Older women, urgency at night, front sleeping

Hi all you wise old crones and aspiring wise old crones

Many older women (and men too) wake during the night with the need to pee, maybe several times. I think this may be because the bladder is in an unnatural position when we are sleeping and gets easily irritated by pressure from other organs and structures.

I know with men there is the confounding prostate factor, which is possibly another lump that irritates the bladder at night, and prevents proper emptying. I believe that women also have prostatic tissue (which is not in any of the anatomy books). It is believed that some of the fluid that some women ejaculate during sex comes from there. It is certainly not all urine, though some of it may be. Maybe this is a connection between men's and women's nighttime bladder problems.

Let's just leave men for now.

For a woman with POP who has some difficulty with bladder function during the day the bladder problem often involves the bladder end of the urethra enlarging so the internal sphincter is no longer tight. Also the bladder falls backwards and down (prolapses) and the urethra kinks. The kink forms a sort of second line of defence for the internal sphincter, preventing urine from escaping to a degree if the internal sphincter is not working well, but the kink may be irritating in itself. Wholewoman posture improves bladder function by tipping the bladder forwards and unkinking the urethra; it also puts the bladder out front of the vagina where it won't be pushed down by gravity during normal movement. My bladder is certainly happier when it is further forwards.

I do sometimes wake at night with an awareness that I have something in my bladder. Sometimes I get up and empty it; sometimes I just go back to sleep. Sometimes when I get up either during the night or first thing in the morning I only just make it to the toilet. Why??? I only have this problem during the day when I have just finished something strenuous or have been for a long drive.

I think it is because we are lying down to sleep, either on our back or side where the bladder has flopped into an unnatural position and gets irritated easily by pressure from other organs and structures. Lying on the front, which I don't, may be better.

Older 'front liers', what do you think about my theory?

If it is better for front liers, perhaps if the rest of us turned onto our tummy for a few minutes, then rise onto hands and knees (and doing a couple of kegels) before getting out of bed backwards, our bladders might be in a less distressed state when we get to the toilet?

I know that bending deep from the hips for 30 seconds or so if I have a full bladder, and doing a couple of kegels, when I get out of the car, helps too. It should have the same effect at night, yes?

I have also mentioned before that there is a pressure point right in under the septum where the bottom of the nose makes a right angle with the upper lip, which stops the bladder from contracting if pressed quite hard for a few seconds. That tingly feeling just evaporates, giving you time to get to the toilet.

The other question is, do any of us have the clear-headedness in the middle of the night to remember all this stuff???

Cheers

Louise