Can someone explain why OSA patients "pee" more?

My BP got out of control....spiked over 200 systolic during the night.....and I was headed to the bathroom at least once each night.

Once I got the APAP machine going....and the BP back to normal levels.....I found that I slept through the night without a trip to the john.

Gerald

Okay, let me just throw this out there.

If someone probably doesn't have sleep apnea but gets up several times a night to go pee, would trying a cpap machine to see if it cut down on the bathroom trips hurt them?

My husband doesn't sleep well at all. He's a very light sleeper - everything wakes him up. And he gets up about 4 times a night to go pee. His oxygen level has been tested at night with no desats. His prostate is okay - for an old geezer. He's tried sleeping pills. He's tried medication for bladder function frequency. Nothing has helped.

So, if I put him on an Apap, low to mod pressure, will it hurt him?

I also have a son I want to test for sleep apnea with my spare machine. I'm almost positive he has OSA. But, if he doesn't have it, can the pressure hurt him?

What are your opinions?

I was going up to 6 to 8 times a night prior to being diagnosed. I was very concerned about prostrate and had it checked prior to diagnosis with severe OSA. With OSA treatment I went back to once a night with a few nights with no trips. Even at 6 to 8 times a night I was producing urine. I don't think I was going just because I woke up. I really needed to go.

My experience is similar to Snorinator, before treatment I was getting up up to 6 times a night and I was worried that I might have diabetes, but I checked my blood sugar levels on a tester I bought and it was always low. From the first night I used the machine I now only get up once if that.

I was told that the reason I was getting up was because with the OSA causing poor sleep and constant waking events, that I was more conscious of my bladder, whereas when you're in a deeper sleep you're not aware of it. But I wondered why I was producing considerably more volume.

Unlike some of the other posters here I did have the bladder volume to necessitate taking a leak each time. Since treatment the volume has also reduced drastically back to normal.

The articles posted were great and I think Dreamstalker is on the right track with his thought that "OSA causes you to have high blood pressure which in turn makes your kidneys work harder and therefore fill your bladder more frequently."

That makes a lot of sense to me.

Peter

I too before i was diagnosed with OSA and elevated BP 170/100 (which is being controlled with Benicar at 20mg) would make at least 6 trips per night to the bathroom. Since being treated with bp med and Cpap (which started 12/01/06) from day one of the treatment no more trips to the restroom at night. Thought like the other's who have replied that i might have Prostate trouble's or Diabetes but such is not the case. Sounds like from reading the replies it's another Apnea related problem. I can tell you though, it sure is nice sleeping all night without the constant trips to the bath room ha! ha !

Dale

I also forgot to mention that my PCP doc put on prostrate meds before being diagnosed with OSA and the Flowmax did absolutely nothing to curtail my 5 to 6 visits per night to the toilet. In addition, I had no bladder problems during the day ... only at night.

Since being on PAP treatment, I have not waken up to go a single night and I have almost been weened off the hypertensiond meds (Diovan and Lozol) altogether ... already I am taking one-fourth my original dosage.

It was interseting to read the links posted by Linda and Bamalady ... they seem to support the OSA-hypertension-kidney relationship to some degree.

I too used to be off and running to the can at nite before cpap. My sleep doc had told me that your heart pumps out a shot of adrenaline every time you have an apnea event, and also stimulates other organs that may not normally be stimulated. Seems logical to me. just my 2 cents..

Pre-CPAP I also was waking up 5-6 times a night and really did need to get up and pee. Doctor, not recognizing all the signs of OSA, thought it was bladder problems.

By the 3rd or 4th night on CPAP, nightly bathroom trips are over except for an occasional one if having too much liquid before bed.

My research also indicated that it was caused by the heart overworking and putting out chemicals that made the body think it had excess fluid to get rid of. No wonder I used to wake up dehydrated!

Linda3032 wrote:Okay, let me just throw this out there.

If someone probably doesn't have sleep apnea but gets up several times a night to go pee, would trying a cpap machine to see if it cut down on the bathroom trips hurt them?

My husband doesn't sleep well at all. He's a very light sleeper - everything wakes him up. And he gets up about 4 times a night to go pee. His oxygen level has been tested at night with no desats. His prostate is okay - for an old geezer. He's tried sleeping pills. He's tried medication for bladder function frequency. Nothing has helped.

So, if I put him on an Apap, low to mod pressure, will it hurt him?

I also have a son I want to test for sleep apnea with my spare machine. I'm almost positive he has OSA. But, if he doesn't have it, can the pressure hurt him?

What are your opinions?

Linda,

I've had similar thoughts about TRYING to do that type of experiment with my wife. I've had my doubts as to how cooperative she'd be, though.

I wouldn't think it would hurt them one little bit......"it's only air".

