What Can Cause Nocturia
While an overactive bladder at night is most common in adults aged 60 years and older, it can occur at any age. It can be caused by a variety of things from lifestyle factors to more serious medical conditions, 6 including:
- drinking a lot of fluids, particularly drinks with caffeinein them or alcohol
- eating a lot of salt
- certain medications and supplements7
- behavioural patterns 8
- untreated diabetes
- swelling in your legs 9, as the fluid retained in the lower body needs to go somewhere10
- sleeping disorders, such as sleep apnoea
- bladder obstruction
- vaginal or pelvic floor issues
- nocturnal polyuria .13
Overactive Bladder In Men: Causes Diagnosis And Treatment
What is an overactive bladder?
Overactive bladder is a relatively common condition. Typical symptoms include frequent urination, frequent nighttime urination, persistent urge to urinate, and urine leakage or incontinence.
An estimated 33 million Americans have OAB, reports the Urology Care Foundation, and as many as 30 percent of men experience symptoms. Its possible that even more men have the condition, but never seek help. If you suspect you have OAB, talk to your doctor. There are a variety of treatments options that may help.
Try To Avoid Caffeine Carbonated Drinks Sugar Alcohol And Spicy Or Acidic Foods
- Caffeine is a diuretic which makes you need to use the bathroom more often.
- Carbonated drinks and sugar are thought to stimulate the bladder.
- Alcohol switches off the ability of your body to concentrate urine. This means you tend to urinate more dilute, watery urine, which dehydrates you. Since you are dehydrated, you may drink more.
- Acidic or spicy food may aggravate your overactive bladder and worsen your symptoms. Certain acidic fruit and juices like orange, grapefruit, lemon and lime can aggravate your bladder, too.
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What Causes Elderly Incontinence
A range of factors can lead to bowel and bladder problems, but a common challenge that older adults face is functional incontinence. What exactly does functional mean in this context, you may be wondering?
Cognitive, mobility, and sensory limitations can stop elderly people from accessing a toilet when they need it. This could be due to poor eyesight, arthritis, or other health issues. Environmental factors can also play a role.
The possible causes of incontinence in elderly people dont end there, though. Here are some others to be aware of:
This ones for guys only
Prostatitis can cause urethral pain and urinary frequency. Around two million health care appointments in the U.S. occur each year due to prostatitis.
Constipation can be double trouble for elderly people with incontinence, because a full, congested bowel puts more pressure on the bladder. To add to this, frequent straining when trying to pass a stool may fatigue the pelvic floor muscles.
Tips For Getting Your Groove Back
There are some things you can do to ward off discomfort or embarrassment during sex.
Talk about it. First, know that your partner will probably be a lot more understanding than you expect. Then bring it up before you have intercourse. âDonât wait until it happens and say, âOh, guess what?ââ Denson says. âItâs better to be upfront and honest ahead of time.â
Plan. Prepare for sex, just as you do for bedtime. Double-void, cut back on fluids, and avoid foods and beverages that are likely to irritate your bladder.
Keep up the Kegels. Doing these several times a day and even during intercourse will help prevent urine leakage during sex.
All of these approaches can help you manage your overactive bladder at night, letting you get a better nightâs sleep and have a more active and satisfying sex life. But Sanz adds that if your overactive bladder is really causing you problems, thereâs no reason you need to live with it.
âThere is hope. There is treatment,â he says. You need to be evaluated by a urogynecologist, who will talk to you about three types of treatment: behavioral modification, medication, and surgical procedures are available, he says. âYou donât have to let an overactive bladder interfere with your life.â
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Alcohol Consumption Before Bed
Many people experience bedwetting only after they have consumed alcoholin the hours before bedtime. Alcohol suppresses ADH production and irritates the detrusor muscle, which signals to your brain that its time to urinate.
Treating alcohol-related incontinence: Reducing your alcohol intake can make a big difference in your life, especially if it is causing uncomfortable side effects like bedwetting.
Your Overactive Bladder In Menopause Especially During The Night
It wasnt only the hot flushes and night sweats that were waking up Romany night after night. It was needing to pee as well.
I know that this affects many of you too. Because exactly one year ago before the world when into chaos, I was travelling throughout New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom, sharing my live Masterclass on Menopause with you, and hundreds of hands would shoot up in the air when I asked who was waking up because they needed to pee in the night. Perhaps this is you as well.
Discovering that our nerves become more irritable during menopause was another aha lightbulb moment for me you see, your bladder has thousands of nerves that help to control its functions. Our irritable bladder and urge to pee more frequently, is another symptom of menopause, however, a word of caution too it can also be a sign of Urinary Tract Infection too. Hence, if you are experiencing any burning pain on urinating or if you have any pelvic or back pain, then head to your Doctor right away.
