Body positions and urge to urinate

[musiclover]

Does anybody else experience this?

When I wake up, early in the morning I have to urinate. Then I go back to sleep for a bit and then go again later. Then, I can lay there for quite a while with no symptoms and feel great. But as soon as I get up and start moving, then the feeling that I need to urinate comes on, even if I don't really have to. I might go, but then as soon as I go I feel like I need to go again. Then I'll sit down and check my email and it is very intense. But then as soon as I get up and get going and walk around a bit, it dissipates a little bit. But eventually comes back again.

Also, if I lay down for a while on my side it will go away a bit. But as soon as I get up or move to my back then the feeling that I need to urinate returns.

Does anybody else have similar experiences?

[krisillis]

Hi musiclover!

You're not alone. I get an intense urge to pee when I lay down, when I am in a flare it is so bad that the only way I can get some relief is to put a pillow under my legs. I also get the urge sometimes when I am sitting. I have now mastered a half sit/half lay on the couch propped with pillows under my back and under my legs. Standing seems to be the only position that doesn't bother me unless I am flaring. My suggestion is to play around with different postures until you find the most comfortable position for you. When you go to bed you may want to try a heating pad or a hot water bottle, I find that those things help me too. Good luck.

Christine

[Preacher-Girl]

This happens to me all the time! I don't have any answers for it.:rolleyes:

[Paper_Tiger]

This happens for me, too. My nocturia is the most bothersome component of my disease. I don't have a frequency issue during the day. So what do I do? make sure I void right before going to bed. But I always watch about 30 minutes of TV laying in bed before switching off the light. 100% of time I have urge to void within that 30 minutes of laying down. Also, when I wake up in the middle of the night with urgency to void, sometimes I can get it to go away by changing the position I'm laying in. One final comment: I had a biopsy on my bladder lining. I'm pretty sure the doctor took the sample from the "belly-button side" (ventral) of the bladder. I was thinking to myself "shouldn't he have asked me if I sleep on my stomach before deciding what area to aggravate"? This could all be in my head, but maybe some portions of the bladder lining just get more irritated than others due to gravity keeping urine in contact with certain areas more frequently. Anatomically, though, the bladder may be so small as to mean it is getting splashed everywhere all the time due to normal body movement. Have no idea.

[Pucca]

If I'm not in a flare, I can often sit for hours without having to use the bathroom. And in fact this is my routine at work on my better days. But when I stand up, I feel the need to go, though it's not urgent. As soon as I sit down, the feeling goes away. Sometimes, if I don't feel like using a public bathroom and I know I'm driving straight home, I'll just hold it. Because sitting in the car, that feeling goes away again. Like Paper Tiger, I too can sometimes make the feeling go away in the middle of the night by changing positions. One other thing, on my better days the feeling that I could pee is sort of dull and feels higher up in my body. When I'm worse it actually feels lower, as well as more intense. Unfortunately I don't have that good of a capacity even when I can hold it for quite a while.

[VCNJ84]

All the time I have urges to pee or vaginal pain that is set off by changing positions. I hate it so much. Sometimes I have to be in the WEIRDEST positions half laying down, half sitting, legs open kind of thing to have no problems...when alone this is fine...obviously around people I would look like a freak!

[musiclover]

My PT thinks this positional thing happens because most of this urge to urinate is caused by the pelvic floor dysfunction and the muscles are gripping around the urethra depending on what position you are in. Mine is actually getting a lot better now that I'm learning how to do the internal work, stretches, hot baths, and most of all, 45 minutes of relaxation focused on the pelvic floor. Within days this cut my frequency by a whole lot.

[krisillis]

HI musiclover!

I'm so glad you're seeing a phyiotherapist. I was seeing one for a while but had to stop because I couldn't afford her. One of the best pieces of advice she gave me, and it may work for you, was at night when I went to bed after I peed, to wait 30 minutes (or to try as best I could) before going again. In hopes that my bladders constant message of "gotta go gotta go gotta go" would lessen from all the spasms, because her theory was part of it was trained habit. And she was right. When I am not flaring her little bit of advice works, often if I wait the 30 minutes my bladder 'forgets' or the spasms aren't as bad and I'll only get up 2 or 3 times before I fall asleep instead of 10 times. It may work for you too!

Christine