nighttime frequency of urination

Body: 

Just curious if a small number, or larger number of us women with bladder and uterus prolapse have frequent nighttime awakenings?? I'm up 4, sometimes 5 times during the night. I'm trying to just cope with this, as I certainly dont want surgery, but am exhausted in the morning. Any ideas re this problem?

Hi Harmonics

I went through a stage in perimenopause when I was waking really hot, having a drink of water, and going for a pee, several times a night. After I had a drink I would start sweating, cool down and be able to go back to sleep.

I started drinking red clover tea, which helped quite a bit with the hot flashes at night, but I still woke, wanting a pee, and couldn't get back to sleep until I had peed. I took black cohosh tablets for a few months. This stopped me waking, and I no longer had to pee, because I slept through the sensation of wanting to pee.

I no longer need the black cohosh tablets, though I still sometimes wake several times during the night, but I don't need to get up for a pee very often, and I can get back to sleep easily, unless there some underlying worry which keeps me awake. I think I sleep quite well these days.

Is this the red cohosh? Is it because I am now through menopause? Is it because I am under less stress now? Who knows? I think it is probably a combination, but keeping myself asleep seemed to be the key.

Louise

my amateurish advice: don't drink after dinner. don't drink a lot with dinner. cut down on caffeine. apples, i believe, may stave off hot flashes.

all that said, lately i have not been heeding my own advice. lol i have been drinking a lot of caffeine and late in the day - and i am waking up a lot with a full bladder. : )

Thank you all! I will try red clover tea and cohosh. If I find anything that works, I'll let you know. I have some anxiety about drinking less after dinner, as it's very hot in Dallas and drinking water is just crucial to feeling okay. But, I will try to drink less.

Hi Harmonics

If you are in a hot place I wouldn't cut down your fluid intake too much. Just drink to satisfy your thirst (and so you having several decent sized, relatively low-coloured pees during the day). I think in hot weather or during physical exertion we need every bit of 2 litres per day, or considerably more. However if you are in airconditioning that kind of goes out the window. It also depends on whether air conditioning is evaporative or refrigerated, because ambient humidity will affect loss of water through perspiration. The amount of water you have in your food and the amount of salt in your food are also factors.

Louise

Dear Harmonics,

Of course you must make the right decision for yourself. And this is not to pressure you into any. I just wish to explain why I said to limit your fluid intake in the other thread on frequent urination and why I agree with CSF here. I assume you are otherwise healthy and therefore there is no risk involved in what I suggested. The US administration advises 1.9 litres a day whereas the U.K. recommends 1.2. so if you are having over 2 litres a day, which a lot of people do, then it seems reasonable to cut your fluid intake a little.

In healthy individuals, the imbibing of large volumes of water (or fluid as in soft drinks) invariably leads to increased production of urine and more frequent urination. What you drink is very much what you pee.

It seems to me that people as they get older find that if they drink before bedtime, they will awaken during the night. The medical advice usually given is to stop drinking a couple of hours before bedtime. Not that waking in the night once or twice is unnatural, but getting up six times to pee is, as so is peeing every half hour during the day which is what you have been talking about and which I have experienced and it would appear so has CSF.

When considering limiting your fluid intake, the following bits of information are relevant. These come from Heinz Valtin emeritus professor of Medicine and Physiology who was head of the Physiology dept in the US Dartmouth University. (I hope I have understood his article well enough not to misrepresent his findings.)

Drinking 8 x 8 oz of water a day and excluding tea, coffee, beer and food in this count is not based on any known research.

Research done in April 2000 by US department of Agriculture revealed that the 1990’s saw an increase of 25% in the consumption of water, a doubling of soft drinks and alcoholic beverages and a nearly 2.5-fold increase in juices.

Comparing research of 1977-8 and 1994-6 consumption levels suggest total fluid intake by American adults has increased by 2 glasses per day. (The concept of 8x8oz glasses came in during the 70s. Some people claim it is bottled water industry advertising, and healthy eating fanatics who propagate the 8x8oz rule. Well, of course they would say that, but be that as it may, Valtin has been unable to find any research that the rule is based on. According to Margaret McCartney a Scottish GP in the British Medical Journal the 8x8 rule is ‘thoroughly debunked nonsense.’)

Add to this, Americans live for the most part in a temperate climate, are more sedentary in their work day than ever before and of course have more wide spread air-conditioning. The rest of the world has followed the American lead in this matter. So it really is something we need to reconsider.

All I can say is that both summer and winter I have limited my water consumption to what Louise suggests 'when I am thirsty' and this can vary from 3 -5 cups 750-1250 mls a day) and don’t eat soups so often and my frequency of urination has decreased, as you would expect. If I have an upset elimination process, then urination increases, but not to the previous ridiculous, incapacitating levels.

Best wishes