Causes of dark urine often associated with impaired renal function. But what exactly determines its color? And what is considered the norm and what is its deviation?
Normally, the color of urine is defined as amber yellow or straw yellow. These are light shades yellow color. At the same time, it is absolutely normal for morning urine to become more dark color(to light mustard or mustard). What affects the color of urine?
This is the concentration of urochrome pigment in urine. How concentrated its content will be in a particular portion of urine depends on the person’s fluid consumption the day before. Urochrome dissolves in human drinks and plain water. It is noteworthy that the quality and composition of the drinks you drink can affect the color of your urine. Simple drinking water dilutes the concentration of urochrome, and for example, carbonated drinks with a high content of dyes only worsen the color. If you drink a lot of liquid during the day, especially ordinary liquid, then during the day the normal color of your urine will be slightly yellowish, almost transparent.
Factors that affect the color of urine also include medications, toxins, dyes, and food. Separate place Among the factors of pathological coloration of urine are diseases and not only of the excretory or genitourinary systems.
Natural Causes of Dark Urine
Morning urine, within the normal range, has a concentrated yellow (mustard) color. If you notice that the same color is characteristic of urine during the rest of the day, do not rush to sound the alarm. Although without attention this fact shouldn't stay. Analyze whether your lifestyle has completely natural causes of dark urine:
- low fluid consumption - most often this concerns a specific period of the day, for example, in the morning (when we did not consume fluid during the night, which means the concentration of urochrome in the urine will be the highest); dark urine can also be a sign of an unhealthy lifestyle, more precisely an unbalanced drinking regime (with little consumption of clean drinking water);
- increased physical activity, hot weather climatic conditions- circumstances in which increased sweating occurs, which means that part of the consumed fluid is eliminated from the body through sweat, or could be through urine; if used at the same time more liquid, the urine will remain normal in color;
- long-term use of some medicines- this mainly concerns B vitamins and vitamin C, also laxatives, nitrofuran derivatives, anti-tuberculosis and anti-malarial drugs, laxatives (they can reduce the amount of urine produced due to the fact that more liquid will be contained in the stool);
- consumption of certain food groups - natural products that partly have laxative properties or saturate the body with vitamins B and C can indirectly affect the composition of urine; but especially cause of dark urine a portion of legumes, beef, rhubarb, black tea is considered, after short time urine color is restored.
Pathological causes of dark urine
If your urine has darkened, do not rush to make hasty conclusions about your health. The maximum that a person should decide without medical education, whether he had in the past or present natural causes of dark urine. If you consider your drinking regime to be normal (1.5-2 liters of clean water per day), there is no place for excessive physical activity or other reasons to sweat, the above-mentioned products are not found in your diet and drug therapy If you do not pass, then most likely the dark urine is of pathogenic origin.
It is extremely important at this stage to contact a medical professional because other manifestations of the disorder (which may not even be noticeable to the untrained eye) should be taken into account. The doctor will also analyze your medical history and probably prescribe laboratory or other diagnostics.
For example, the darkening of urine can vary:
- dark- Brown color- a sign of liver and gallbladder diseases, in which the kidneys excrete bile pigments bilirubin and biliverdin into the urine; An example of such pathologies may be cholestasis due to cholelithiasis (when there is an obstacle to the outflow of bile);
- dark yellow urine is a sign of urinary disease excretory system(both bladder and kidney), in which the urine contains increased amount salts, urates, similar sediments;
- blood impurities - this makes the urine reddish in color or the color remains natural, but inclusions of blood are noticeable in it; a very alarming symptom, meaning damage to the tissues of the urinary organs and tract;
- cloudy urine - indicates an infectious disease or kidney stones; to avoid possible development infection, it is better to take a urine test, which will help identify the cause of this phenomenon;
- during pregnancy - if you are pregnant and observe dark urine, the reasons for this may lie in partial dehydration (for example, due to toxicosis and vomiting), and in the redistribution of substances in the body, and in additional load on the kidneys, liver (the latter leads to an increase in the content of bilirubin in the blood and its appearance in the urine).
What diseases cause dark urine?
The information below is not a reason for self-diagnosis and drawing conclusions only on the basis of superficial symptoms. Familiarize yourself with diseases that may manifest themselves as dark urine and other signs, but for final conclusions, consultation with a physician and specialized diagnostics are necessary:
- hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver of various etiologies (viral, alcoholic, drug);
The most effective way to eliminate this phenomenon is to consume a significant amount of fluid to avoid its deficiency in the body.
