I m 63 yrs old have to frequently wake up at night for urination. It's effecting my lifestyle. Been on urimax 5 MG for some time. Want to avoid surgery. Need suggestions.
If you want to avoid surgery, you might want to consider self cathing. I was getting up several times a night because I was retaining urine in my bladder, which caused it to get enlarged. I have been self cathing four times per day for two years. The last one for the day is right before I go to bed. I sleep all night without having to get up..
Welcome to the club. Your prostate is enlarging. You need to find out how big it is now, what’s your PSA, and if you have retention with a PVR (post void retention) ultrasound. The normal progression is that your urologist has you take some sort of medication that relaxes the prostate and bladder muscles so your flow increases. Normally this is Flomax, bur Urimax is similar in effect. Sounds like this isn’t enough for you. So, the next step is to decided what sort of procedure you want to have done to reduce the size of the prostate. There are many to choose from. You say you don’t want to have surgery. The only way around this is to learn to self cath. Some here find this easy, I did it, and hated it, so we’re all different.
Eventually you may decided to have some sort of operation or procedure -laser, HOLEP, Urolift, Rezum, TURP, PAE. I had both a PAE and TURP. The TURP (bipolar TURP) was easy and very effective. In and out of the hospital in 4.5 hours, no pain, just three days on a Foley catheter, then recovery. Most urologists recommend this before anything else. Many here are afraid to have this done. I was also, then after I had it done thought it was easy and should have had it done a long time ago. We’re all different. You certainly have time to research the possibilities.
Yes, your condition will effect your life style. This will continue until you get your prostate reduced in size or self cath. One other possibility: finasteride or dutasteride are meds that will reduce your prostate size. Mixed reviews here. More research for you to do.
As I said, welcome to the club…
My best,
Tom
I don’t think we have enough info. Do you have a restricted flow? Do you urinate normally during the day?
If your flow is normal, BPH isn’t your problem. If you’re fine except at night, BPH isn’t your problem. You might have overactive bladder, or
nocturia.
Please reply with more details.
I wonder if any one has tried Homeopathic or some other Natural (Herbal) treatment for frequent urination? Some people do claim some benefit.
How long before bed do you stop drinking anything? I suggest 3 hrs before bed you stop. See, over a few nights, if that makes a difference.
It’s best to keep away from meds if a lifestyle change can fix the problem
My advice would be to start with the least invasive procedure - that would be urolift. It is also one of the cheapest. If that doesn’t work (it claims an 80% success), move on to PAE. Medications work for some, for a while, but you always outgrow them.
My advice is do nothing (except self cathing as needed) until you have a real diagnosis, which it doesn’t seem you have. Some people pee more at night - restricting caffeine after 5, stopping liquids a few hours before bed would be a good start. Some with nocturia have also gotten help from compression socks. If you do all of that and your symptoms improve, it’s not BPH and no procedure will help.
This is urology 101. Find another doc
i tried SAWPALMETTO some time .It helped for some time
I dont have much problem during day .I have a glass of wine with dinner ,just before going to sleep
PSA is normal ,i keep getting check every six months .Thanx for ur support & suggetions
I have tried that too .At times it looked helping but not always
FWIW, I had Rezum last december, have 0 PVR, can hold 400ml typical, have a good flow but still get up 1-2 times per night, 1 if I stop drinking early in the evening. Must be something about getting old.
Hi, keep in mind the longer you wait the more damage you do to your bladder and kidneys which can be worse than prostate surgery and in my case with an enlarged median lobe blockage of the prostate on natural stuff worked at all and drugs were terrible along with nasty side affects in the end I chose FLA which was brilliant as it is minimally invasive so please do your homework to avoid sad results from surgery
Hi sorry about spelling I meant to say no natural stuff worked at all.
Suggest trying something like Trazodone to help your sleep better. This helped me a lot but I am still trying to find a solution for my BPH or Over Active Bladder. If you are sexually active beware of all the info on retro ejaculation caused by some drugs and prostate procedures such as TURP.
Jim,
Have you used trazodone and if so, what happened?
When I do not sleep sound any little urge to pee wakes me up and I cannot go back to sleep unless I get rid of the urge. My doctor put me on Trazodone 50mg and I sleep better and so I do not wake up as much and thus to pee. Zertec is also helpful to me for sleeping so I take 1/2 tablet 10mg of Zertec. Trazodone is not suppose to be habit forming and 50mg is a low dosage. I would ask your doctor about something like Trazodone if you are not sleeping well.
Jim,
I have exactly the same issue. I get up to pee about 6-10x per night, and it takes me on average 10 minutes to clear my bladder - takes 3-5 attempts. I can’t get back to sleep until the urge to pee is gone. Feels like a little tickle or irritation in my bladder. Once this feeling is cleared then I can fall back to sleep. Then, in another hour to hour and a half I’m awake again and back to the bathroom. I say that my bladder is hyper sensitive. My urologist says this may be because five years ago I had radiation for prostate cancer, but there is no way to know this. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in several years. Recently I have been taking a half Tylenol PM before bed and a little bit of melatonin, and this seems to help but I do feel a bit drugged up. The feeling clears later in the morning.
Due to all of the ups and downs at night I am losing a solid hour and a half of sleep each night with the frequent bathroom trips. I have to take an afternoon nap every day to clear my head. Don’t know if this sounds familiar to you.
Tom
I was prescribed Tamsulosin and I had terrible side effects, no erection, soar back and the sniffles. I stopped taking it after two weeks because it did not help me. I was getting up every hour to use the bathroom and I stop drinking water several hours before bed. So I went on a combination of herbal supplements and they seam to be working so I am sharing it here. I also had a massive acid problem and have that under control as well.
I take a ginger pill when I get up, then after my grits and banana for breakfast I take Prostate Health from Leslabs plus an Artichoke extract pill. After lunch/dinner I take a pygeum bark pill with Omega 3 pill, the last pill like around 5pm is Cranberry extract. So I am going after the prostate throughout the day, I am 62 as well. After a couple of weeks with this combination I am sleeping 3 hours straight for the first time in months. I am up twice at the moment from five and six times a night and it feels great. Fennel seeds after every meal do wonders for acid problems, if you are taking Omeprazole try fennel seeds instead.