Urination at night

[Athena]

I find that I can have some bad nights of getting up about 2-3 times a night to pass a lot of water! I've read that this is often a sign of CKD, to pass urine at night. Although I pass urine during the day as well, I am bothered when there is copious urination at night. It just doesn't feel right. Why are the kidneys so active at night?

[gotmoose]

I have been getting up every 2 hours for the last few years since I found out I had PKD. I was told my kidneys cant concentrate my urine so I have to urinate more frequently. Now that I'm stage 5 I don't urinate as much but still waking every 2-3 hours to go.

[iolaire]

I've urinated numerous times per night for as long as I can remember.  Part of that is because I drink a lot.  I asked my nephrologist about that and he said it didn't matter, maybe back in the old days people would recommend that you drink a lot of water if you had kidney problems, but the said the current studies showed that it didn't matter either way.  For that reason I've not cut back my liquid intake, other than to try to drink less on dialysis days since it doesn't clear out that fast and what I drink in the am before dialysis is taken off in the afternoon.

[Michael Murphy]

I get up every one to two hours all night long.  I used to view this as a pain in my butt but sice I started dialysis I realized that sice I go so much I am not fluid restricted.  The other thing it seems to help is I rarely take binders and I cheat now and then with tomatoes and bananas but my labs generally come out perfect.

[kristina]

Hello Athena,
I also go for regular "walkies" during the night and a doctor told me once
that it happens because of the resting position during the night.
Mind you, I don't grumble about my "walkies" during the night because I am very grateful
that my "two little fighters" still come up with their function despite my d-sessions three times a week ...
Best wishes from Kristina.

[Athena]

Kristina, I love your description of your "two little fighters"! I think I will start using that description to describe mine when I speak to my Nephs. If anything, it might motivate my Nephs to also see it more as a battle for kidney survival instead of it just being a foregone conclusion & a waiting game.

Strangely enough I too like it when my kidneys are active and are releasing a lot of water, even if it's at night. It just feels like a good sign of life.

[kristina]

Good luck Athena !
Some of the nephrologists I consulted with pretty quickly "got round" the idea, that I mainly consulted them
to get medical assistance in how to preserve the function of my "two little fighters" for as long as possible...
At first all nephrologists thought what I tried to achieve was an impossibility, but then they began to realize
that my "two little one's" had already been struggling for a few decades and were still going ...
... Unfortunately these nephrologist could still not assist me and I had to study medical nephrological books about it
(with a dictionary for medical terms beside me) and fortunately the Internet came in very handy later on ...

[Alex C.]

FWIW, since starting dialysis, my nighttime urination has decreased quite a bit.

[Jean]

For the ladies, especially...... Did your urine take on an odor all of its own before D? I P all day long, but it is not a strong stream. Let me close my little eyes tho at night and I get up at least twice every night to P a LOT!!!! The odor tho is enough to knock over a dead horse and I end up washing that area at least twice a day so I don't offend others. Any one else have this problem??

[Athena]

Jean, I don't seem to have an odour issue. I wonder what that might be from? I hope it's not a sign of a urinary infection. You might want to bring this to your doctor's attention asap.

[Jean]

I did ask my Dr. and he told me that it was probably something I was eating. I think he just was not listening to me.

[Alex C.]

You will be at least a bit dehydrated after dialysis (after all, they are taking water out of your system), so I would assume that your urine then would be at it's most concentrated.

[Jean]

I am not yet on D ( so far, so good) so it wouldnt be that. And I am not buying the " It must be something you are eating" . I get to see my PA in May and will talk to her about it. Thanks tho.

[Athena]

Jean, the only food that has produced a funny odour before for me was asparagus! I'm not sure whether asparagus is a welcome food anymore but without fail, it changed the smell of my urine after eating it in the past.

It sounds like you doctor wasn't listening to you & just disregarded your concerns (funny how often that can happen  ). If it is a constant thing, I definitely would not delay getting attention because it sounds like a possible chronic infection of some kind. Can you get tested for a UTI?

[Jean]

Athena, I was thinking too that it could be a chronic infection. However, at every blood test, they want a sample and nothing shows up so it must be okay. Figure that.