Are you suffering from Frequent Urination at Night or Nocturia
Frequent urination is a problem for adults and that to waking up at night could result in sleepless nights. Do you use bathroom at night between your sleep more than two times? You are not alone in this problem. Nocturia is a problem that one in three adults over the age of 30 will face at night. These people will use bathroom for urination more than twice every night.
According to Urologists, making trips to bathroom increases with age. However, if one feels tired of making trips to bathroom at night, then must address the issue. Your body might be trying to tell you something, some trouble that it is facing.
Reasons for nocturia:
Drinking too much fluid before going to bed is one of the main reasons for nocturia. Other reasons are illness, medication (for heart condition or sugar problem), reduced bladder capacity could also be the reasons.
- Bladder problem: When bladder cannot hold too much urine, it needs to get rid of the urine
- Nocturnal polyuria: When body makes too much urine at night. In this case urine volume will be reduced or normal during daytime. However, the fluid retention in the legs or feet will re-enter the veins and filtered through kidneys at night causing more urine volume. Edema, congestive heart failure, water pills, cardiac glycosides, drinking coffee or alcohol before going to bed are also reasons for nocturnal polyuria.
- Polyuria: When body makes too much urine in 24 hours. High fluid intake, untreated diabetes, gestational diabetes are reasons for polyuria
- Mixed nocturia or nocturnal urinary frequency: More than one of these problems could be causing to urinate more frequently at night. The total amount of urine will not be elevated. It is mostly the inability of the bladder to empty the contents. Reasons for this condition is bladder obstruction, bladder spasms, UTI, bladder inflammation, obstructive sleep apnea and pain in the bladder.
Symptoms:
- Urinating more than twice
- Waking up more than once at night to use bathroom
- Sleepiness, fatigue due to lack of sleep
Generally, adults should be able to sleep between six to eight hours without any interruption. Waking up to go to bathroom more than two times during sleep results in lack of sleep and will have negative impact on health. People who don’t sleep well at night, might not able to handle day life.
Diagnosis and treatment:
Diagnosis of nocturia is based on how many times one goes to bathroom at night and how much volume of urine passed. Recording or keeping a diary with this information along with any trouble with UTI, and medications will help to review the symptoms and causes of nocturia. Health care provider might investigate urine output and when the condition initiated and, how many times one uses the bathroom.
For diagnosis, physician might ask the person to undergo blood test, urine culture and urinalysis, bladder scan, cystoscopy (looking inside bladder), urodynamic testing (checking capacity of the bladder and examining nerves and muscle work)
Treatments:
Depending on underlying cause treatments are targeted. There are different ways nocturia condition is treated.
- Limit fluid intake: Drinking plenty of fluid during daytime is better. Limit fluid intake before going to bed. Reduce caffeine and alcohol
- Raising legs and using compression socks: This reduces edema and fluid flow to kidney
- Afternoon nap: This will help liquid to flow through bloodstream in addition to giving rest for the body.
- Diuretic pill management: Take diuretic pills six hours before going to sleep. It reduces bathroom visit.
- Medicines to treat bladder muscle and to help kidney to produce less urine.
- Treating any illness that is causing nocturia will help to reduce bathroom visit.
Talk to your health care provider or urologist regarding your condition. Do not start any medications or treatments on your own if you have the nocturia symptoms. Talk to your doctor and then proceed with proper treatment.
References:
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/
Nocturia information: Urology Care Foundation of American urology association
Image credit: Image by 영훈 박 from Pixabay (Free for commercial use)
Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: April 27, 2023
