During the night a normal person can sleep about eight hours without needing to go to the bathroom, because the human body produces an anti-diuretic hormone that causes fluid retention. So, what is Nocturia, exactly? When a person suffers from Nocturia they may get up anywhere from a couple of times per night to about six times per night to relieve themselves. While Nocturia can occur any time in your life, it is most frequently found in people over the age of sixty.
On the face of it Nocturia may seem innocent enough, but it can be almost incapacitating for some, because it can lead to the continuous loss of sleep. Being sleep deprived can at best require an afternoon nap, and at worst it can cause injury or death, as in the case of falling asleep while driving. So it is something that you should take seriously if it is impacting your day.
Discussing Nocturia with your physician may be a good idea on several levels, because it is frequently a symptom of some other medical condition like an infection, a tumor, or organ and muscle damage. It may also be a harbinger of heart or liver failure, diabetes or pregnancy. If you are older there is also the chance that your body is just creating less of the anti-diuretic hormone or you have a normal loss of bladder capacity.
Another indirect cause of Nocturia is sleep apnea where you may stop breathing for several seconds multiple times during the night. As you stop breathing, your body shocks itself awake, and you begin breathing again. This sleep pattern causes you to sleep lighter, and it makes you more susceptible to feeling like you need to relieve a full bladder during the night, thus more frequent urination.
The treatments for Nocturia can be a simple as not drinking liquids for a few hours before bedtime, especially caffeine laden beverages, to medication, to surgery depending on what the underlying medical condition is. Proper diagnosis of the cause of Nocturia is essential to finding the correct course of treatment. So if you find yourself dragging out of bed more than once during the night to make a trip to the bathroom, it is probably time to contact your physician to learn more about what is Nocturia and why it is affecting you.
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Tags: Frequent Urination
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