There is no question about it. Disrupted sleep has many negative health consequences. Nocturia is one of the leading causes.
You should be able to sleep six to eight hours without waking up to urinate. If you wake up more than once at night to use the bathroom and feel sluggish and sleepy during the day, you likely have nocturia.
Nocturia is extremely common. It affects 50 million people in the United States, including 50% of adults over 50. After age 50, it’s more common in men and people assigned male at birth. Before 50, it’s more common for women, and people assigned female at birth.
However, only 10 million people are diagnosed with this frustrating health condition. Of those, only 1.5 million receive treatment.
You must seek advice from a doctor if you think you have nocturia. The sleep disturbances it causes can result in health consequences, including increased response to stress, reduced quality of life, mental health problems and mood disorders, behavior problems, and memory deficits.
Fortunately, there are ways to overcome nocturia and get a good night’s sleep.
What Causes Nocturia?
Several behaviors and conditions lead to nocturia. The most common include:
Drinking too much fluid before you go to bed
Behavioral patterns, such as training yourself to wake up to urinate even if you don’t need to, or waking up for another reason and immediately going to the bathroom
Certain medications, such as diuretics
Sleep disorders, such as insomnia or sleep apnea
Reduced bladder capacity due to bladder obstruction, swelling, or infection
Underlying health conditions can also cause nocturia. Those include:
Polyuria, which is when your body produces more urine than your bladder can hold
Diabetes
High blood pressure
Edema that causes accumulation of fluid in the lower limbs
Enlarged prostate or prostate obstruction
Heart disease or congestive heart failure due to fluid building up in your extremities
Pelvic organ prolapse or weakened pelvic floor muscles after you have a baby
Pregnancy, due to hormonal changes that can cause the ligaments of your urethra to soften and loosen, making it more difficult to control how often you urinate
Loss of estrogen during menopause
Restless leg syndrome
Overcoming Nocturia
To treat nocturia, your doctor must first determine if you have an underlying disorder that is causing it.
The first line of treatment is lifestyle changes, including restricting evening fluid intake, especially caffeine and alcohol, elevating your legs or using compression socks to redistribute and prevent fluid buildup, and taking short naps to help alleviate your fatigue.
Your doctor may also prescribe medication to treat nocturia, such as antidiuretics which cause you to produce less urine. Other drugs that treat nocturia include anticholinergics, which block the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from binding to nerve cells and inhibit nerve impulses that control involuntary muscle movements in the urinary tract, and antimuscarinics, which also block acetylcholine receptors. Some of those medications include:
Darifenacin
Festerodine
Oxybutynin
Solifenacin
Tolterodine
Trospium
Estrogen creams can restore vaginal and urethral tissue and pelvic floor muscle elasticity to help women with nocturia from stress incontinence.
Get Help for Nocturia
You don’t have to suffer from exhaustion. The specialists at Norman Urology can help identify the cause of your nocturia and create a treatment plan. Schedule an appointment today.