Do you feel like you have to pee right after you finish peeing?
Do you ever ask yourself, “Why am I peeing so much?”
Or maybe you are just wondering how often you should urinate daily.
The amount of urine you pee and urinary frequency could be important health information. There are plenty of reasons for these conditions, so keep reading the following text and find out why you are peeing so much.
Normal urine output
The bladder capacity is normally 400-500 ml of urine, so on average, a person excretes about 1500 ml of urine daily. This is enough to dissolve all the waste products that leave the body through the kidneys.
The frequency depends on the amount of urine and the bladder capacity, which are indirectly related to age.
Young children urinate 8-14 times a day. This frequency decreases to 6-12 times in older children.
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Is it normal to pee every hour?
Normal peeing is when a person needs to pee every 4-5 hours, so peeing every hour should not be considered normal in any man or woman.
Alterations in peeing might occur in both the volume and the frequency of the act.
An increase in the frequency of urination is called pollakiuria. It can be daytime, nighttime or all-day pollakiuria.
Polyuria is when a person’s urine production exceeds 40mL/kg in 24 hours or pees more than 3L/24h. It is often found together with polydipsia (enormous fluid intake).
Why am I peeing so much?
Except for prostate issues, which exclusively affect males, and pregnancy, which only affects females, most of the reasons for frequent urination may occur in both genders. The following categorization is based on which gender the reasons are more prevalent.
Causes in men
Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH)
Enlarged prostate is often caused by benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a process that occurs in men with aging.
It can cause urethral blockage and subsequent lower urinary tract symptoms. Frequent urination occurs as a result of several mechanisms.
It is reported that benign prostatic hyperplasia makes the urethra and prostatic capsule grow longer and stimulates the nerves in the capsule.
During the filling phase, this makes the bladder less stable, which often causes frequent urination, especially nocturia (the need to get up and urinate in the middle of the night). The prevalence of nocturia increases up to 80% in patients over 80 years old.
Additionally, with aging, fibrous tissue builds up between the detrusor muscle and the bladder wall. This makes it hard for the bladder to expand smoothly and makes it hard to be filled with urine.
This condition is called a low-compliance bladder, and it causes people to have to pee more frequently. Prostate procedures in the surgical treatment for BPH can also cause frequent urination.
Urinary retention
When you have retention, you have to pee more often because of inflammation caused by urine that stays in your body. This inflammation shows up as redness or hyperemia on the neck of the bladder and causes a sensation for urinating.
Also, with complete retention, the bladder gets so full that it overflows, and the person feels the urge to pee often to get rid of the small amount that comes from a full bladder.
Kidney stones and urinary bladder stones
If you have calculus in your bladder, you may have to go to the bathroom more often because the calculus takes up space and makes your bladder capacity smaller. Also, calculus irritation can make you feel the need to go to the bathroom more often.
Additionally, bacteria infections and cystitis are more likely to happen when there is a calculus in the bladder.
Calculus usually happens when urine sits in the bladder for too long. Men with benign prostatic hyperplasia are more likely to have it. As a result of UTI, kidney stones can also cause frequent peeing.
Bladder carcinoma
The tumor mass could irritate the bladder and make it so that the bladder can’t hold as much urine because the tumor is growing in it and taking up space. In such cases, small amounts of urine can make you feel like you have to pee.
Also, the treatment for bladder cancer can make a person urinate a lot. If the pelvic area was irradiated, then smooth muscles are damaged, and this symptom occurs.
During a cystoscopy or endoscopic surgery, bacteria can get into the bladder and cause cystitis, making people have to pee a lot.
Prostatic carcinoma
If the prostate cancer has grown large enough to push on the urethra, it will cause symptoms. The process is similar to that of benign prostatic hyperplasia, and it also causes nocturia more often.
Radiation treatment
Radiation treatment to the pelvis, which may include the reproductive organs, the bladder, the colon, and the rectum, may cause irritation to the urinary tract and the bladder. Frequent peeing often occurs a few weeks after the beginning of radiation therapy.
Radiation can hurt the smooth muscles of the bladder. If the smooth muscles get hurt, then fibroblasts grow in their place.
Fibroblasts are the cells that form the scar. This tissue is not the same as the smooth muscles of the bladder in terms of what they used to do. This makes the bladder less effective.
