Drinking question

[Rocklandgal]

I guess this goes here. Water is part of our diet, right?

I'm sure I pee more than most during the day. But at night, I'm going like crazy!!! I sip water throughout the day, but don't binge on it. I try to slow it down about four hours or so before bed. You would think I would be peeing less, or at least the same amount as during the day when I am drinking. But not more.... Any ideas as to the cause of this? Even a few less trips during the night would help my sleep deprivation a little! I mean, if I keep drinking up until bedtime, could it be better????

Any input would help.

Thanks as always,
Karen

[meResque]

This won't help you, but I've noticed no matter how much or what time my intake is, I go most frequently between 12-5pm. It's like freaking clockwork.

[tinkles]

That sounds so frustrating! I know I was struggling with getting any sleep and I tried Benadryl at night. Instead of waking up every hour, I woke up every 3-4 hours to pee. Also, I know antihistamines have really helped my IC in general. Just something to look in to.

[earthlady]

Are you still drinking caffeine? Caffeine will actually cause more urine to be produced. I did a three day void diary that included fluid intake as well. After measuring my urine over a 24 hour period I noticed that I was actually voiding as large amount of urine at night as I was in the day. Urine production is supposed to decrease at night, so I brought it up to my urogyno. She said I could be having some fluid retention during the day that collects in the tissues, and when you go to bed it is released from the tissues and you have to go pee. Another thought was that sleep disorders can cause more urine production at night because our brain still thinks we are active and awake. And who doesn't eventually get a sleep disorder at one time or another with this stuff- right?

[klite]

I had the same problem as you Rocklangirl. Turns out that I was drinking too much water during the day and not getting enough exercise. I was sipping on water throughout the day but not really paying attention to how much I was drinking overall. After my cystoscopy and hydrodistention, my uro told me that he could easily tell from how my bladder looked that I was drinking way too much water.

So now I keep really close track to how much water I drink. I only drink when I'm thirsty, use a glass that holds about 1 full cup of water (instead of the 2 cup glass I usually used before), and I try not to drink anything around eating meals. I'm also getting more exercise --at least one 15-30 min walk a day or a couple of hours in the garden.

These few changes have worked wonders. If I do have to get up at night now to pee, it is only once. Some nights I sleep right through (which was unheard of for me for years!).

I'm still working on repairing the damage to my bladder, but I feel a lot better since I started all those simple things.

[Rocklandgal]

To Earthlady,
Thanks for your comments. It was very interesting. As for caffeine, I only wish I could still drink caffeine! Coffee, tea, sodas and chocolate are only a dim memory for me!
Karen

To tinkles,
I love your name! It says it all!!!! I think I am going to give the Benadryl thing a try. I have some at the house, so I'll take one and see what happens.

To klite,
Maybe I am drinking too much water. I am going to cut down a bit and give it a try. I have found that if I drink enough water to keep my urine nice and clear, that I feel better. When it is very concentrated and dark yellow is when I have pain. But if I cut down, I will see what happens. As for exercise, I walk for more that an hour every single day. Oh, to sleep through a night sounds heavenly!
Karen

[klite]

I hear ya, Karen. I was being careful to make sure that my urine was near-clear too because I found, like yourself, that if my urine was too concentrated, I had pain.

It did take me a week or two to get used to drinking less water. I did have some initial mild pain when urinating at first, but now I don't have any. For instance, I actually didn't get up last night to pee (yay!) and I didn't have any pain going in the morning. This is such a new thing for me that I still can't believe it! LOL

I hope that you can figure out something that works for you!

[Rocklandgal]

klite,
I am definately going to experiment with it for a while and see what I can come up with. On my best night ever, I got up four times. On my worst night ever, probably eight or nine times. The only blessing is that I seem to have the ability to fall asleep again immediately. And I mean immediately. If I was one of those people who can't get back to sleep once they get up, I just don't know what I would do. This is why this is just a great site. We all try to help each other, and we all know what the person feels like because they have the same thing. Thanks!
Karen