Frequent urination is a very common problem.The some reasons for it are common for both male and female.Certain reasons are specific for male e.g.prostrate enlargement and certain reasons are specific for female e.g.pregnancy.One should consult urologist for diagnosis, management and treatment.
Nocturia:
Normally, you should be able to sleep six to eight hours during the night without having to get up to go to the bathroom. People who have nocturia wake up more than once a night to urinate.
Nocturia can cause long-term side effects such as sleep loss and increase your risk for other health conditions. Talk to a doctor if you experience frequent nighttime urination. They'll be able to suggest lifestyle changes or the medical treatments to improve your symptoms.
If you find yourself waking up to urinate more than once each night, you may have a condition called "nocturia".Nocturia is defined as the need for patients to get up at night on a regular basis to urinate. A period of sleep must precede and follow the urinary episode for it to count as a nocturnal void. Nocturia is often described as the most bothersome of all urinary symptoms and is also one of the most common. This is most common in people over the age of 60.
Frequent night time urination can have causes that aren't due to underlying disease. Examples include drinking too much liquid close to bed time, pregnancy or ageing.
Night-time urination isn't the same as a related condition called enuresis that is bed-wetting. Enuresis is when you can't control your need to urinate at night.
•Drinking too much fluid during the evening can cause you to urinate more often during the night.
•Infection of the bladder or urinary tract.
•Drinking a lot of alcohol, coffee ( caffeine) or other fluids before bedtime.
•Enlarged prostate gland (Benign prostatic hyperplasia, BPH)
•Pregnancy.
The most common cause of nocturia is a urinary tract infection (UTI) or bladder infection(Cystitis).These infections cause frequent burning sensations and urgent urination throughout the day and night. Treatment requires antibiotics.
Doctors may also prescribe medications to treat nocturia. Antidiuretics such as Desmopressin can be taken to reduce the amount of urine produced.
Nocturia can have significant health consequences. It may be connected to serious underlying problems, and night-time bathroom trips can both disrupt sleep and create additional health concerns.
Treatment options for nocturia, regardless of cause, may include:
•Restrict fluids in the evening (especially coffee, caffeinated beverages, and alcohol).
•Time intake of diuretics (Take them mid to late afternoon, six hours before bedtime.
•Avoiding beverage with alcohol.
•Maintaining a healthy weight, as excess weight can put pressure on your bladder.
•Timing when you take diuretic medications so they don't impact your night-time urine production.
•Taking afternoon naps.
Medicines for treatment for nocturia:
Darifenacin,Festerodine,
Oxybutynin,Solifenacin,
Tolterodine,Trospium.
*The pricipal reasons for Frequent urination are as under:
(1) urination in enlarged prostate:
If the prostate becomes enlarged, it can place pressure on the bladder and the urethra, which is the tube that urine passes through. This can affect how you pee and may cause difficulty starting to pee and a frequent need to pee.
•Frequent urge to urinate. •Need to get up many times during the night to urinate. •Blood in urine or semen. Pain or burning urination.
Symptoms Benign prostate enlargement:
•Straining to pee. having a weak flow of urine. •"Stop-start" peeing. Needing to pee urgently and/or frequently.
(2) Frequent urination during pregnancy:
It's very common in pregnancy. Most people urinate between six and seven times in a 24-hour period. (But between four and 10 can also be normal.) Frequent urination going more than seven times a day affects 80 to 95 percent of women at some point during pregnancy.
The heightened need to pee can start as early as the first two to three weeks of your pregnancy. Most women, though, notice it more when they're about 10 to 13 weeks along, when your uterus begins pushing on your bladder.
Peeing every 5 minutes may normal in pregnancy:
Frequent urination is a common early pregnancy symptom, but it can also reappear later on during pregnancy as your uterus and baby grow, putting pressure on your bladder. Although it can definitely be annoying, in most cases, it's nothing to worry about.
(3) Frequent urination in diabetes:
The two common early signs of diabetes are
(i) Patient urinate (pee) a lot, often at night that is Polyuria and
(ii) Patient is very thirsty that is polydipsia
(i)Polyuria:
If you have a condition called polyuria, it's because your body makes more pee than normal. Adults usually make about 3 liters of urine per day. But with polyuria, you could make up to 15 liters per day. It's a classic sign of diabetes.
