Nocturia causing fragmented sleep! :(
Posted , 6 users are following.
Hi, I am a healthy 22y/o male and for the last 2 years or so I've had on and off problems with frequent awakenings at night.
I am growing increasingly desperate, therefore the long text, thank you so much for reading!
Before I go to bed, I tend to stay away from screens, do some meditation and stretching to de-stress. I always feel ready to hit the sack and fall asleep without problems. I take 500µg melatonin 2 hrs before bed. But recently, I've had the same pattern of fragmented sleep almost every night: I wake up pretty much every 1-2 hours. If I go 3 hours without waking up, thats a success for me... Everytime I wake up I go to urinate, now it's hard to tell if this is habitual, or if I actually need to urinate. Sometimes I urinate normal amounts, sometimes hardly anything. But whenever I awake in bed, I feel a slight pressure in my bladder region to go urinate. Obviously this is really having an impact on my sleep quality, although most of the time I can fall asleep again quickly. Another important thing to note: my urination patterns during the day are normal, I go probably every 2-3 hours and am regularly hydrated. So the problem is really only at night.
I've been to a urologist: prostate is maybe on the larger side, but not too large and I should be too young (22) for BPH?? Wasn't checked for prostatitis, but I don't have any symptoms of inflammation or infection in that region; no burning sensations etc. My urine sample was tested for glucose and I assume other things: nothing unusual.
There are some possible causes I am thinking of, maybe someone could comment on this:
Defect in ADH (Vasopressin/anti-diuretic hormone) secretion
-> diabetes insipidus?
--> but I highly doubt i have diabetes insipidus, I drink normal amounts, experience normal thirst and again, urinate normally during the day
Some kind of asymptomatic urinary infection?
--> however, my urine sample was tested (I assume also for infections) and was fine
Maybe some kind of hypersensitivity to caffeine?
--> I only drink a cup of green tea first thing in the morning, so shouldn't affect my sleep but will try and cut this out for now.
Overactive bladder?
--> my urologist said I have "strong" bladder muscles. Maybe my bladder is too tense? Should I try and train my bladder, by trying to go less frequently during the day, in the hope this will then be applied at night? Or could that make it worse by strengthening my bladder even more?
STRESS
--> I think this is the most likely. I tend to overthink things and can easily get stressed. I don't have anxiety and often feel relaxed before bed, but maybe I am subconsciously stressed? I know cortisol greatly impacts sleep and read that cortisol can inhibit deep sleep and also ADH secretion from the hypothalamus (?) I notice that when I'm on vacation or generally in a more relaxed setting, I tend to sleep better, maybe only waking up once or twice a night instead of, say, four times. So my best bet is that some kind of stress is causing this and maybe the fact that I urinate when I wake up is because you usually only wake up at night to go to the bathroom, hence my brain has made some sort of association between waking up and urinating. I don't think I have some sort of disease like Cushing syndrome, because I don't show symptoms of chronically elevated cortisol.
Anyway, if anyone has some experience with this, any ideas, anything would be greatly appreciated! It's kind of tough to go visit a doctor right now (COVID).
THANKS!
1 like, 5 replies
carl15289 a20121997
Posted
HI it could be that you not emptying you bladder enough speak to your GP or to your Urology team at the hospital they might ask you to go for a CT scan or a MRI scan or a ultrasound scan on your bladder i hop that this is helpful to you yours Carl
ys60357 a20121997
Posted
Hi,
have you found out any more about your problem since your last post? I personally relate to many of the symptoms you describe: only slight pressure from the bladder region but enough to wake and and go to the bathroom. Volume voiding is normal so probably not the usual nocturia caused by ADH abnormality.
I am in my early 30s and have had this get progressively worse over the past 10 years. When I was younger I would feel the urge but could sometimes sleep throughout without getting up to void. (but this would disrupt my sleep). But now I have to void otherwise I can't continue sleeping. Nowadays I notice that when I wake up, my adrenaline is sometimes pumping which makes it hard to go back to sleep for a few hours even after voiding. I wonder if it's the adrenaline causing the urge or that my body is waking myself up violently (with adrenaline) in order to urgently void. Maybe a remnant anxiety from bed-wetting when a child.
I also relate to what you said about a tense bladder. Maybe the bladder walls are too thick?
"my urination patterns during the day are normal, I go probably every 2-3 hours and am regularly hydrated" -- from what you say here I think the bladder capacity is slightly low. I also feel that the urge to urinate kicks in to too soon when the bladder is barely half full. I'm guessing when you void the volume isn't that much?
Hope to hear what you've learnt. Waking up form this is really messing up my sleep and energy levels.
Best,
steve15805 a20121997
Posted
My friend I also have had many of ur patterns. Since November 2020 I wud get up on average 5 x per nite. I am 54. Sometimes I wud get up 10 + times. Absolutely insane. I went to Urologist and they checked prostate and bladder. They gave me many meds. I had issues w them cause they clogged my nose and caused breathing issues as well. Long story short, I tried self help like drinking less and earlier and taking naps. ONE day I said to myself if I am good during the day, then why not at night! Well gravity holds down my fluids during the day so I tried raising my bed 12 inches up from the head area sleeping on an incline. UNBELIEVABLE! I hardly even get up anymore and I breath better. Gravity keeps the fluids down at nite. U have to try this and let me know how u feeeel!
joshuapryce1987 a20121997
Posted
What tends to happen with needing to pee at night stems from the body holding the pee for us when we are asleep, but as soon as we wake up the need to pee is there. Its possible to hold pee go to sleep and the pee will remain held. When we wake up the cycle remains. Green tea is not a problem and never was.
finbar08685 a20121997
Posted
hi there first of all i so empathise i ve been livingwith this for 9 years. its a hard station that few undestand. Joined the forum today after reading your post. Have you had any luck finding a remedy ?