Frequent Urination at Night

After a hard day's work, there's nothing like a good night's sleep. However, if that precious sleep of yours is getting disturbed because you have to get up and go to the bathroom every now and then, then it might be a cause of distress. Frequent urination at night, thus may not exactly be a serious sign or symptom, but it may be a vital pointer towards an underlying disease or disorder. Given below are a few frequent urination at night causes and treatment options.

Frequent Urination at Night: Causes and Treatment

There are many causes of frequent urination at night, or nocturia. They have been enlisted below:

Diabetes Mellitus: Diabetes mellitus is by far one of the most common causes of frequent urination at night. Diabetes mellitus is characterized by the classic triad of excessive thirst (polydypsia), excessive hunger (polyphagia) and excessive urination (polyuria). Thus, one of the symptoms of diabetes is the need to urinate frequently at night. This is especially seen in uncontrolled diabetics, diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperglycemic hyperosmolar non-ketotic syndrome.

Treatment: Diabetes is a serious condition, which needs to be dealt with. Diabetics need to bring down their sugar levels before they reach alarmingly high. By going in for proper diabetes treatment, not only will the symptom of frequent urination at night be done away with, but the possibility of further complications of diabetes mellitus will also reduce considerably.

Diabetes Insipidus: Diabetes insipidus is a condition wherein the level of ADH, that is, anti-diuretic hormone is very low, thus leading to frequent urination at night, and during the day as well. Due to the absence of this hormone, the kidneys do not absorb back the water that passes during the phase of filtration in urine production. Due to this, the urine is very dilute and pale in color. Diabetes insipidus is not a very common cause of frequent urination at night alone. Although, when this condition occurs, nocturia maybe one of the only exhibited symptoms.

Treatment: There is currently no hormone replacement therapy available for diabetes insipidus. However, certain medications, like diuretic hydrochlorothiazide or indomethacin can help improve this condition. It is also very important that the person drinks adequate water, as patients suffering from diabetes insipidus tend to get dehydrated very easily.

Prostrate Disorders: Prostrate disorders are a leading cause of frequent urination at night in men. This is because, prostrate disorders often manifest themselves as slight pain near the groin region, accompanied by the need to frequently urinate. Prostrate disorders include an enlarged prostrate, benign prostrate hypertrophy and prostrate cancer, among other conditions.

Treatment: The treatment of prostrate disorders is a long and complicated procedure. Adequate tests need to be done to confirm the exact condition that is affecting the prostrate, that is, whether its a benign age related hypertrophy or whether its prostrate cancer. Thus, depending on the condition present, the treatment will vary.

Pregnancy: Often seen, that there is frequent urination at night in women that are pregnant. In fact, frequent urination at night is one of the early pregnancy symptoms before missed period. Pregnant women need to urinate frequently because the amount of blood in the body dramatically increases when a woman is pregnant. This leads to a lot of extra fluid being processed through the kidneys, which is eventually excreted. Also, there is frequent urination at night seen particularly in pregnancy, because when a woman lies down, some of the fluid that is retained in the legs and feet during the day, finally makes its way back into the bloodstream, thus ending up in the bladder, from where it is excreted, thus, making it a cause for frequent urination in women.

Treatment: Well, rarely is the frequent urination at night in pregnancy so discomforting that there is a need to seek treatment for it. This is a symptom that will persist all through pregnancy. Thus, what is more important is that women need to ensure that they remain adequately hydrated so that they don't suffer from dehydration.

Thus, these were a few frequent urination at night causes and treatments. There are also other uncommon causes of frequent urination at night like congestive heart failure, bladder disorders, sphincter disorders, urinary tract infections, hormonal imbalance syndromes, etc. What is more important is that, the person should try and find out why he or she is suffering from frequent urination at night only, because more often than not, it is a telltale sign of an underlying serious condition, in which case it's actually a blessing in disguise!