Polyuria has generally been defined as a urine output exceeding 3 L/day in adults and 2 L/day in children. It must be differentiated from the more common complaints of frequency or nocturia, which may not be associated with an increase in the total urine output.
Polyuria is usually the result of drinking excessive amounts of fluids (polydipsia), particularly water and fluids that contain caffeine or alcohol. It is also one of the major signs of diabetes mellitus. When the kidneys filter blood to make urine, they reabsorb all of the sugar, returning it to the bloodstream.
Polyuria is not a medical condition in itself, but it can be a symptom of other illnesses. Common causes include diabetes, kidney disease, and certain medications. It can also be caused by pregnancy, an electrolyte imbalance, excess caffeine, and drinking alcohol.
(ii) Polydipsia means abnormally great thirst as a symptom of disease (such as diabetes) or psychological disturbance.
Polydipsia is the medical definition of excessive thirst. Excess thirst is an abnormal urge to drink fluids at all times. It's a reaction to fluid loss in your body. Dry mouth (Xerostomia) and the urge to pee often (frequent urination) may go along with it. Excessive thirst and increased urination are common diabetes signs and symptoms.
Excessive thirst in diabetes is called polydipsia. It's common in both diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus. Diabetes mellitus, which includes Type I and Type II diabetes, happens when your blood sugar is too high.
In people with diabetes, polydipsia is caused by increased blood glucose levels. When blood glucose levels get high, your kidneys produce more urine in an effort to remove the extra glucose from your body. Meanwhile, because your body is losing fluids, your brain tells you to drink more in order to replace them.
The recommended treatment is to control the water intake, but this poses a compliance problem, especially in patients with psychogenic polydipsia with compulsive behavior. Changes in medications that have anticholinergic side effects can be tried. Various classes of drugs have been studied, and none is effective.
Some Diabetics may notice they have to get up every couple of hours during the night to urinate and that they produce more urine when they do go. The presence of excess glucose can also cause the urine to have a sweet smell. This is most common in advanced cases of Type II diabetes.
One of the most common early signs of diabetes is a need to pee more often during the day. But it can also happen at night. When there's too much sugar in your blood, which happens if you have diabetes, your kidneys have to work harder to get rid of it. This forces them to make more urine.
Frequent urination caused by diabetes can be managed by treating the condition with insulin or other medications. Lifestyle modifications such as avoiding caffeine and alcohol and limiting fluid intake two to four hours before bedtime can also help.
If you have diabetes insipidus, you'll continue to pee large amounts of watery (dilute), light-colored urine when normally you'd only pee a small amount of concentrated, dark yellow urine.
(4) Frequent urination and urinary tract infections:
Urinary tract infections (UTI), in particular, are the most common cause of frequent urination. During a UTI, an outside infection enters the body and causes inflammation (swelling) in your urinary system.One of the most common UTI symptoms, is feeling a strong urge to urinate, even just after using the bathroom. On any normal day, your bladder tells your brain to pee about six to seven times a day. However, urinary tract infections will make you feel like you need to spend the rest of the day in the bathroom.
Several factors may be linked to frequent urination, such as: Infection, disease, injury or irritation of the bladder. Conditions that increase urine production. Changes in muscles, nerves or other tissues affecting bladder function.
Steps to stop frequent urination from a UTI:
•Drink plenty of water during the day to help flush out bacteria.
•Avoid alcohol, coffee, and soft drinks that contain caffeine or citrus juice. These tend to irritate your bladder and aggravate the urgency and frequency of your need to urinate.
•Avoid drinking a lot of fluids before bed.
(5) Frequency of urination and kidney disease:
Symptoms of a kidney infection may include chills; fever; and frequent, painful urination.
Here are three signs that could indicate that you are beginning to experience a decline in kidney function.
(i) Dizziness and Fatigue. One of the first possible signs of weakening kidneys is the experience of overall weakness in yourself and your overall health.
(ii) Swelling (Edema) .
(iii) Changes in urination.
A number of kidney problems make tubules less efficient at filtrate processing and water reabsorption. In these conditions, urine output may actually increase because the damaged tubules cannot handle the filtrate load.
Blood Tests such as blood urea and serum creatinine can be helpful to check the efficiency of kidneys. Because your kidneys remove waste, toxins, and extra fluid from the blood, a doctor will also use a blood test to check your kidney function. The blood tests will show how well your kidneys are doing their job and how quickly the waste is being removed.
Information compiled by:
Dr. Bhairavsinh Raol
