Walking Up at Night to Urinate (NOCTURIA)

If you wake up consistently more than once a night to urinate, you may have a condition called nocturia. Nocturia is one of the most common causes of sleep disturbance but fortunately it is easy to diagnose and treat.

NOCTURIA

Many people- both men and women may need to get up several times a night to urinate. This condition is called nocturia. It becomes more common the older we get, and more than half of those who are aged over 50, get up to urinate at lease once a night. While this can be annoying, it may also have more serious effects, as by disturbing sleep, it can have a significant impact on your quality of sleep and quality of life.

Why we urinate - The function of urine

The body is made up of 60% water, but during the day we also a proportion of it by swelling, breathing out and by urinating. To compensate for this loss of liquids, it is important to drink.
How much we need to drink depends upon one's size and the activities we perform. An adult should drink roughly 2 liters of liquid a day ( depending on levels of physical activity).

What can you do about nocturia?

If you're getting up at night to urinate and you're continually tired because of interrupted sleep, it's important to see your doctor. The problem may have a simple explanation and a simple solution. If the quantities of urine at night are larger than the bladder can store, it may be because you are producing too much as it should. Many people believe that as we get older, the need to go to the toilet at night is unavoidable. A lot of men believe that this is caused by an enlarged prostate. However, nocturial overproduction of urine is often caused by a deficiency of the hormone, vasopressin that normally reduces urine production so that there is need to get up during the night. A good start is to reduce your intake of alcohol and drinks that contain caffeine (tea and coffee). It is also a good idea not to eat or drink anything just before you go to bed.
However, it is important that you do not reduce your normal liquid intake during the day.

The treatment your doctor choose will naturally depend on the diagnosis you receive.

What more can you do?

Your doctor is the person who is best qualified to help you. Do not hesitate to contact him or her. Your doctor can investigate, find the cause of your problem and provide solution.


Diagnosis
It is important to remember that nocturia is a symptom of an underlying condition and your doctor will probably start by using you some questions.
You may then be given a voiding diary to fill in for a couple of days at home. This is to record how much you drink and how much you drink and ho much you urinate. The voiding diary diary is a great help to doctors to establish the type of treatment they will prescribe. Sometimes, further examinations are carried out. In other cases, a treatment is recommended straightaway to see if it has a positive effect.

ATTENTION!!

If you find out that you have any of this symptom please refer your Doctor or Pharmacist as soon as possible. Stay with our Channel on Facebook , Instagram and our FB Page (I Am Healthy) for more info and current issue that we're focusing on from time to time. Don't forget to share your opinion and experience with us. Sharing is Caring!! Love from SB.

Prepared By : Shakila Bakar (SB)

Reference : 1.van Kerrebroeck P, et al. Neurourol Urodyn 2002; 21:179-83, 2.Irwin DE et al. Eur 2006;50:1306-14., 3.Weiss et al. J Urol 2011; 186:1358-1363 4.Ferring pharmaceticals (ferring sdn bhd)