I Only Have 20 More Minutes to Consume Liquid

[RSteve]

I wake up several times a night to use the bathroom. It's really because I usually don't cease consuming liquids until just before I hit the sack. Last night, I took my M.D.'s advice and drank nothing after 6:15 pm. I slept without interruption from 11:00 pm to 5:30 am. This could get to be a habit.

 

[Ranger107]

Sorta common sense. Don't fill the bucket and it won't leak, lol. Not making fun. I have a bit of the same problem, but I refuse to give up my last scotch before bed.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Prostate issues run in the family. I have an uncle who is always complaining about being up all night peeing. The last thing he does before going to bed is slam a half glass of water. 2+2=4. When children don't understand cause/effect, we don't think twice. When a 75 year old man doesn't understand the concept, it's hard not to be snarky.

I have a couple family members who have insomnia. After hearing about it several times over a period, I asked if they ate anything before bed. Grapes, cheese balls...a list of sugar and simple carbs. Uh...maybe you're having a sugar surge just as you'd otherwise be relaxing and entering the beginning stages of sleep? Again, cause/effect.

Some of this is doctors, though. They'll prescribe you one pill after another, but they never ask basic questions like diet and about habits. Really, what they're afraid to tell patients is, "Stop that!" In diagnosis, there's authority. We go for diagnosis, and we should embrace that type of authority. "Nobody is going to tell me what to do." Well, then pee all night and don't sleep. Get down with your bad self.

 

[RSteve]

I have a very common condition shared with virtually every veteran on the Agent Orange register, if they are lucky; benign prostate hyperplasia. The unlucky ones have or had prostate cancer. Agent Orange, because of the indiscriminate way that it was sprayed, wound up in the drinking water. The carrier agent to bind the dioxin to vegetation was simply an inert liquid plastic adhesive that lodged in our prostate glands. It's an irritant and clogs the gland until even a small amount of retained liquid creates the sensation of a full bladder. Until recently, with VietVets, hitting their mid to late 70s, prostate cancer was the most common cause of death. Now, many causes, inherent to old age are joining prostate cancer as a killer. Yesterday, I refrained from taking in any liquid after 5:00 PM, as an experiment to see at what point would I would be able to sleep 8 hours without interruption. I went to bed at midnight, after watching the end of the Lakers-Suns basketball game. I'd had no liquid for seven hours. I woke up to pee at 3:00 and 6:35, each time passing a couple of ounces.
The upshot: I was uncomfortable for seven hours, not consuming any liquid and woke up twice. If I'd had a cocktail, a cup of warm tea, and a soda, I may have woken up one more time. Decisions.

 

[Gusto]

When I avoid fluid intake in the evening I'll wake up middle of the night uncomfortable with really dry mouth. So I keep some gum with xylitol (dental advice) handy and chewing this relieves the dry mouth. But falling asleep while chewing gum is not recommended (compadre advice) and the dogs want my gum (fresh or ABC) so storage and disposal must be secure. Sometimes it is easier to have some preferred fluids and deal with the results later (quicker and easier than the gum business.) At this stage of my night life there is no free sleep.