I presented some observations about the positive effects of coffee has had on my bph in this older thread here:
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/coffee-caffeine-good-or-bad-for-bph-interested-in-your-personal-experience--456049
In the same manner, and probably for the same reasons, I have noticed a positive effect on night time urination (Nocturia) as well.
What I find is that if I have a couple of cups of coffee in the late afternoon, that it stimulates more urination before bedtime than if I didn't. This in turn results in fewer trips to the bathroom at night, often no trips.
Whether or not it's the stimulation of the detrussor muscles, or just the diuretic effect of caffeine, or a combination, it seems to work. Of course, caffeine late in the day has to be weighed against any stimulation effect it may have on inhibiting sleep although personally not a problem for me if I have the coffee before 6PM.
We often read (or hear from our doctor) that coffee isn't good for bph, but I suggest that everyone not only listen to what their doctor and what the literature says, but to what their body says.
If coffee doesn't agree with you, another nocturia strategy might be to experiment with rx diurretics in the late afternoon to the same end. Again, the idea is to shift the bulk of urination from nighttime to daytime.
Jim
Jim - your subject matter is timely (and you beat me to it). I've been following your posts closely over the past few months as they seem to apply to me in a lot of instances regarding pee volume.
I generally do not make it through the night without needing to get up to pee once after about four to five hours of sleep. But this past week, I twice broke my no-afternoon-coffee rule. Both nights I was able to sleep eight hours without the need to get up.
I think you might be on to something, and I'm looking forward to hearing from others about afternoon coffee.
Thank you for all your great info.
Hi Jim,You say coffee stimulates more urination? You say less trips to the bathroom at night. Do you mean less self catherizing trips throughout the night?I wish i could find a way not to get up and catherize throughout the night. This is what makes self catherize bad news.
Hi Frank,
The caffeine in coffee is a diuretic which by definition stimulates more urination. By timing the use of diuretics (coffee in this instance) you can also may be able to effect to some degree when your kidneys unload urine into the bladder.
The problem many of us have as we get older is that the kidneys seem to unload more at night than during the day (nocturia) which can result in more trips to the bathroom at night.
Urologists like to blame these night time bathroom trips solely on BPH, which could be the problem in whole or part, but the real culprit in many cases can be nocturia and not BPH. All the urologist has to do is ask the patient to do a simple fluid in/out log but they often do not, the reasoning of which really escapes me as it is so fundamental to diagnosing the problem.
This is why many of us can empty our bladders entirely before we go to sleep (naturally and/or with a catheter) and still get up multiple times at night with full voids.
What the coffee seems to do with me, and apparently with "ptientx" (see his above post) as well, is to force more urination prior to bed time which results in less bathroom trips at night. It really comes down to simple math because the 24 hour urine is fairly constant if other factors such as fluid intake remain the same.
Coffee in the afternoon may not help everyone, and there are also other factors at play with nocturia such as total fluid intake, fluid timing, diet, salt intake, exercise, etc, -- however it's one thing that might be worthwhile experimenting with. For me, two cups seems to work the best in the late afternoon but YMMV.
Jim
Jim, Does Tea have the same effect?......I drink coffee in the morning and Tea in the afternoon...Both have caffeine that affects my sleep if I drink them after 6PM like you....
I believe Tea has a lot less caffeine than coffee. For me, it's not so much that the coffee will keep me awake if I drink it after 6PM, but that if I drink it earlier than 6, there's more time for my kidneys to produce more urine before I go to bed. And the more urine output before bed time, the less output during the night. Again, simple math. Really got to experiment with the timing, how much coffee, etc. If you want to see an improvement from where you are, why don't you try 2 cups of coffee around 4PM and see if that helps thing.
Jim
Jim
I thought caffine caused the prostate to swell around the urethra making it hard to pass urine.
Hi Unclefester,
Not sure about the prostate "swell(ing) around the urethra" but, yes, I have read that caffeine is a prostate irritant. Doesn't mean however that it's true, or that it's true in all cases. Remember, BPH is a catch all diagnosis and therefore an oversimplification. I'm just sharing my experience with caffeine and BPH, including nocturia, and it's positive not negative. I suggest people in this case listen to their body and not what they read. It's a very simple experiment, just drink a couple of cups of coffee in the afternoon and see if it helps your symptons. A lot less of an invasive experiment then TURP. 
Jim
Amen to the TURP experiment even tgough I'm going to head down the road of HOLEP in January
Jim, I'm going to try this. I find that if i don't drink much water ,but drink other liquids ,milk,cranberry juice orang juice,i can hold caterization for at least 5 hours.I don't know if drinking less water is a good idea?What do you think?
I'm saying that the caffeine in coffee is a diuretic so if you time taking the coffee correctly then your kidneys can potentially make more urine during the day and therefore less at night. Less urine at night means getting up less at night. And if you're able to empty completely prior to bedtime, either naturally or self cathing, it means you have a much better chance of sleeping through the night. Got to experiment as we all are different.
Jim
You don't want to dehydrate yourself but on the other hand you don't necessarily need the "8 glasses" a day so talked about. Six 8 ounce glasses (those are not big glasses) should be OK depending on your activity level, and those six glasses include coffee, tea, juice, soda, etc. You can also check the color of your urine to make sure you're not dehydrated or check the specific gravity with a dip stick, or just go by thirst which is usually reliable.
Jim
I do a similar thing, 2-4 cups of black coffee in the morning then switch to tea in the afternoon up until around 6pm then herbal tea /water or some wine after that. I find I that means I get off to sleep well and wake up 1-2 times to pee with a very full bladder. I have a few nights a month when I'm up 3-5 times but that's life. My uro told 3 years ago I have BPH but find symptoms not too bad other than weak stream, I take no meds currently.
Just as an example, I had some coffee around 5PM today and between 6 and 11:30PM I have voided three times for a total of around 800cc. Not doing a log these days but probably voided three other times since 7am for maybe another 800cc. So doing the math (1600cc voided before bed time) that means I should be able to get through the night or at least until 6-7am. Note that the caffeine in the late afternoon seemed to accelerate the voids (three voids in less than six hours compared to three voids in ten hours earlier in the day). The example I gave is without any self cathing, all natural voids but since I'm not retaining very much it should work the sam way regardless.
Jim
Hi Twig,
Try experimenting by changing it up. Keep a cup or two of coffee in the morning but have another two cups of coffee around 5PM. That could force some extra urination between 5PM and bed time which means you could make it through the night or maybe just get up once.
Jim
Iritant is a much better word. Thanks
I will thanks!....On another matter, does Flomax make your urine "smell stronger"?.......
I haven't take Flomax for several years so really can't remember if it made my urine smell stronger. A strong urine smell could also be from dehydration, certain foods, other medications or a UTI, symptomatic or not.
Jim
Makes mine stick. I take fernasteride also
Hi Jim, I always find your info very interesting.. You contribute a lot to this forum. Tell Me if you would? How long have you been self catherizing?
Did you have surgery?I need some info on this to make a decision on my urine retention. I was told to have turp done. After reading all these bad reports on turp,it completly turned me off.
Thanks Jim,