Dark brown urine causes a panic attack in most people, because it is often a sign of a serious pathology. But there are a great many reasons why brown urine appears, and there are completely harmless explanations for this symptom. Therefore, it is appropriate to take a closer look at the reasons why brown urine appears, as well as methods for diagnosing and treating this condition.
Causes of the phenomenon
It is worth noting that brown urine sometimes appears under the influence of non-hazardous factors, but can also serve as a signal of serious disorders in the body. Thus, non-dangerous reasons include the consumption of food or drinks with an abundance of coloring pigments:
- beef;
- legumes;
- rhubarb;
- blackberry;
- Coca Cola;
- Black tea.
The use of certain drugs can also cause darkening of urine. The following groups of drugs can cause brown urine:
- medicines with carbolic acid(Naphthol, Salol, Creosote, Phenol);
- antimicrobial (Furadonin, Rifampicin, Metronidazole);
- quinine medications (Delagil, Primaquine, Chloroquine);
- laxatives based on senna and cascara;
- ascorbic acid and B vitamins;
- medicines containing aloe.
In addition, it is worth noting that if dark brown urine is observed when urinating in the morning, this often indicates an increase in urochrome levels. For the same reason, it may appear. Also, orange urine occurs with a high concentration of urobilinogen. Since orange-colored urine causes no less concern than brown urine, it would be useful to consider the reasons that cause this phenomenon.
As a rule, they are harmless and are explained by taking certain medications, adding foods rich in natural or chemical pigments to the menu. And yet, orange urine can also signal pathologies. This is often a reason to pay attention to the condition of the kidneys and urinary tract.
But let’s return to brown urine and the pathologies that provoke it:
- jaundice;
- prostate diseases;
- inflammation in the kidneys, liver;
- oncology of the liver, pancreas;
- urinary ailments, reproductive system.
Jaundice provokes changes in the color of urine due to a failure in the synthesis or excretion of bile enzymes. For example, due to liver dysfunction in parenchymal jaundice, due to difficulties with bile outflow in mechanical (obstructive) jaundice, as well as against the background of the breakdown of red blood cells in hemolytic jaundice. In case of kidney pathologies, urine takes on a brown color due to impurities of pus or blood, but acute intestinal ailments usually cause significant loss of fluid, which often causes a change in the color of urine.
Types of Brown Urine
Often, a certain shade of urine indicates a specific illness. It has already been mentioned what urine indicates orange color, nose brown the situation is somewhat more complicated, since gradation of its shades is possible. So, sometimes light brown or dark brown urine appears, it may become cloudy, and there may be mucus or flakes.
Light brown urine
Often the appearance of light brown urine occurs due to an increase in the concentration of urochrome due to dehydration or due to intense sweating caused by physical activity or climate change. IN similar situations there is no particular cause for concern, since when returning to normal drinking regime the color of urine takes on its usual color. If this does not happen, then it makes sense to visit a doctor and perform a set of laboratory tests.
Cloudy brown urine
When the urine is brownish in color and also becomes cloudy, then in all situations this signals a pathology that cannot be left without medical attention. As a rule, if this biological fluid becomes cloudy, the reasons lie in the following deviations:
- pyuria;
- phosphaturia;
- alkaptonuria;
- increased concentration of bile pigments.
But often dark brown urine indicates kidney disease. Deviations in the function of these organs entail their inability to remove waste or excess fluid, which is why the urine darkens and becomes cloudy. In parallel with this, there may be blood impurities in it, and a pungent odor appears. Often, kidney pathologies are accompanied by other symptoms that are difficult to miss. These are pain in the lower back, muscles, pain when urinating and fever. In such circumstances, you cannot delay a visit to the doctor and you must definitely conduct urine and blood tests.
Dark brown urine
It often appears as a reaction to the use of certain foods or medications, but if we consider pathologies, it signals hepatitis and. Thus, urine acquires an intense dark brown color due to the progression of hemolytic anemia, but the color of dark beer is more characteristic of parenchymal jaundice, hepatitis and inflammation of the liver tissue of a viral nature. Obstructive jaundice is characterized by the discharge of dark urine with a greenish tint and completely colorless feces.