The changes to our urinary system during menopause can be such a challenge for many, especially those of us who aspire to continue to stay active as we age. So, lets take a look at whats going on.
The Mystery of your Ageing Bladder in Menopause:
What can I do about it? Here are my 5 pointers to help you:
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Symptoms Of An Overactive Bladder
The primary symptom of an overactive bladder is a sudden and uncontrollable urge to urinate. Other symptoms include a frequent desire to urinate and an involuntary passage of urine, also known as urinary incontinence. Urinary incontinence in cases of an overactive bladder is mainly urge incontinence which means the involuntary passage of urine that occurs when a person does not promptly attend to the sudden, strong urge to urinate.
What Does This Add To What Is Known
Previous studies have attributed poor sleep in women with overactive bladder syndrome largely to nocturia, but our findings highlight the potential importance of nonbladder factors in influencing sleep quality regardless of nocturia. Our findings do not support superior efficacy of paced respiration recommended elsewhere as a behavioral technique to improve sleep.
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Could It Have Anything To Do With My Heart
When your ticker doesnât pump the way it should, fluid builds up. Youâll notice this especially in your ankles.
When you lie down, your body flushes out the extra fluid. That fills your bladder and wakes you up.
You might help control the swelling by resting with your feet up during the day, or by wearing compression socks.
Causes And Risk Factors Of Overactive Bladder
Overactive bladder happens when your bladder muscles contract too readily, giving you a stronger or more frequent urge to urinate.
This problem can be caused by incomplete bladder emptying, overactive bladder muscles, or improper nerve signals from your brain that tell your bladder to contract.
Several different health issues can contribute to overactive bladder, including the following:
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Reducing Nocturia And Getting Better Sleep
Because it can have significant health consequences and connections to other illnesses, it is important to talk to your doctor about bothersome nocturia. A doctor can help identify the most likely cause and appropriate therapy for any specific individual.
When an underlying condition is causing nocturia, treating that condition may reduce the nighttime trips to the bathroom. Many patients with nocturia are treated with medications or have adjustments to their existing medications .
A number of lifestyle changes can help reduce problematic nocturia. These changes are designed to reduce nocturnal urine production and include:
- Reducing evening fluid intake, especially before bed.
- Elevating the legs an hour or more before bed in order to reduce the resorption and conversion of peripheral edema to urine during sleep.
Focusing on sleep hygiene, which includes your bedroom environment and sleep habits, can reduce awakenings during which you notice a need to go to the bathroom. Examples of healthy sleep tips include:
Working with a doctor and making lifestyle changes can reduce the number of bathroom trips you take each night, but they often may not eliminate them completely. For that reason, its important to take steps to make those trips as safe as possible, especially for older people.
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Bipoc And Overactive Bladder
The frequency and presentation of overactive bladder differs across different racial and ethnic groups, according to two recent studies.
One study, published in February 2020 in the journal Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, looked at the severity of OAB symptoms in women of different races and ethnicities.
In the study group, Black women were more likely to experience urinary urgency and frequency, while Hispanic women were more likely to have mixed urinary symptoms.
Compared with white women, Black women were 3.4 times as likely to have bladder muscle overactivity. Hispanic women tended to have significantly less urine volume than white women at the sensation of a strong desire to urinate.
Another study, published in September 2020 in the Journal of Urology, looked at OAB and urgency incontinence in men age 60 to 98 through an incontinence self-reported survey.
The study found that non-Hispanic Black men had the highest prevalence of urgency incontinence at 13 percent. Hispanic men came in at 11.3 percent, with non-Hispanic white men at 6.8 percent and men of Chinese ethnicity at 2.9 percent.
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Coping With Overactive Bladder At Night
Its a big problem for many people the urge to urinate at night. Youre trying to get a good nights sleep then you wake up with the intense urge to pee. When it happens night after night, possibly more than once a night, its time to talk with your doctor.
You may have overactive bladder, a medical condition that affects an estimated 33 million Americans, according to the Urology Care Foundation.
When you have OAB, you have a sudden urge to urinate that is uncontrollable. You may leak urine when you feel this urge, and might not make it to the bathroom. This leakage is called incontinence. When the bathroom trips are multiple during the day and night, you likely have OAB.
If your urine leakage occurs when you sneeze, laugh, cough, or exercise, you have another common bladder problem called stress urinary incontinence , which is different from OAB.
People with OAB find themselves looking for bathrooms in any new setting, cutting back on water, and being very aware of when they last urinated. All this is to prevent the dreaded accident. Unlike urinary tract infection, there is no pain, burning or blood in the urine.
