease,
which basically means your kidneys aren't working properly.
High blood pressure or diabetes
can cause chronic kidney disease
but there are other reasons your urine
may be pink to reddish in color.
Kidney stones, urinary tract infections,
prostate problems, cancer,
and even lead or mercury poisoning,
can change the color of your urine.
So if your urine goes from a normal color
to this bright reddish or pink hue,
and doesn't return to normal in a short period of time,
definitely contact your doctor as soon as possible.
Number two. Amber or honey colored pee.
if your urine color is anything darker
than the light yellow range that we discussed earlier,
your body is trying to send you a bit of a signal
and maybe a warning signal here,
that the darker your urine is
it is typically a sign that your body is a bit dehydrated,
and that you need to drink some more water
in order to get it back to the normal range of hydration.
This can sometimes happen also,
if you have been outside sweating a lot on a hot day,
or maybe even because you just finished a heavy workout.
Don't completely freak out if it changes.
It's all about having a normal range of color
but this darker amber or honey color
shouldn't last more than a day or two,
if you're keeping yourself hydrated within normal range.
This color could also be a sign of rhabdomyolysis,
meaning you just crushed a workout
but you had too much muscle breakdown
and your kidneys are processing myoglobin,
which is then spilling into your urine.
Number three. Dark brown or syrup colored urine.
Now, if your pee color turns even darker
toward the syrup side of the spectrum,
you should get fluids in your body as soon as possible.
This means your body's dehydration level
is crossing a line into the danger zone.
Start really pounding the water.
Pee that is dark brown in color
could also be caused by bilirubin
getting into your urine, which is a sign of liver disease.
In some rare instances,
darker urine could be caused by porphyria,
a rare issue that affects the skin and nervous system.
If your urine does not lighten up by rehydrating,
you need to see a doctor right away.
Number four. Blue or greenish urine.
Yes, it could happen.
Blue or green urine could show up in the toilet one day.
Typically it's caused by something you ate.
Think weird fruit punch or birthday cake frosting
with heavy food dyes, et cetera.
But sometimes your urine can also change a radical shade
to blue or green because of other reasons,
like a bacteria infection in the urinary tract
or medications could be the culprit.
And sometimes even rare genetic diseases like hypercalcemia,
where excessive calcium levels build up in your blood,
could be to blame.
If you continue to see
unusually blue or green colored urine,
definitely contact your doctor.
Alright, number five. Orange pee.
If your urine looks like
you just drank a glass of Sunny Delight,
this may be a sign that something else is going on.
Now, as I mentioned before, of course,
it could be a by-product of something more mundane,
like a food dye making its way out of your urethra.
But orange colored pee could also be caused
by certain medication.
For instance, if you have a urinary tract infection,
sometimes medications will contain ingredients
that can temporarily change your urine
to a more orange color, think pyridium
But if you do not have a UTI, or not on any medication,
you can also have something more serious
going on down there,
like a liver or bile duct condition.
If you're getting plenty of fluids and staying hydrated
and this urine color doesn't go away, guess what?
Go reach out to see your doctor.
Also, keep in mind if your urine
is completely colorless or basically transparent,
you may be getting too many fluids
so consider backing off just a tad.
It's all about staying hydrated
and staying close to that light yellow color.
Alright, time for the true golden question.
How many times should you be peeing in a day?
Maybe you think you have an overactive bladder,
or maybe you can go all day
without having to use the bathroom even once,
which I don't recommend.
But generally speaking, how often you urinate
depends on how quickly
your kidneys produce the urine
that fills the bladder,
and really, how much your bladder can comfortably hold.
Typically it is considered normal to have to urinate
about six to eight times in a 24-hour period of time.
Now, keeping in mind, if you're going more often than that,
it could mean that you're drinking too much fluid,
or maybe consuming too much caffeine or other diuretics
that flush liquids out of your body quicker.
The amount of urine produced in one's body
depends on many other factors.
Things like food and drink consumption,
and the amount of fluid you lose
through things like sweating or breathing,
these details all come into play.
Also certain medications and/or medical conditions
can increase or decrease the amount of urine
your body produces as well.
Age can affect things too.
For instance, children typically produce
less urine than adults.
And on the other side of the coin,
often as you age your bladder muscles
and other things like the prostate
may be impacted over time,
causing you to feel like you need to urinate
more frequently.
Alright, that's been a quick colorful pee breakdown
with me, Dr. Wagner.
Do you have any other questions about urination?
Like, should it smell? Should it be foggy?
Should it bubble or fizz?
And, want me to make another follow-up pee video?
Let me know in the comments.
Also, do you have any other medical topics like this
that can be a little embarrassing,
that you want me to break down?
Let me know that too, in the comments.
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Thank you so much for watching
and stay healthy my friends.
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