What should you know about cause of very dark urine?

When the body loses fluid through sweating, fever, vomiting or diarrhoea, urine becomes more concentrated and darker. Heat Exhaustion can combine dark urine with heavy sweating, weakness, headache, dizziness or nausea. Brown or tea-coloured urine, especially with yellow skin or eyes, pale stools, itching, nausea or discomfort under the right ribs, can occur when bile processing is disturbed, including with Hepatitis A or Hepatitis B. Red or smoky urine may indicate blood, while some medicines or foods can change colour. A colour change alone cannot identify the cause.

If you have been sweating or drinking less, move to a cool place and take frequent small drinks if you can keep fluids down. Note the colour, onset, recent exercise, fever, medicines and other symptoms. Do not stop prescribed medicine without advice. If the colour does not improve after rehydration, keeps returning, or appears brown rather than simply deep yellow, arrange a clinical assessment; urine and blood tests may help clarify the cause.

Seek urgent help for very dark urine with confusion, fainting, severe weakness, inability to drink, little or no urine, severe abdominal pain, yellow skin or eyes, fever, or repeated vomiting. Get prompt assessment for visible blood, flank pain, burning urine, or dark urine after strenuous activity with muscle pain or weakness.

Ask whether the shade suggests concentrated urine, blood, infection, muscle breakdown or a liver-related problem. Tell the clinician about travel, heat exposure, exercise, alcohol, new medicines, supplements and changes in stools or skin colour.