Medical Conditions That Cause Cloudy Urine

Normal and healthy urine is clear, and pale yellow in color. While abnormal urine colors — such as orange, blue or green, brown, and nearly black — point to a fairly finite number of causes, and can just be the results of foods you've eaten or medications you've been prescribed, cloudy urine has a large number of possible causes, nearly all of which are medical conditions. 

If you have been plagued by cloudy urine, other symptoms you may have might very well point you in the right direction, offering clues as to what could be wrong with you. Here's an overview of medical conditions and other factors that can lead to cloudy urine, also medically known as nebulous urine.

Cloudy Urine Culprit #1: Urinary Tract Infections

Besides cloudy urine and often also an unusual urine color, urinary tract infections thankfully also tend to come with a set of tell-tale symptoms that allow you to identify what's wrong with ease:

• A burning feeling while urinating
• A constant feeling of needing to pee, but not being able to expel much urine
• A nagging, continuous pain in your lower abdomen
• Fatigue, a feeling of general weakness, and fever

Because urinary tract infections can go on to cause kidney infections as the offending bacteria in your bladder move upwards, it is important to take swift action when you notice these symptoms. A course of antibiotics, most commonly Amoxicillin, will usually get rid of a urinary tract infection very quickly. You'll be prescribed antibiotics after offering a urine sample and having it test positive for bacteria that cause UTIs. As always, make sure to take your antibiotics exactly as prescribed and to finish the whole course even if you feel better. 

Cloudy Urine Culprit #2: Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Chlamydia and gonorrhea can lead to cloudy urine as well. Chlamydia, a very common STD, doesn't usually make its presence clear with obvious symptoms, so cloudy urine may be a blessing in disguise if it signals you to get tested. Other chlamydia symptoms to look out for are pain while urinating, unusual discharge from the penis or vagina, and if left untreated for a long period of time, nausea and persistent but vague abdominal pain. Gonorrhea has similar symptoms, though men notice an unusual discharge from the penis quite often. 

In the early stages, treatment is as straightforward as a course of antibiotics, albeit slightly stronger ones than what you'd get for a urinary tract infection. 

Cloudy Urine: What Could Be Wrong With Me?

Cloudy Urine Culprit #3: Conditions Of The Urinary System

A wide variety of conditions of the urinary system, besides urinary tract infections, can cause cloudy or murky urine. They include bladder cancer, kidney stones, a kidney infection, acute kidney failure, and bladder stones. One thing these conditions have in common is that they all lead to pelvic pain, which, together with the cloudy urine, should alert you that it is time to seek medical assistance. 

Prostate inflammation or infection, too, can lead to cloudy urine. 

Conditions That Can Cause Proteinuria 

Proteinuria is the medical term for "protein in the urine", a problem that causes your urine to become cloudy or murky. Healthy kidneys filter the bulk of protein out, while diseased kidneys may not be able to catch proteins like albumin, making them appear in the urine an affected person later passes. It is no surprise, then, that cloudy urine often has kidney disease as its underlying problem, but that kidney damage may have been caused by something else that also requires treatment.

Cardiovascular conditions including hypertension and heart failure can lead to kidney damage, in turn causing proteinuria and thus cloudy urine. Proteinuria can also be caused by diabetes, sickle cell anemia, lupus nephritis, leukemia, multiple myeloma, and lymphoma, and preeclampsia, a condition unique to women that causes both dangerously high blood pressure and proteinuria. Toxins and trauma can further be responsible for your cloudy urine.

That's Scary! Should I Freak Out Over My Cloudy Urine Now?

Yes, you're right — it is scary, isn't it? To be absolutely fair, Googling pretty much any symptom can lead you to conclude you are halfway to a hospice bed, if you look in the right (or wrong!?) places.

At the same time, we would like to remind you that urinary tract infections are still the most common cause of cloudy urine. In addition, it is completely possible for other bodily excretions, like semen and vaginal discharge to get into your urine sample, which means that while your sample contains "cloudy urine", your urine was not originally that way. Yet another possible culprit is dehydration — which, simple though it may sound, can also be pretty dangerous, yet has a straightforward cure. 

The moral of the story is quite obvious: don't panic if you have cloudy urine, and don't even worry enough to see a doctor if it happens only once or twice, but don't ignore this problem if it has been going on for a while. Proper treatment, should you need it, requires a proper diagnosis.