# Urine left in sealed bottle! Will gf get sick from drinking after cleaning? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 28, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480 "2017-09-28T02:10:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capo47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Capo47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capo47)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/1 "2017-09-28T02:10:35Z")
So I had a drug test a while back so I had to get some urine. It sat in an aluminium water bottle for two weeks. I washed it really well and have given it back. She drank from it today and is not feeling well. Will she be OK?? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/2 "2017-09-28T02:44:38Z")
Medical advice is best suited to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/3 "2017-09-28T02:47:47Z")
There is nothing in the urine of a healthy person who consumes only healthful food and drink that should harm anyone who, in addition to the urine, consumes healthful food and drink. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/4 "2017-09-28T03:00:50Z")
> [@Capo47](#): > > So I had a drug test a while back so I had to get some urine. It sat in an aluminium water bottle for two weeks. I washed it really well and have given it back. She drank from it today and is not feeling well. Will she be OK?? You aren’t going to get sick from a bottle that once contained urine and was then cleaned. Your kidneys do a great job of filtering urine before you even pee it out in the first place and it isn’t generally dangerous to drink fresh urine although most people would consider it as nasty as hell. Urine bottles left sitting around can certainly get really rank but they won’t have anything left to make you sick after they are cleaned well. Urine is closer to a household cleaning product than an infectious agent. I would consider it a psychosomatic case triggered by the revulsion of the idea rather than a true medical problem unless she displays unambiguous medical symptoms. In other words, she probably just got really grossed out. Don’t let people find out that they just drank from a 2 week old urine bottle. Most people don’t take well to it whether it is dangerous or not. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/5 "2017-09-28T03:16:37Z")
What kind of drug testing place lets you bring in your urine? ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/6 "2017-09-28T03:22:02Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > What kind of drug testing place lets you bring in your urine? The best kind. God bless them ! To answer the OP. Don’t worry about it. A swish or two with water and it’s fine. Unless you were trippin’ on `shrooms or something when you collected your pee. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/7 "2017-09-28T03:55:19Z")
That’s assuming it was his own urine he brought in. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/8 "2017-09-28T04:39:56Z")
> [@Capo47](#): > > So I had a drug test a while back so I had to get some urine. It sat in an aluminium water bottle for two weeks. I washed it really well and have given it back. She drank from it today and is not feeling well. Will she be OK?? As long as the pee didn’t smell like ammonia, she’ll be fine… even then she still will since she probably wouldn’t have drank it all. Probably just really grossed out. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/9 "2017-09-28T10:54:04Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > What kind of drug testing place lets you bring in your urine? Some people, knowing they won’t pass a piss test, will get a clean friend’s urine. They catheterize their self and introduce clean urine into their bladder. They then can give a clean sample. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/10 "2017-09-28T11:21:13Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > What kind of drug testing place lets you bring in your urine? The kind that are about three feet tall. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/11 "2017-09-28T14:26:46Z")
Count yourself lucky that your girlfriend is willing to put something in her mouth that recently contained urine. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/12 "2017-09-28T15:14:17Z")
If your urine sat in a bottle for two weeks, it could have bred bacteria, especially if you have a condition that causes you to excrete either blood or sugar in your urine. However, if you washed it with soap, it should be OK. What kind of sick is she? If she is puking or has the runs, maybe you didn’t wash it out well enough, but she will still probably be OK. If she has an upper respiratory infection, it’s just a coincidence. If she has a UTI, it’s also probably a coincidence, even if you had one as well-- although she could have gotten it from you another way, if you get my drift. Another thing-- did you go to a place that just does drug tests, or a medical clinic that sees sick people, and did she go with you? If it was a clinic or doctor’s office, and she went with you, there’s a non-zero chance she picked up something-- strep, the flu, E. coli, almost literally anything, in the waiting room. She will probably still be fine, eventually. If this were me, or someone close to me, however, I would go to a doctor if the symptoms are worse tomorrow. That is true regardless of whether she’d drunk from the pee-bottle or not. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/13 "2017-09-28T16:51:49Z")
This is all conjecture at this point. The only way to know for sure is for you to drink stale urine and see if it makes you sick. Let’s put some scientific rigor into this. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/14 "2017-09-28T22:23:22Z")
Why didn’t you use your own bottle?? Or replace hers? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/15 "2017-09-28T22:37:16Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > Why didn’t you use your own bottle?? Or replace hers? Why would you use your own water bottle when you can just use your girlfriend’s? I never pee in my own containers. That would be gross. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/16 "2017-09-29T09:15:37Z")
Can’t imagine what kind of “drug test” would let you bring in your pee from outside – let alone why it sat around for _two weeks_. And no, it’s not going to be anything like sterile after all that time. Pee gets really nasty after it sits for just a few hours – what else do you think that would be but bacteria growing in it? OTOH – I’ve had medical urine tests that required me to collect urine for 24 hours into a largish bottle and then bring it in to the lab. They invariably give me some kind of tablet or syrup that I’m supposed to put into the bottle with the pee. This is supposedly some kind of disinfectant that keeps bacteria from growing in it – but the bottle of pee _still_ gets nasty stinky after a few hours. (It’s supposed to be kept in a refrigerator. It still gets stinky.) And they instructions are always very certain to point out that the disinfectant stuff that goes in the bottle is poisonous! Did you put a tablet or something of that disinfectant stuff into the bottle? Are you really really sure you washed it thoroughly? Could your friend be getting sick from some vestigial remains of that? And why did it sit around for two weeks anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/17 "2017-09-29T19:09:09Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Did you put a tablet or something of that disinfectant stuff into the bottle? Never put a tablet into a pee bottle. That’s strictly a job for cell phones. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urine-left-in-sealed-bottle-will-gf-get-sick-from-drinking-after-cleaning/797480/18 "2017-09-29T19:50:06Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > This is all conjecture at this point. The only way to know for sure is for you to drink stale urine and see if it makes you sick. Let’s put some scientific rigor into this. I thought you tested it by rubbing it on your gums.