I keep on asking my docs about that. Seldom do I pee less than one liter
overnight with 1.2 being more typical. Neverthelss, I get ignored on this
subject.

I have suggested diuretics, but they don't bite.

Bill

Not being glib but don't drink much in the evening.  If you can do it,
measure your volume when you get up to urinate.  If it is about the same as
your daytime capacity the problem is your body is creating urine overnight
and there is not much you can do about that but limit fluid intake in the
evening.  Jim W.

Hi, I'm Ed, formerly a lurker.

My problem is that if my bladder is overfull, I can't pee at all.
Dunno how common this is... in my case this has led to a number of
trips to emergency, and more lately, to self-catheterization.

At night of course I'm less aware of how full the bladder is. If the
urine volume crosses that critical amount while in deep sleep, I will
be in trouble. I will have great difficulty peeing or won't be able to
at all.

So I try to reduce the chance of having to pee at night. I don't know
what's proven to work, but I restrict drinking fluids in the evening,
and sometimes will consume a salty snack before retiring. Doesn't
always eliminate trips but seems to help.

I've also noticed that the body will somehow reduce urine production
with time. Often I won't need to get up at all. This gets disturbed
when I travel or after certain other events (like catching the flu),
but after a couple weeks, settles down again.

At other times, though, the body rejects fluids and this can mean
going to the bathroom every hour or two day and night. I've noticed
this tends to happen with the onset of a cold.

I'm on FloMax now (the only med) but I don't think it is helping.

In general flow is not great but adequate as long as my bladder is not
overfull.

Ed

I weigh myself when retiring and rising and lose 4 pounds during the
night.. Apparently I accumulate 2 quarts
of fluid during the day and dump them at night. Have had two by-passes and
both great saphenous veins removed, so I think that is why I'm getting up
4-5 times at night. I expect this to continue.
Gene   http://www.photoprojects.net/health.html

hi al - you asked the question and i will offer an answer - but it's not
a simple one.

there are many different things that cause one to get up to pee in the
middle of the night.  so, i will address the different issues.

- age - it happens to both sexes.  i can't remember the name of the
hormone, but i do know that when you go to sleep, it is produced and it
slows down the kidney function.  kids have a lot of it and they rarely
have to get up to go the bathroom.  as we age, the output of this
hormone is reduced and therefore, the kidneys remain more active and
fill up the bladder quicker.  if one doesn't believe this, just any most
elderly women.  they don't have a prostate, yet, they still have to make
those nightly trips too.

- enlarged prostate - physically, it will push up into the floor of the
bladder forming a ring that causes the urine to pool inside and
therefore holds back the pee for the next time.  it can be a source of
UTI's too.  in my case, i was measured at 30ml, which they said wasn't
as bad as they have seen.  some men held back as much as 200ml and
considering the average amount in a voiding is about 300 to 350ml, you
can see that they would fill up fairly quickly and all those extra trips
to the john.

- health problems - by that - we are talking heart, high blood pressure
or over weight.  when you combine any or all of this together, you are
going to have a situation where the law in physics that said fluids seek
their own level.  if a person has legs and ankles that swell up, when
they lie down, the fluid is going to pool in the rest of the body.  at
this point, the kidneys can filter it out and into the bladder and a
nightly trip is in order because of it.

- water pills - we all know they will make you pee a lot more.

- BPH condition (other than what i've stated) normally will not cause
you to make more trips to the bathroom - it just makes you take longer
to empty your bladder because of a weak or split stream caused by the
restriction of the BPH tissue in the median region.  

these are only a few things off the top of my head i can think of that
would cause nightly trips.

you asked if anything could be done to reduce the trips.  here's what i
can think of.

- restrict your fluid intake at least two hours before going to bed.

- take your water pills earlier in the day or night to get the water out
of the body.

- sometimes, caffeine will stimulate the bladder, so look at sodas (not
just colas for their caffeine content or well as coffees)

- meds to help reduce the symptoms that cause the trips to the bathroom.

muscle relaxants that are given for BPH do relax the muscle band that
hold the prostate.  they work by relaxing and giving the BPH tissue a
place to go - thus reducing the restricting on the urethra and producing
a stronger stream, but relaxing the muscles can cause retro too.   this
may explain why if one stops taking the medicine, the weak stream comes
back and they can ejaculate again.

bottom line - there is no one answer.  just common sense and a case by
case for what works for you.

hope this info helps

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc

I have BPH and used to get up 4-5 times each night. Then, I got checked
for sleep apnea and found out I was waking 52 times per hour. Not
really waking to fully awake state, but advancing from a deep sleep to
a higher level of sleep ( lower is better). When I got fitted for a
CPAP machine, I started sleeping thru the night , usually 9 - 9 1/2
hours. I stopped waking up to pee almost entirely. Maybe once a night.
I guess I thought I was waking up because I had to pee but it was
actually "I might as well pee since i'm up anyway".  I hate that too so
I keep a hospital urinal beside my bed and use that to stay snug in my
bed all night now. (not recommended if you have a bed partner). If you
snore a lot or have a big neck, its something to consider.

One thing to try...I had tried Melatonin also but it did not seem to
make much of a difference.  Last night for the first time, I tried 3 mg
of Extended Release Melatonin and I had the best sleep last night that I
have had in years.  Give it a try.