OAB is a frustrating, embarrassing medical problem. The urge to pee at night is especially troubling, as it can result in bed-wetting. But take heart, because this condition is treatable.
Keep reading to learn more about the disorder and steps you can take to prevent this uncontrollable urge to urinate at night.
Overactive Bladder Only At Night
Causes of nocturnal polyuria include:
- Conditions that cause fluid retention such as
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Pearls And Other Issues
Guideline and Quick Summary of Nocturia Treatments
Although nocturnal polyuria is the most common etiological finding in patients with bothersome nocturia, mixed causes are very common, usually requiring combination therapy.
Unfortunately, for most cases, there is no specific cure for nocturia. Establishing a reasonable patient expectation for partial resolution is important as complete eradication of significant nocturia is uncommon but most patients will be quite satisfied with a 50% reduction in their nocturnal voids.
Initial evaluation includes a history and physical , a blood test to rule out diabetes and check serum sodium, a post void residual urine volume and a 24-hour voiding diary. The importance of a properly done voiding diary cannot be overemphasized as it guides diagnostic differentiation and optimal treatment selection which usually involves a combination of therapies.
Simple behavioral and lifestyle measures should be tried first, for example, limiting fluid intake in the evening, increasing daytime physical activity, minimizing bedroom distractions to enhance sleep, using a bedside commode or urinal, performing regular Kegel and similar pelvic floor exercises, decreasing caffeine ingestion, avoiding high salt intake late in the day and elevating the lower extremities for several hours before bed.
Alpha-blockers can be useful in male patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy and other lower urinary tract symptoms besides nocturia.
What Causes Nighttime Bladder Leaking In Men
Medications, health issues, and lifestyle choices can affect the presence of Nocturia in men. Aging is obviously a big factor among the other causes of nighttime urinary incontinence. The older you get, the less your body produces the hormone that tells your kidneys to hold in urine while youre sleeping.
Also, the urinary bladder loses its natural elasticity with age. As you grow older, your bladders ability to hold onto urine for extended periods diminishes. As a result, you are forced to visit the bathroom multiple times in the middle of the night.
Research shows that Nocturia can affect the health and wellbeing of the patients. It can result in depression, fatigue, anxiety, poor memory, gastrointestinal issues, heart disease, and even increased risk of falling or losing your balance. After all, sleep is one of the most critical factors behind good health. Without enough restful sleep, your body is bound to suffer.
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Anticholinergic Drugs For Overactive Bowel
This particular class of medication is used to control the muscle spasms that lead to overactive bladder. Anticholinergic drugs focus on blocking the nerve signals that typically trigger inopportune bladder contractions, reduce the frequency, and the severity of your urge to urinate.
There are several anticholinergic drugs to choose from and they all require a doctors prescription. Most people have very favourable reactions to anticholinergics, though there are a few possible side effects which may include dry mouth, constipation, increased heartbeat and/or drowsiness.
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Causes Of Urinary Incontinence
Stress incontinence is usually the result of the weakening of or damage to the muscles used to prevent urination, such as the pelvic floor muscles and the urethral sphincter.
Urge incontinence is usually the result of overactivity of the detrusor muscles, which control the bladder.
Overflow incontinence is often caused by an obstruction or blockage in your bladder, which prevents it from emptying fully.
Total incontinence may be caused by a problem with the bladder from birth, a spinal injury, or a small, tunnel like hole that can form between the bladder and a nearby area .
Certain things can increase the chances of urinary incontinence, including:
- pregnancy and vaginal birth
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Research And Statistics: How Many People Have Overactive Bladder
Estimates as high as 30 percent of men and 40 percent of women will develop symptoms of overactive bladder at some point in their life, according to the American Urological Association.
In addition, almost one-half of all women will leak urine at some point, and as many as one in three older men leaks urine, according to the according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Its important to note that these numbers may underestimate the extent of overactive bladder, since many people are reluctant to report their symptoms due to embarrassment or lack of knowledge that treatments are available.
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Understanding The Causes Of Nighttime Urinary Incontinence In Men
After a long tiring day, you have settled in bed under the covers for a restful night of sleep. But just as you start drifting off into dreamland, you feel sudden dampness between your legs. Youve wet the bed something you havent done since you were maybe five years old. If this sounds all too familiar, along with constant impromptu bathroom visits interrupting your sleep, you are not alone. Nearly 50 percent of adults aged 50 to 79 suffer from Nocturia, also known as nighttime incontinence. These constant visits to the bathroom can prevent you from getting a good nights sleep and wreak havoc on your overall health. So, lets learn about the causes of nighttime urinary incontinence in men.