Nighttime Urination (Nocturia)
Nighttime urination is a very common yet a highly underreported entity. If you wake up to go to the bathroom more than once per night, you may have nocturia. There are multiple reasons why you may experience nocturia, so it is important to evaluate this condition and get your sleep back!
Causes of nocturia:
- Drinking too much fluid before bedtime (especially caffeine or alcohol)
- Behavioral patterns (you’ve trained your body to wake up during the night to use the bathroom, even if you don’t necessarily have to go)
- The timing or dose of medicines, such as: diuretic medicine (water pills), cardiac glycosides, demeclocycline, lithium, methoxyflurane, phenytoin, propoxyphene, and excessive vitamin D
- Sleep disorders, like insomnia or sleep apnea
Underlying health conditions can cause nocturia. For example:
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease, vascular disease, or congestive heart failure
- Bladder obstruction (stones), inflammation or other problems that affect bladder capacity (like bladder surgery or fibrosis from radiation)
- Overactive bladder symptoms
- Prostate obstruction
- Vaginal prolapse
- Menopause
- Childbirth
- Pelvic prolapse
- BPH
- Restless leg syndrome
- Edema in the lower limbs, or leg swelling
- Interstitial cystitis
- Reduced bladder capacity
- Nocturnal polyuria (when your body produces too much urine at night for your bladder to hold)