Therefore, you urinate more often since your bladder capacity has decreased. Blood vessel damage is an additional side effect of radiation.
Causes in women
Urinary tract infection (UTI)
A urinary tract infection is an infection that may affect any part of the urinary system, including the kidneys, ureters, bladder, or urethra.
Urinary tract infections are very common. UTIs make you have a constant feeling of having to pee.
The most frequent cause of a urinary tract infection (UTI) is the backward passage of bacteria or pathogens (most typically Escherichia coli) from the digestive tract, where they normally live, all the way up to the urethra and then into the bladder.
Women often experience bacterial urinary tract infections. Between the ages of 16 and 35, 10% of women acquire an infection annually, and 40% to 60% get one at least once in a lifetime. Nearly 50% become re-infected within a year.
Females have four times more urinary tract infections than men. This is a result of the shorter length of the urethra in women.
So if you are a woman, UTI is the most likely reason for you to have a feeling like you have to pee all the time.
Overactive bladder syndrome
When you have an overactive bladder (OAB), your bladder muscles start to contract on their own, even when there isn’t much urine in your bladder.
These are called involuntary contractions, and they make you feel like you have to go to the bathroom right away.
There are many theories about what causes this overactivity of the detrusor (bladder muscle). However, pathological conditions that cause OAB syndrome affect the bladder’s sensory pathway.
This makes the urge to urinate stronger when the bladder isn’t full and causes frequent urination.
Pregnancy
Frequent urination is thought to be caused by the hormonal changes that happen during pregnancy.
When you are pregnant, your body goes through changes. Your organs are changing. Bladder anatomy changes.
Bladder muscles are becoming more stretched. As the baby grows and the uterus gets bigger, the pressure on the bladder rises.
So you feel like you need pee. This is very common and shouldn’t worry you.
However, if you also have symptoms such as itching, burning sensation, fever, and pain, you should make an appointment with your gynecologist to exclude the possibility of a urinary tract infection.
Low estrogen levels
The hormone estrogen is known to play a big part in how the lower urinary tract works, and receptors for estrogen and progesterone have been found in the vagina, urethra, bladder, and pelvic floor muscles.
A lack of estrogen after menopause is also known to cause atrophic changes and may be linked to symptoms in the lower urinary tract, such as frequent urination, urgency, nighttime urination, urgency incontinence, and recurrent infection.
Vaginitis
One further reason women urinate more than usual is vaginitis, an inflammation of the vagina. Yeast infections, trichomoniasis, and bacterial vaginosis are all forms of vaginitis.
Additionally, women with this condition may notice a peculiar odor, itchiness, and discharge. If you are a female between 15 and 45 years and you experience these symptoms, you should visit your gynecologist for proper examination and treatment.
Sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease infections are one possible cause of frequent urination. The urethra is a common site of infection for a number of bacteria and viruses, including Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhea, and Herpes simplex, which may cause urethritis. Urethritis also may cause you to pee often.
Diuretics
To lower blood pressure, doctors will commonly give diuretics.
These drugs are meant to get rid of excess fluids in the body. Consequently, they make you urinate more often.
If you discover that you have to pee a lot during the day and you are using diuretics, it may be time to consult with your physician about the possibility of modifying the dosage or frequency of taking your medications.
Sometimes they will prescribe alternative medicines for high blood pressure.
Diabetes
Diabetes is characterized by abnormally high blood sugar concentrations. Urination is increased in frequency and volume due to glucose’s requirement to be eliminated from the body, which results in the desire to urinate more often.
A significant quantity of fluids is lost from the body, which results in an increase in the sensation of thirst.
Visit a healthcare practitioner to acquire a treatment plan if you experience symptoms of type 2 diabetes, such as the need to urinate often or excessive thirst, or if a blood test reveals that your blood sugar levels are high.
Anxiety
Anxiety and depression are both mental health issues. Frequent urination may be an acute or chronic symptom of anxiety and depression.
It is possible to urinate more often if you have experienced a specific stress or if you are suffering from one of these conditions.
This symptom is scientifically explained as the result of increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system during times of stress. So, that’s why you are urinating 15 times a day when you are stressed.
Interstitial cystitis or Pain Bladder Syndrome
Interstitial Cystitis (IC), also called Painful Bladder Syndrome (PBS), is a condition that causes pain in the bladder and the lower urinary tract.
