How much water should I be drinking?

[ILoveJoeBrown]

Read various posts on google saying you need to drink so much water a day. One calculator suggests you take your weight in pounds, divide it by 2 and drink that much. e.g. if you weigh 150 lbs, drink 75 fl oz of water daily. That's about 10 cups, 8-10 glasses a day.

Trouble is, I am up seemingly all night [last night every hour, on the hour, apart form one stretch of 2 hours sleep] peeing and I wake up really thirsty. I have tried not drinking after 8pm, but then I go to bed thirsty and wake up even thirstier, sometimes with a headache and nausea.

I am also really struggling with stiff hips and I pull muscles in my hips and legs all the time, sometimes just by rolling over in bed.

I'm also a regular runner but am struggling to keep that up. In the last week I've had a few days off after my back went into spasm on Monday, then I tried a short run on Friday, got cramp in my calf and tore a muscle in my calf [I think - not badly, but enough to stop me running for a while - again].

I daren't drink that much liquid as I'll never sleep again! Any advice please as I'm starting to feel very old now and I'm only 56. Plenty of mileage in this girl yet.

Your wee needs to be the colour of lemon skin.
Some people will need to drink more than others, depending on activity.
If you are that thirsty and peeing every hour overnight, I would get checked for diabetes.

I’m not sure what your problem is? On the one hand you say you’re thirsty if you don’t drink after 8pm, but on the other hand you say you want to drink less because you pee all night?

Yes I agree, diabetes makes you thirsty no matter how much you drink.

It's not water, it's fluids incl everything you drink in a day.

The advice is around 1.5 ltrs minimum so that is about 6x 250ml mugs. That's not a lot really- it can be tea or coffee, herbal teas etc.

If you are getting up a lot at night for wees it's more likely to be low estrogen.

Estrogen supports the bladder lining and urethra. After menopause the supply of estrogen is much lower and the bladder lining dries out and the bladder can shrink. Some women find they leak too as the muscles around the bladder and pelvic floor relax too much and lack tone.

it's called urogenital atrophy.

It's very common.

Treatment is vaginal estrogen cream from your GP.

Not diabetic and no kidney issues. That was my first thought. I wake thirsty as I haven't drunk enough, but I don't feel the need to drink all the time all day.

Just menopause for which I can't take anything hormone based as I've had cancer?

Davidia: I 'want' to drink less as I don't want be up all night. I 'need' to drink more if I'm not drinking enough and I'm thirsty. Vicious cycle.

Just menopause for which I can't take anything hormone based as I've had cancer?

was this breast cancer? How long ago? estrogen positive?

There are still many drs who will prescribe vaginal estrogen as it's so weak. A year's use of vaginal estrogen is the same as 1mg of estrogen (daily dose of HRT.)

You need to see a consultant to discuss all of this.

If you drink you last drink at 9pm you ought not be be up all night.

Have you researched overactive bladder? You might need to cut out tea, coffee, alcohol and acidic fruit juices.

sorry for the run of posts- look into bladder training as drinking too little makes your wee concentrated and then you feel the need to go more.

Drinking less is not the answer.

How much do you drink now yet feel thirsty?

I'm doing a sort of controlled trial today & aiming to drink the equivalent of 10 glasses of water to see what happens

Glasses can be all sizes- maybe just measure out 1.5ltrs.

I follow the 1 litre per 25kg rule, but I also try to consume my water slowly and the majority before 4pm.

It’s 3:15pm now and I have had three litres of water today, so I have one left to have the minimum water I need. I typically have an extra litre because I exercise daily.

I have diabetes (very well controlled) and I don’t suffer excess thirst at all. If I’m a little high or a little low I am extremely thirsty.

I think the issue is are you thirsty, or are you weeing too much due to overactive bladder.

There are bladder incontinence clinics who can help you.
For a start you will have to measure what fluids you drink and how much comes out and when.

JinglingHellsBells and other posters [thank you everyone]:

Had an appt with GP last week. She did a pelvic exam; checked for diabetes [-ve] and went through my history in some detail. Now been prescribed tablets for overactive bladder. For a couple of nights during the week I was up 3x [relatively speaking that's bliss] so I thought maybe we'd cracked it. The first night on tablets I was up 7x, so put that down to the drugs being cumulative so needing a few days to bed in [unfortunate turn of phrase].

However last night, after watching a movie until midnight and hubby making the dreaded cup of tea at about 11pm [big mistake - just say no]; I was up 11 times between midnight and 9.30 when I got fed up of trying to have a lie in and got up for breakfast. Longest stretch of sleep was 1hr55mins. [GP asked me to log my sleep].

I feel utterly deflated and tired. I feel like I'll never have a decent cuppa ever again nor enjoy a glass of red wine. I am so fed up of being told that as a menopausal woman I shouldn't drink tea / coffee, but I should drink lots of water and improve my diet. I don't eat that bad a diet anyway, I exercise loads [when I'm not picking up injuries due to dehydration] and walk the dog.

