to ask if anyone knows how I can stop needing to get up at 4am for a wee

[ArabellaWhittaker]

I'm in my 50s, fit and in good health. But my sleep is disturbed every night by needing to get up for a wee. I don't drink alcohol or loads of caffeine.

AIBU to ask if anyone knows how I can stop this?

I just get up in the night and pee ( although it annoys the fuck out of me having to do it).
It's got to be better than wetting the bed.
However a solution would be most welcome!!

1am and 3.30am

Sigh.

Have a lot of salt early evening

I agree with maus..... Not drinking enough in the day will effect it I reckon.

Do you need to go often during the day as well?
Maybe you could try a bit of bladder training - increase your fluid intake during the day and try to space out how often you go to the loo. Also make sure your practising your pelvic floor exercises and not drinking any caffeine in the evening.

Oh this drives me nuts too (age 50).

Contrary to what others have said, I find that the nights I have drunk alcohol I get to sleep right through. I think the alcohol causes the fluid to collect in my ankles and feet instead of my bladder.

I'm 38, and am awake around 4am for a wee, every single friggin night. But, my dc still wake in the night too, even though they're 3 and 5 years old. So, I miss out on lots of sleep.

I'm knackered constantly.

I know I know!!! Waves hands around jn the air. When you wake up at 4 you just try not to go for a wee. It will take a few days but you might eventually fall back to sleep again. It's probably just habit.

Me too, signing in to the four a.m. weeing club. I am 50 as well and I give thanks every night for an en suite

i had several bouts of D&V which also led to my bladder shrinking as every time I went to the loo I also wee'd.

It took a while for me to regain the strong bladder I had previously by deliberately not going during the day for several hours when it was safe to do so. if I was out of the house I went as dictated to by the bladder. Im happily back where i was before D&V .I dont get up in the night and can go all day without needing the loo.

I also practice pelvic floor training by stopping the wee midstream whenever I remember to do it.

I usually go several times in the night. I go for a second wee before going to sleep, sometimes a third, sometimes a fourth, sometimes a fifth... ad infinitum! And will still go several times in the night. And will still be bursting when alarm goes off. Have spoken to the doctor about it but apparently not a problem! So once a night seems like a massive luxury to me.

p.s. I am in my thirties.

Another one signing in.

I'm 50 but I've had to get up in the night for a wee for as long as I can remember.

The trick for me is not to look at the clock when I get out of bed. If I do, I can't get back to sleep, but if I don't I nod off again straight away.

From extensive research - ok: me, dh, and loads of people on other forums - 4 am ish is the classic time for waking up enough to be aware of bodily signals. The bladder fairies (cousins of the insomnia fairies) seem to be the most vociferous in their demand for attention.

Quite often, when I couldn't be arsed to get out of bed at o'cold hundred hours, I've distracted myself by plugging in my earphones (in my ears) and listened to a cracking good story on my iPod, until I fall asleep again. Seems to work. Haven't peed the bed. (Yet.)

sounds odd but drink more during the day! My dsm has just started this and it worked!

I always wake up about 4ish even if I have taken a Nytol. I'm also another one that does a wee, brushes my teeth then needs another wee.

It's the 5.15 one that is the killer (when you get up at 6). I'm like Cardi, I go through phases.
Now excuse me, I need a wee.

More seriously - check the quality of your wee at 4 am. If it's strong in colour and odour, that means it's so concentrated that it will irritate your bladder. In which case, drink more water during the day, and restrict your alcohol intake during the evening (alcohol is a diuretic and will concentrate your wee).

If your 4 am wee is colourless and odourless, then it's more about retraining your bladder - which is normally capable of holding quite large quantities.

It might just be a habit. eg i did that in my 20s while flat sharing. One day a flatmate made a comment that i always get up at 4am for a wee as she could hear the toilet flush. I did not get up again EVER in that house in the middle of the night. Now (age lot more than 20s ), my toddler always gets up at 3 am to come downstairs into my bed. In both cases its habit and I could train my way out of them iyswim. If when you wake up you can resist the urge and hold it in, and then do that for a few nights in a row, it might become habit that you don't get up?

It's worth checking for fibroids? Depending on size and site, they can press on your bladder thus making you feel the need to wee more strongly.

So here's the plan:

I'll do a second wee
Try drinking more tomorrow
And try retraining my bladder, rather than popping to the loo whenever the mood takes me

I cannot sleep if I feel like there's anything in my bladder. I need to be totally comfortable. probably the root of my 100 times a night issue!

I'm 24 and have the same problem. It's only happened since I had dd (and when pregnant which is a given). I panic about going to places because I need to pee constantly! I have to go about three times before j leave the house

Oh and my bathroom is downstairs which is a royal pain in the arse!

I was never woken up by the need of going for a wee in my life.Then I started low carbing and drinking up to 3 l of water a day....
I realised that drinking too much from about 6 hours before going to sleep wakes me (in fact my full bladder does!).

So now I am drinking my water in the first half of the day and I forced myself to go back to sleep even though I was woken up with wanting to go for a wee. I have been blessed with full night sleeps in the last few weeks again