People with this condition have pain or a feeling of pressure for more than 6 weeks, but no infection can be found.
Interstitial cystitis has no known cause, but inflammation caused by an autoimmune response makes neurons in the bladder mucosa more sensitive. This can cause you constant feeling of having to pee.
Neurogenic bladder
The urinary bladder stores and releases pee in a coordinated manner. Central and peripheral nerve systems coordinate this action.
Neurogenic bladder is urinary bladder dysfunction caused by neurologic dysfunction from internal or external trauma, illness, or damage.
If you have an accident and have such a serious injury, you may experience that you have to pee urgently and/or frequently (caused by an inability to store urine owing to an overactive bladder or weak sphincter) or that you have difficulties emptying your bladder completely or partially.
Keep in mind that your lifestyle factors, such as consuming plenty of liquids, particularly coffee or alcohol, might affect your urination habits and how often and how much you urinate.
When should I worry about frequent urination?
If frequent urination affects your quality of life, causes discomfort, alters your sleep, or you are worried about how much urine you are peeing, ask for a doctor’s help.
In addition, if you have any other symptoms, such as dysuria (painful peeing), elevated body temperature, fever, pain in the lower abdomen, blood in your urine, or increased thirst, go to your healthcare practitioner as soon as possible.
When to see a doctor
If you are worried because you are constantly peeing or if you are peeing excessively, visit your doctor. They will refer you to a specialist urologist and do some tests. One simple test is a urination diary.
Urination diary
The urination diary gives the most complete information about how often a patient has to go to the bathroom. To get a fair picture, you need to fill out the diary for 3–7 days.
In the diary, you must write down when you urinate, how often you urinate, how much you urinate, how much liquid you drink, and when you drink it.
You may also be told, at least once a day, to try to hold back as much urine as you can and to measure the amount of urine next you visit the bathroom. This will help your urologist establish how much your bladder can hold.
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How do I stop peeing so much?
There are several treatment options if you are peeing a lot. First of all, you should consult your healthcare professional, who will find out why you are peeing so much. A few things raise the chances of getting better by yourself.
- You should reduce the number of beverages containing caffeine or alcohol
- Avoid drinking fluids before you go to sleep
- Take control of your work life. Enjoy more of your home life. This is how you will reduce stress.
- Lose weight
- Practice exercises that will strengthen your pelvic muscles floor (e.g., Kegel exercises)
Treatment
Because several medical disorders may induce pollakiuria, treatment will concentrate on treating the underlying cause.
- If diabetes mellitus is the cause of frequent urination, a diabetic diet or medication will lower blood sugar, lowering the frequency and volume of urine.
- The main goal of urologists and neurologists in treating neurogenic bladder is to protect the upper urinary tract from damage and limit long-term damage to the bladder. A secondary goal is to keep your bladder under control and improve your quality of life.
- Regular STD testing, particularly after unprotected sex or with a new partner, is the best approach to rule out STDs as a cause of urinary problems. Major long-term consequences may result from ignoring STDs. However, many varieties are easily cured if caught at early stages.
- Overactive bladder is treated in two ways. If you have a diagnosis of overactive bladder and you and your doctor have decided on a non-drug treatment, you will be taught how to come up with ways to deal with how much you are peeing. Lifestyle changes like quitting smoking, losing weight, changing what you eat and drink (like avoiding caffeine, acidic foods, and alcohol), regulating your bowels, and exercising are all part of non-drug treatments that have been shown to work. If non-pharmacological therapy doesn’t work, then your doctor may recommend anticholinergic drugs. The goal of these medicines is to relax the detrusor muscle and, as a result, make the patient’s symptoms better.
Conclusion
Frequent urination is not something that should be considered normal. Coffee or alcohol use, as well as excessive consumption of water, have been linked in certain circumstances to this condition.
However, if this pattern of frequent urination persists and is accompanied by additional symptoms related to the lower urinary tract, it is strongly recommended that a medical professional be contacted.
There are several factors that might be causing you to pee a lot. Thus, a wide variety of therapeutic approaches exist.
Determining the reason and then treating it appropriately is the most essential step to do because frequent urination may have a significant impact on mental health, leading to symptoms such as sadness, anxiety, humiliation, low self-esteem, and poor sleep quality.
This, in turn, can have a negative impact on the quality of life and the relationships the person has.
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