I don't enjoy sex any more as I'm so tired and just hate being 'in bed' now, as I can't sleep or feel comfortable in it. I dread going to bed as I don't know whether I'll sleep properly or not. My DH sleeps soundly and loves to go back to bed after his alarm goes off [waking me up] and he sets it to 'snooze', for a lovely doze. I hate it because I then have to go for a wee and if he's dozing, he takes his CPAP machine off, so then he snores and I can't sleep through that!

I am absolutely fine during the day and can go all morning without going and then all afternoon. I can go for a run and not need to go. It's just night time. And I am wee-ing lots [I measured it one night - 600ml] so not just little bits at each visit. Not a UTI.

SimonJT : I really am trying to drink more water, but am scared to drink too much. I don't feel thirsty during the day and when I do I drink something I try to make it water and have started trying to make one of those bottles an electrolyte mix as I exercise lots too.

I carry a water bottle everywhere I go and there's now one that sits on my desk. I do feel thirsty overnight as I stop drinking [apart from last night] at about 8pm. I go to bed thirsty, wake up during the night feeling thirsty and then I'm as dry as a fish when I get up for breakfast.

I’ve had similar & find if I’ve not had enough to drink, I’m up all night weeing but if I’ve had enough then I sleep through. Aim to drink most during the morning & afternoons.

You might find it helps to drink at regular times and a regular amount.

So- 6 x 250mls over a day.

Breakfast, mid morning, lunchtime, mid afternoon, dinner and maybe 9pm.

You should have also discussed vaginal atrophy with your GP and maybe tried vaginal estrogen- the bladder lining thins after menopause and urine irritates it. You can still use this if you had cancer.

If you are not weeing during the day your kidneys will work overtime at night to clear the toxins from your body- it's not just about excreting what you drink, they excrete toxins etc from your blood stream and so on.

The amount of water you need includes liquids in food - all fluids apart from alcohol. You do not need to neck vast amounts of plain water if it doesn't seem to suit you, that's a myth.

You might find that you get a slower absorption of water overnight if rather than an evening drink you have something like yogurt, or even one of the traditional milky drinks. I have decaf tea in the evening, a small bowl (teacup sized) of yogurt, fruit and a little cereal at bedtime and rarely have to get up in the night.

JinglingHellsBells tried vaginal oestrogen pessaries for a few weeks and made no difference.

Lots of sympathy from me.

Sometimes I 'forget' to drink water. Then when I start again, it takes a few days to get sorted again. Lots of visits in the middle of the night til I'm sorted again.

I drink one litre as soon as I wake up, another before lunch and the third during and as soon as possible after lunch.

Everyone may have a different rhythm, you can expect to visit the loo a lot til you get into a regular pattern. Then it settles down. Allow a fortnight for the pattern to settle.

Worth looking at overactive bladder, too. Avoiding things that irritate it until you have got the pattern that works for you, then one coffee or tea may be manageable.

Tea last think at night is never going to be a great idea.

@ILoveJoeBrown A few weeks is not long enough.

I've used estrogen cream for 14 years and used to have terrible bladder issues and it took a good 6 months to really feel a lot better. Yes, I saw improvement before that, but certainly not in a 'few weeks'.

It takes years for estrogen levels to fall and a long time to correct them.

Really suggest you try again.

JinglingHellsBells GP said 3 weeks until pessaries were effective? Might be worth another go though. Combo of those, playing around with water and the new tabs. Something has to work.

Has your GP got a crystal ball? :)
Honestly...how on earth can they know? They were guessing.
Every woman's vagina is in a different state!

It's daily use for 14 days then in theory 2 x a week for ever. BUT some women find they need to use or daily or 3-4 x a week.

Vagifem used to be 25mgs dose, now it's 10mgs. That's why the dose of 2 x a week isn't working for some women.

It can take far far longer than 3 weeks to rebuild a bladder lining.
Some GPs really know so little.

How far into meno’ are you, OP? I have had most of your symptoms in a merrily revolving carousel and am only just emerging - I’m just under 2 years into meno’. It resonated when you mentioned the stiffness and injuring yourself more easily. That may be less fluid balance and more inflammation in muscles and tendons. I found acupuncture helped. I also went through a phase of wanting someone to just frigging catheterise me and be done with as I was constantly needing to pee. It’s all resolved now, more or less. I’d look into complementary therapies though, especially if you can’t have hormone therapy.

Craftycovid difficult to say. I'd assume I was in full meno. No hot sweats now, haven't had a period for 15 years, even when I went through a few years without a mirena coil.

Things are so unpredictable. Last night, with a tablet & no tea, I slept from midnight to 0550 in one go! Bliss. Night before I was up 11x but that was down to having been persuaded to have a cuppa before bed.