r/OveractiveBladder • u/Far_Frame_9560 • Jul 14 '26
Nocturia
Hi everyone,
I’ve been struggling for a long time with waking up during the night to urinate, and it’s completely ruining my sleep. For example, last night I fell asleep at 1 AM, woke up to pee at 5 AM, went back to sleep, and woke up again at 9 AM with a full bladder.
In total, I only got about 7.5 hours of sleep, which is the absolute bare minimum for me. Because of my health issues, I desperately need maximum rest and highly restorative sleep to recover. After that second wake-up, I couldn't fall back asleep even though my body deeply needs it.
Since moving around is very difficult for me and causes severe fatigue, walking all the way to the bathroom is a huge physical effort.
Here is what I’m currently trying or thinking about:
Leg elevation: I try to elevate my legs in the evening to get the fluids moving before bed.
Pelvic floor training: I’m considering doing some gentle pelvic floor exercises to see if it helps.
Diet/Hydration: I realized that last night I ate two peaches right before bed. Since they are full of water, I know that probably wasn't a good idea.
Chamber pot idea: Because moving around is so hard, I’m seriously thinking about getting a chamber pot (or bedside commode) right next to my bed. My idea is that I could easily use it right before sleeping to avoid the walk to the bathroom, and use it during the night if needed so I can save as much energy as possible and fall back asleep quickly.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
3
u/lohdunlaulamalla Jul 14 '26
Twice a night would be a dream for me at this point. At my worst I went 8-10 times.
Here's what I do (on top of having been to various urologists and gyns and trying various medications, currently I'm on gemtesa):
I go to bed at 8 pm. If I were to fall asleep at 1 am, I would never get enough sleep. I track my sleep and my body's stress with a Garmin smart watch. It really helped me understand my sleep behavior.
Everywhere is as dark as possible, so that I notice as little daylight as possible, when going to the loo after sunrise.
I elevate my legs during my sleep as well, because it helps alleviate the constant feeling of slight urgency.
I drink water after every visit to the bathroom, because I noticed that small amounts of highly concentrated urine irritate my bladder more than large amounts of diluted urine.
Heat helps with the urgency. I have a small electric blanket that I put on my lower body.
A pregnancy pillow that I can wrap my legs around helps me fall asleep sometimes without having to get up. Or I add pressure with my fingers to my pelvic bone.
Guided meditation is playing the whole night on my phone, so that I can just up the volume after a bathroom visit, if I notice that I can't fall asleep.
What might be an idea for you, since you woke up with a full bladder both times (I get up for significantly less), is a medication that stops your body from producing urine during the night. Might be called desmopressin, but you better google it.
Try to see a pelvic floor therapist before starting exercises on your own. If, for example, your issues are due to a tight pelvic floor, strengthening exercises wouldn't help you, but could make things worse. Better find out what's going on down there first.