What causes green urine?
You expect to see some shade of yellow when you pee. But what happens when your urine is an unwelcome shade of green? It can certainly be jarring and unsettling when you see green urine. Many might think, What’s wrong with me? Am I sick? Am I dying? Am I seeing this correctly? Well, the good news is that green urine color you're seeing is most likely caused by foods you have eaten lately or medications you are taking. That doesn’t mean green urine is not a by product of an illness, but it’s more likely to come from something you have ingested.
Foods you eat can cause a green urine color.
For example, Asparagus is known to cause a darker yellow urine color or a green urine color. Asparagus is an example of a natural cause of green urine, but don’t forget about dyes such as food coloring. Artificial food coloring can easily be the culprit of green urine.
Drinking green beer on St. Patrick's Day (or any day for that matter) may, in fact, turn your urine green due to the green food coloring in the beer. Of course, the intensity of the green urine depends on how much green beer you drink. Drink enough and you may just think you're looking at Leprechaun pee.
Another food to consider is black licorice. When you bite into it, you might notice a greenish tinge. Eat enough black licorice, and you’ll definitely notice the green color in your stool. Well, that same dye that colors your stool can also turn your urine green. It may not be fluorescent green, but depending on how much licorice you eat, your urine could end up many different shades of green.
Does medicine turn your pee green?
Medications and drugs can cause your urine to turn green, since many of these contain dyes. Although not harmful, the dye will enter you kidneys and dye the urine green as well. Some medications can also have a side effect of changing your urine color. In these cases, there may not be any dye present to make your pee green, but a chemical reaction could create tint your urine.
You also need to ask yourself if it is really green urine, or could it be a blue urine color? Remember, yellow and blue make green.
Rinsapin is an antibiotic that can cause a green urine or blue urine color.
Yes, of course there are many other medicines that may turn your pee green as well. Any other medication that uses a green or blue dye in the medicine can cause a green urine color.
Can illness turn your urine green?
Yes, of course. There are not really, however, many diseases that would cause a green urine color directly. Bile and diarrhea can cause a greenish tint to your urine, and pus from a urinary tract infection could also cause green urine. So while the urine itself may not be green, something might mix in with the urine your body is making, giving the pee the appearance of a green urine color. If you don't have a situation producing bile or diarrhea, and you don't have a urinary tract infection, then your green urine is most likely related to something you have taken into your body. Still, when in doubt... go see a doctor.