Best wishes,

Den

I found another good article in a post by Snoredog about blood pressure that mentioned nocturia (night time urination) as well. Similar to the first article posted on page 1 by Linda and Bamalady.

Another factor in the presence of OSA is nocturia, which is present in about one third of patients. Apneic episodes cause an increase in secretion of atrial natriuretic factor, which causes diuresis throughout the night. What may appear to be a prostatic problem may actually be diuresis caused by OSA. The nocturia may disappear with successful treatment of OSA.7

Full article

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20020115/229.html

Peter

The following is from http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager ... 0&a=287878

Health

3/16/2007 10:20:40 AM
Tribune Media Services

FROM MAYO CLINIC


When a man reports a frequent need to urinate at night, conventional wisdom says the "usual suspects" involve the urinary tract -- the kidneys, bladder or prostate gland.

But the source may be non-urological, and it makes sense to look at these causes first, especially when the man's prostate exam is normal and the problem occurs only at night.

A major possibility is sleep disturbance: Once you've been roused at night for other reasons, it's natural to sense the status of the bladder and react accordingly. Thus, realizing the need to go may be an effect rather than a cause of your awakening.

Sleep disturbances can manifest themselves in several ways; I commonly look for obstructive sleep apnea. It occurs when muscle tissues at the back of the throat relax during sleep and narrow or close your airway, which impairs breathing. The brain then senses the situation and wakes you. If you live with someone else and he or she observes that you snore loudly or often stop breathing during the night, you may be suffering from sleep apnea.

Another leading cause of needing to urinate at night is peripheral edema, a buildup of fluid around the feet, ankles and legs prompted by a wide variety of possible reasons, including too much standing during the day or heart, liver or blood-vessel diseases. During the night, we lay flat and the excess fluid that has settled in our lower limbs during the day is redistributed. Much of it winds up in the kidneys, and this newly mobilized load on the bladder soon prompts awakening.

It's also possible that some arthritic pain or another cause of discomfort -- such as restless leg syndrome -- could be waking you. Also, there are many medical conditions -- as well as some of the drugs used to treat them -- that can cause frequent urination, especially at night. For instance, if you have hypertension and are taking a diuretic for it at bedtime, the resulting urine generation likely will prompt nighttime lavatory visits. Taking the drug at a different time should help the problem.

Other behavioral modifications include restricting fluid intake after your evening meal; avoiding caffeinated beverages and dietary irritants in the evening; and adopting the practice of "double voiding" -- urinating a second time, a few minutes after going the first time, to better empty the bladder.

In urological and non-urological causes of sleep disturbance alike, the idea is to treat the problem at its source through the best available medical and behavioral means.

I posted this on another thread earlier today:

http://www.sleepapnea.org/resources/pubs/noct.html
Click on this link for this article:
Why does sleep apnea sometimes lead to frequent urination at night?
by Dr. Patrick J. Strollo, Jr., of the Pulmonary Sleep Evaluation Lab at UPitt Med School

http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/message%2 ... hp?t=18602
"During an apnea event, when the blood oxygen level drops, the heart beats harder, trying to deliver O2 to vital organs. this increases blood pressure, and the body releases diuretic hormones in an attempt to reduce blood volume and pressure...so all those potty trips alert you that your heart has been under stress trying to maintain O2 and deal with blood pressure spikes.
Lack of nocturia is proof you are benefitting from cpap." by okie-girl

http://www.apneasupport.org/about8873.html
The following is a partial quote from the book Sleep Apnea – The Phantom of the Night.
pg. 31 "Normally there is a marked decrease in urine production /output during sleep, but people who suffer from sleep apnea syndrome have high urine production during the night. Repetitive episodes of OSA cause a secretion of a hormone (atrial natriuretic factor) that increases your urine output during sleep."

Anonymous wrote: But WHY!!! do we pee more then non OSA people?

I think that unless you have some other medical issues that you pee more often because you wake up more often.

Glenn

Doc told me it was simply because we wake up more. It's not the need the that wakes us - it's the apnea. But once we're awake, we notice.

mkirkwag wrote:Doc told me it was simply because we wake up more. It's not the need the that wakes us - it's the apnea. But once we're awake, we notice.

That's just what I was gonna post. When I started getting into serious OSA, I was up every hour for a trip. It was more because it felt good to get up and move around a little than any other reason. And since I'm up, might as well get a glass of water, and since I'm in the bathroom anyway. . .

And for us guys, the nerve that tells us our bladder is full is fairly close to the surface of the body in the nether regions (pretty much just under the skin, IIRC). So when that gets a blast of cool air, it feels like we just processed an El Supremo Extra Grande.

The funny thing is, I'm old enough now to have a touch of stiffness in my muscles after a serious snooze. Never slept long enough with OSA, but now that I'm a hosehead I was surprised to discover this.