What causes can green urine have?
Blue or green urine is rare. As a possible cause may be:
- Various pharmaceutical substances such as amitriptyline, indomethacin, mitoxantrone or propofol stain the urine green;
- The intake of certain multivitamin preparations can also be a trigger for green urine;
- In addition, some diseases and infections can cause a green coloration of the urine. For example, if there is a urinary tract infection caused by the Pseodomonas species, this may be the case;
- It is also possible that there is a connection, a so-called fistula tract, between the gastrointestinal tract and the urinary tract and that some bile is excreted through the urine. In this case, the urine may also take on a greenish color.
What influences my urine color?
Normally, human urine is light yellow to transparent and of a clear consistency. Foamy urine may indicate increased protein content in the urine, while cloudy urine may contain pus and fibrin and may be caused by an inflammation, such as a urinary tract infection. Nutrition and drinking behaviour also play a major role in the colouring of the urine.
One example is the red coloration of urine after eating beetroot. A red color of the urine can also be caused by a urinary tract or kidney disease or be the result of taking medication (rifampicin). Other medications, on the other hand, can turn the urine blue-green.
Some dietary supplements, especially vitamin preparations, can cause a more intense coloration up to a neon yellow color. Depending on our eating and drinking habits, our physiological urine can also vary in color. If the urine is colorless, this may be the result of a high drinking volume, but it can also be caused by an undiagnosed disease of diabetes.
Other clinical pictures such as liver and kidney diseases or rare diseases such as porphyria can also cause a change in the color of the urine. One should become aware if the color of the urine or the smell of urine changes or if it suddenly becomes cloudy without a plausible cause being found. In such a case a doctor should be consulted urgently.
- Nutrition
- Ignition
- Certain drugs
General symptoms of diabetes mellitus are reduced performance and fatigue, but also the so-called polyuria, a significantly increased urine production (<2000ml/day). In addition, the patient may suffer from an almost agonizing thirst (polydipsia). The greatly increased urge to urinate is caused by glucosuria, which is the occurrence of glucose in the urine (<15mg/dl).
Glucose is an osmotically active particle and therefore carries water with it, causing increased urination. Since the strong thirst often causes an increased drinking behaviour, this leads to less concentrated urine. This low concentrated urine then has a light yellow to transparent color. In the case of diabetes insipidus (so-called “water dysentery”), the kidneys lose their ability to concentrate the urine and large quantities of unconcentrated, i.e. light yellow to transparent urine are excreted. As a result, patients constantly suffer from an agonizing feeling of thirst as the body tries to compensate for the loss of fluid.
