Possible Causes Of Green Urine

Green Urine: If You're Taking Medication, It's Probably A Side Effect

Numerous medications contain artificial dyes that can discolor your urine, a possible side effect that will be listed on your drug's package insert and that your healthcare provider may even have warned you about. These dyes aren't bad for your health, but they do enter the kidneys only to be expelled through the bladder when you urinate. 

Medications that can give your urine a blue or green hue include Rinsapin, an antibiotic used to treat staph infections, Viagra, which has a blue coating and Amitriptyline (Vanatrip, Elavil, Endep), a tricyclic antidepressant. Indomethacin (Indocin), which may be prescribed to people with bursitis, arthritis, tendonitis, gout, and other medical conditions, can also cause green urine. Another possible culprit is the sedative propofol (Diprivan), which is often given to people who are about to receive general anesthesia. 

Medical Conditions That Can Cause Green Urine

There are indeed medical conditions that can cause green urine. While orange urine, for example, can be a sign of liver disease, rest assured that the conditions that count green pee among their symptoms really aren't serious. Where pseudomonas bacteria are the cause of a urinary tract infection, they'll produce a blue pigment that will give your urine a green and sometimes blue tint. The presence of pus, again the sign of an infection, can likewise lead to green urine. Though a UTI is a pain, it's only a real health worry if you do not have access to antibiotics. 

The hereditary condition familial benign hypercalcemia, also called blue diaper syndrome, is the only illness that is specifically known to cause blue urine. In some cases, that blue tone may fall more to the green end of the spectrum as well however, especially considering that different people interpret colors slightly differently. As the name suggests, this conditions involves an excess of calcium, and it isn't dangerous. 

In Conclusion

While green urine may give you a terrible fright, it is not associated with any dangerous medical conditions and is most often caused by foods or medications. Having said that, if you are persistently peeing green, and you are worried, you should still contact your doctor, make an appointment, and try to get to the bottom of your green urine problem together. If nothing else, knowing what is behind your strangely colored problem will give you peace of mind. 

A note for female readers and male "siting urinators", who don't see what leaves their body in real time: before you do get in touch with your doctor, make sure to catch a urine sample in a clear and absolutely clean cup to ascertain whether your urine itself is green, or whether it could possibly have turned green on contact with a cleaning product in your toilet bowl.