Mid night walks

[Gideon]

From the American Sleep Apnea Association:

Nocturia (nighttime urination) is so prevalent in sleep apnea patients it has become a screening tool as significant as snoring. A research study showed that over 84% of patients with sleep apnea reported frequent nighttime urination while 82% acknowledged snoring.

How does apnea cause nocturia? Umlauf explains that during episodes of sleep apnea, the soft structures in the throat relax and close off the airway, setting into motion a chain of physiological events. “Oxygen decreases, carbon dioxide increases, the blood become more acidic, the heart rate drops and blood vessels in the lung constrict,” says Umlauf. “The body is alerted that something is very wrong. The sleeper must wake enough to reopen the airway. By this time, the heart is racing and experiences a false signal of fluid overload. The heart excretes a hormone-like protein that tells the body to get rid of sodium and water, resulting in nocturia.”

The good news is that many people who have nocturia due to their untreated sleep apnea find that it totally resolves once they become cpap compliant.

Thanks DB,   Nocturia Wiki article is updated

Fred

[SideSleeper]

My husbands bathroom trips went down from 3 to 1, usually near morning, and sometimes zero after starting CPAP. I never had the problem before CPAP--think it is more a guy thing.

[rdalby69]

While we're on the subject, I'd like to nominate this smilie   as our board's official micturition  run mascot.

I laughed so much I nearly wet myself.  

[Big Guy]

I wish my bathroom breaks were a lot less. When I started CPAP (Sept. 10, 2018) I was getting up 7-8 times a night. 

I'm now down to about 3 or 4. A bad night for me would be 6 times, and I still see plenty of those.   I'd never heard of CPAP changing this until now, and having seen this thread. 

It's inspiring to me to think that the # of trips to the bathroom might continue to drop, as my SA Therapy progresses. 

[rdalby69]

 I'd never heard of CPAP changing this until now, and having seen this thread. 

It's inspiring to me to think that the # of trips to the bathroom might continue to drop, as my SA Therapy continues. 

I have had multiple night time trips (6 last night) to the bathroom for about 20 years following a radical prostatectomy (complete removal of prostate gland) for prostate cancer.  I can't remember if I had them before then. The volume results have never met the urgent need to go.

When I mentioned this to my sleep specialist a month ago, he said it's highly probable that SA might be a cause.  If it is, I still think it will be partially because of the brutality and side effects of a prostatectomy.

I'm not 100% convinced, but I've only been using a machine for three nights now so time will tell.

[sheepless]

IDK for sure rdalby69, but I do think you have reason to be hopeful. it may be apnea and/or other sleep issues waking you rather than a full bladder.

nothing as radical as losing my prostate, I do have an enlarged prostate. I have also long suffered from severely fragmented sleep. I too have made many nightly trips to the bathroom. before cpap and after. same issue, more urgency than warranted. however, in the last year, my sleep sessions have slowly been getting longer. as urgent as the middle of the night calls felt, I am no worse off in that regard after longer sleep sessions than after the shorter ones.

it's been a long time coming but ahi is low now and I seem to be having positive results with a new Rx for periodic limb movement. the night before last was the first time in memory that I slept 8 hours without a full awakening. with frequent awakenings, I had fallen into some bad habits, like reading, crossword puzzles, watching movies, snacking, wandering around the house. I've only had a couple of these new long sleeps so far but it's obvious to me that one of the many wonderful things about sleeping through the night is not having that awake time available for bad habits, including getting out of bed to pee.

[rdalby69]

IDK for sure rdalby69, but I do think you have reason to be hopeful ....

Thank you for a positive and encouraging post.      I'm so glad I came across this forum.