Grandma Has To Wake Up 3 Times To Pee At Night

[TheBeard]

My grandma is 92, and she is getting exhausted from the fact that she has to wake up 3 times at night to pee.

The worst part is that during the day she barely has to pee even once.

She doesn’t drink or eat anything past 6pm, and goes to bed at 10pm.

She takes aspirin and magnesium in the am, and has a diet of OJ, meat, potatoe and bread.

Any clue as to what it could be and what she can do to solve this?

Thank you

 

[ANDREW CHIN]

Is she on a low-salt diet? When the body goes into sodium-sparing mode, aldosterone (along with renin and angiotensin - overall, it's known as the RAAS) is made as a stand-in for sodium. However, aldosterone doesn't do as good a job of buffering the acidity of urine, and therefore you wake up in the wee morning hours having to go to the bathroom.

 

[TheBeard]

Is she on a low-salt diet? When the body goes into sodium-sparing mode, aldosterone (along with renin and angiotensin - overall, it's known as the RAAS) is made as a stand-in for sodium. However, aldosterone doesn't do as good a job of buffering the acidity of urine, and therefore you wake up in the wee morning hours having to go to the bathroom.

Thanks for the input.

She doesn’t add salt to what she eats, does that make her diet low salt?

 

[Aymen]

hey man, tell her to try ice cream before bed with some honey or honey and milk, stress hormones goes high at night so she has to eat something to lower the stress hormones.

 

[nbznj]

Low salt and/or low liver glycogen ie. sugar

 

[nad]

I'm 65, salting everything, eating ice cream or cheese or something before bed, sipping salted OJ at night, - still going to b.r. 3 times/night, or more if insomnia.
And lay down always urge me to pee in an hour even if I did it before bed. Ray was mentioned about it in one interview, don't remember where to look.

 

[nbznj]

Perhaps it’s the low GH and igf1 of aging. I had the same issues during my serm only protocol post steroid use. Waking up 2-3x at night some days, at the ripe age of 30. Could be low estradiol too of course.

It’s all gone now. There’s a fine Hormonal line between water retention and loss.

 

[nad]

Perhaps it’s the low GH and igf1 of aging. I had the same issues during my serm only protocol post steroid use. Waking up 2-3x at night some days, at the ripe age of 30. Could be low estradiol too of course.

It’s all gone now. There’s a fine Hormonal line between water retention and loss.

what is igf1 of aging?

 

[ANDREW CHIN]

Thanks for the input.

She doesn’t add salt to what she eats, does that make her diet low salt?

It's possible. Everyone has different salt requirements. Generally, when you go below 1.5 teaspoons of salt per day, that's when the RAAS is activated. She might want to try adding salt (to taste) to her food at each meal and/or adding 1/4 teaspoon of salt to a small amount of water before sleep. :)

 

[yerrag]

Maybe her ecf pH is fine during the day and becomes acidic towards the evening. Can test with urine pH test strip, Hydrion pH 5.5-8. Test throughout the day. Optimal pH is 6.4 - 6.8. But then she has to force herself to pee during the day.

Does she pee a lot each time? If it's acidity-driven, even small amounts of pee will cause an urge to pee.

 

[tara]

Is your grandma using any medication that could be affecting fluid management or other aspects of metabolism?

I don't know whether these are conversations you can have with her, but i wonder about:
How much she is eating and drinking during the day?
Could she be missing something in her diet that is keeping her a bit deficient or stressed?
Is she eating any fruit and vegetables? Getting any calcium and magnesium in her diet? Getting enough calories to sustain her through the night?

As a non-expert, and in the absence of more info, I too suggest experimenting with a little supper, in case it makes a difference. Consider trying variations on sweet/starchy/fatty/salty/easy to digest within a hour of going to bed?

AIUI, ideally, the kidneys want to slow down at night. Stress can disrupt that.

People's systems respond differently. Personally, I seldom have to get up in the night, and it's more likely if I've gone to bed without having eaten enough. I usually eat with in an hour of bedtime, and often drink around 1/5 l within the last hour too.

On the other hand, it's nice to let the digestive system rest. So there're trade-offs, and it's personal.

 

[TheBeard]

Is your grandma using any medication that could be affecting fluid management or other aspects of metabolism?

I don't know whether these are conversations you can have with her, but i wonder about:
How much she is eating and drinking during the day?
Could she be missing something in her diet that is keeping her a bit deficient or stressed?
Is she eating any fruit and vegetables? Getting any calcium and magnesium in her diet? Getting enough calories to sustain her through the night?

As a non-expert, and in the absence of more info, I too suggest experimenting with a little supper, in case it makes a difference. Consider trying variations on sweet/starchy/fatty/salty/easy to digest within a hour of going to bed?

AIUI, ideally, the kidneys want to slow down at night. Stress can disrupt that.

People's systems respond differently. Personally, I seldom have to get up in the night, and it's more likely if I've gone to bed without having eaten enough. I usually eat with in an hour of bedtime, and often drink around 1/5 l within the last hour too.

On the other hand, it's nice to let the digestive system rest. So there're trade-offs, and it's personal.

Thank you Tara!

Her supplements: magnesium and aspirin in the morning.
Her diet: chicken, potatoes, OJ, yoghurt. I would estimate it to be 1500 calorie tops on average

 

[sweetpeat]

I would estimate it to be 1500 calorie tops on average

In my experience, that level of calories would definitely interfere with sleep due to stress reaction. Unfortunately, if she's been eating that way for a while, she's likely to gain weight by increasing calories, even though more food would probably benefit her health. She might be resistant to that idea. As others have said, maybe you can convince her to try eating a bedtime snack.

 

[jaminhealth]

I am 81 and I have been getting up about 3 times nightly....I'm glad I can get up and keep my strength. Everything has aged, bladder, etc etc. My friend is 93 and she's up and down a lot, Depends is a big business in the older population.

 

[methylenewhite]

Caffeine at 600 mg dose allows to store enough glycogen to get thought the night without pee. Search for Haidut's post about it. In my experience it worked. As soon as I adapted to 500-600 mg of caffeine I don't wake up to pee at all.