The Cleveland Clinic released a fabulous infographic to help patients understand why their urine changes color and if that change is something to be worried about. Normally pale yellow in color, urine may have a variety of colors, from brown, orange, red to clear.
If your urine is dark yellow, amber or brownish, you are showing signs of dehydration and aren’t getting enough water.
If your urine is clear, you’re drinking a lot of water, potentially too much water, and may need to cut back. If you drink too much water, you may be disrupting the normal levels of minerals (such as potassium) in your body.
If your urine is pink or reddish, you may have recently eaten beets, blueberries or rhubarb! If not, then it could be blood or, as the Cleveland Clinic suggests, lead or mercury poisoning. A phone call to your doctor should always happen if your urine is reddish in tone.
Orange or brown urine is a sign of dehydration or, perhaps, liver disease.
Got green or blue urine? There are some rare diseases that can produce blue or green urine, as well as some medication can can cause urine to turn bluish (i.e. Uribel).
Foaming or fizzing urine could simply be from a very powerful stream or, perhaps, some excellent protein from your diet or a kidney problem.
Interstitial cystitis patients often have microscopic blood in our urine but rarely is it visible. Some patients also report having little pieces of whitish tissue which could be small pieces of the bladder wall.
If you see anything strange in your urine or you have any doubts, it’s worth a phone call to your doctor with a request for urinalysis to ease your worries and initiate an important conversation about your health.
This is certainly one of the best info graphics we’ve ever seen for urology patients. We say WELL DONE Cleveland Clinic!