In addition, the color of urine can be affected by stones in the kidneys or bladder (UCD), prostate adenoma and infectious diseases. Dark urine may be a consequence of a recent viral infection or bacterial infection, or this is how poisoning with chemicals, in particular copper compounds, can occur. But whatever the reasons for the phenomenon, you need to immediately undergo appropriate research (primarily urine and blood tests).
Brown flakes in urine
This symptom often indicates inflammatory processes in the kidneys. This phenomenon is considered either independent or as a complication against the background of hyperplasia, prostate cancer, renal failure, urolithiasis and pathologies of the female reproductive system. But the same urine is characteristic of cystitis, pyelonephritis, sexually transmitted diseases and appears due to the high concentration of protein. In such circumstances, it is impossible to accurately determine the cause of the phenomenon without preliminary tests.
Brownish mucus in urine
Excreting a small amount of mucus in the urine is quite normal, but significant amount indicates stagnation of biological fluid or infection of the excretory system. As a rule, this problem occurs more often in women and often indicates urolithiasis, pyelonephritis, gynecological diseases, and even pregnancy. IN the latter case mucus indicates inflammation that can cause miscarriage, and in the later stages provoke premature birth.
Brownish urine in men
In men, it is observed due to physiological and pathological reasons. Darkening of urine often occurs due to dehydration or serious functional abnormalities of internal organs (for example, genitourinary system). If these metamorphoses in men are caused by pathology, then they are often accompanied by other symptoms, which facilitate the diagnostic process. These include nausea, pain in the abdomen and when urinating, and an unpleasant smell of urine.
Common pathological reasons The appearance of dark urine in men can be called the following:
- inflammatory process in the epididymis;
- bacterial infection and cancer of the urinary system;
- diseases of the prostate, testicles, vas deferens or trauma to the scrotum;
- overdose of vitamins B, C or high concentration of red blood cells.
Often, brown urine indicates the progression of prostate damage or inflammation in the vas deferens or testicles. The phenomenon is associated with the fact that in addition to urine, men also excrete semen through the urethra, which includes the secretion of the prostate gland. Injury to the genital organs also leads to the same symptom.
When we're talking about about liver ailments, the color of urine is often affected by disturbances in the outflow of bile, which is why urine takes on the color of dark beer. In case of neoplasms, bacterial lesions or inflammatory processes during internal organs The color of the urine is usually due to the presence of blood or pus in the body fluid.
Brownish urine in women
Changes in the color of urine in women are often observed during diseases of an inflammatory nature, but can also signal other pathologies (sexually transmitted diseases, cervical cancer, uterine fibroids at the stage of decay). In such circumstances, in addition to a change in the color of the urine, there is a repulsive odor of the discharge and pain during urination. Women often experience brown urine in the following situations:
- vasculitis;
- pregnancy;
- infections of the genitourinary system, fibroids, cervical cancer in the decay stage.
Brown urine in children
Any child can also develop this anomaly, which often horrifies parents. But in babies, the color of urine is mainly affected by the foods they eat, dehydration of the body, and the use of certain medications.
Parents should be wary only when accompanied by an increase in temperature, abdominal pain, and painful urination. In such circumstances, you should not ignore the symptoms - you should call a doctor as soon as possible. Only after receiving the results of the examinations will the pediatrician be able to accurately say what the problem was.
Diagnostics and therapy
To identify the reasons why the urine has turned brownish, you need to get tested. Immediately carry out a study of urine, its physical and chemical characteristics, but other studies may also be required:
- complete blood count to determine levels of creatine, nitrogen, urea and liver enzymes;
- urine test to determine protein concentration and content.
A complex is also possible additional research when identifying high level red blood cells Special attention should be given to collecting the material, since the accuracy of the analysis directly depends on this. It is also worth taking care of the correct storage of samples (it is optimal to keep them in the refrigerator before delivery).
Based on the research results, the doctor prescribes necessary treatment. If diseases of the kidneys, female or male reproductive system are diagnosed, then a course of drug treatment is prescribed.
The most effective way to eliminate this phenomenon is to consume a significant amount of fluid to avoid its deficiency in the body.
Due attention should be paid to genital hygiene, especially for men, because it is the entry of microbes into the prostate that turns urine brown. But no matter what causes the phenomenon, a timely visit to a medical facility will help maintain health.
