Why is my urine dark brown?

The normal color of urine is light yellow. When certain diseases occur in the body, the color of urine may change. For example, red urine indicates symptoms of hematuria. There are many causes of hematuria, which are related to urinary tract infection and kidney disease. There is also a kind of urine that is yellowish brown, which is often caused by liver and gallbladder diseases, such as gallstones, cholecystitis, liver disease, etc. There is also a kind of urine that is brown, which is more related to severe anemia and acute nephritis. Next, let’s look at the specific reasons why urine is brown.

1. Red urine:

It may be hematuria, which can be divided into gross hematuria and microscopic hematuria. Macroscopic hematuria refers to the presence of more than 1 ml of blood mixed in 1 liter of urine; microscopic hematuria refers to the presence of more than 3 red blood cells in each high-power field of view of centrifuged urine under a microscope.

2. Brown urine:

It may be bilirubinuria or urobilinuria. Bilirubinuria is often caused by intrahepatic or extrahepatic bile duct inflammation, tumors or stone blockage, which causes sodium bilirubin to enter the blood. When the amount of sodium bilirubin in the blood exceeds a certain amount, bilirubinuria occurs. Urobilinogenuria is often caused by liver damage, which leads to increased intestinal absorption of urobilinogen, which enters the urine, resulting in urobilinogenuria. Sometimes, in patients with hemolytic anemia, after a large number of red blood cells are destroyed, a large amount of urobilinogen is absorbed through the intestinal wall into the portal vein circulation. Because the liver cannot convert the excess urobilinogen into bilirubin, urobilinuria occurs.

3. Brown urine:

Patients with severe burns, hemolytic anemia, wrong blood transfusion, acute nephritis, acute icteric hepatitis, or kidney compression may excrete urine that is the color of soy sauce. Some people excrete brown urine and experience dizziness, nausea, or yellow eyes after eating broad beans. They are medically called favism patients.

4. Milky urine:

The most common is chyluria caused by filariasis, which is significantly aggravated especially after drinking milk or a high-fat diet. However, if milky urine is accompanied by abnormal urination, fever, and lower back pain, it should be suspected that it is a serious urinary tract infection, such as pyelonephritis, cystitis, urethritis or renal tuberculosis, which makes the urine milky white.

5. White mucous urine:

Since the male urethra is the common exit channel for semen and urine, it is normal for adult men to occasionally discharge white mucus urine from the urethra and there is no need to worry too much. However, if white mucous urine is frequently discharged, it may be a symptom of prostatitis, non-gonococcal urethritis or gonorrhea. You should seek medical treatment as soon as possible, otherwise it will be transmitted to your spouse and cause inflammation of the reproductive organs.

6. Black urine:

Seen in people who accidentally ingest Lysol and suffer phenol poisoning. Because phenol is partially oxidized into hydroquinone and catechins in the human body and excreted through urine, the urine will turn into black urine after being left standing for a while. For example, patients with melanoma have increased melanin production in their bodies, causing the melanin in the blood to be reduced to melanosomes by the liver. The melanosomes excreted from the urine are oxidized to become melanin. After standing for a while, the urine turns black.