Dark urine, but no other symptoms, what could it be?

[jacktek]

I'm male, 29y.

My urine has recently (for about a week) became of a darker tone of yellow than usual, a bit brownish I'd say. I tried drinking a lot of water for a couple of days and it cleared up, but after I returned to my usual intake my pee got dark again.

I searched the other symptoms for kidney issues (pain when urinating, getting tired, losing weight) and I don't have any  of those.

However, I am still worried for two reasons:

1- I've had kidney stones in the past (two times, last one was 7 years ago). I've experienced severe pain and since then I didn't have any problems because I increased my water intake.

2- I have genital herpes outbreaks around 4 times in a year, and I take 800mg of acyclovir per day during the outbreak weeks only. This medicine has a (rare) possibility of causing kidney damage.

Personally I don't think it's another kidney stone because I didn't have any pain so far. But I'm concerned that I could have damaged my kidneys from taking acyclovir. Or it might be a bladder infection.

Should I look for any other symptoms, ignore it or rush to the hospital??

Thanks

[jacktek]

Thanks a lot for your reply.

I'm not taking any medications or supplements at the moment, and there are no other symptoms whatsoever.

My urine still seem a little darker than usual, except when I drink a lot of water.

I'll watch out for any other symptons (if they appear) and keep posting here.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Urine can become concentrated and darker due to dehydration.  The darker color could also be a side effect of medications or health supplements. If you do not have other symptoms like frequency or burning, it’s unlikely to be due to urinary tract infection. To check the medication effects on the kidneys, have kidney function tests done.

Dark colored urine could sometimes be due to jaundice. But with this you should have other symptoms like yellowish discoloration of the sclera of the eye, loss of appetite and abdominal pain. If you develop any additional symptoms, consult your doctor.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.