Not just you, and it gets worse. 15 years ago, I could go once before bed and that was it until around six AM. Now I have to go two, three, or even four times before bed before my bladder registers as “empty”.
I’m more like OP’s wife. It’s better if I go sometime before I hit the sheets, but not imperative. And, I never have to go during the night. 52 year old male. I hope that means I’ve got a happy and healthy prostate. Maybe just a huge bladder…
I used to be able to sleep on a completely full bladder - just bear down for a moment and tell it to shut up. In these middling years… sigh. Not so much. I can go back to sleep but I know it will wake me up again soon, so I kick MegaDog off my legs and hike to the can.
One time when I was a kid (but definitely far past the age of potty-training–I think I was about 10) I had one of those vivid dreams where you’re happily peeing away–only to awaken and find out I really did! Embarrassed the heck out of me, and from then on I was terrified it would happen again. It never did, but even after all these many years I wake up easily if I have to pee, and no matter how comfortable the bed or how cold it is out there, I get up and go.
Heh. Usually when I get those type of dreams, I either:
Dream I’m peeing in a waste-bin or a laundry hamper, or
Can’t find a bathroom for love nor money, or
When I do find one it is indescribably gross, or
It’s bizarrely laid out, for instance, the toilet is under an overhang where I can’t get to it.
Whenever I can’t sleep or I wake up at night and can’t go back to sleep, I find that if I empty my bladder there is a 90% chance of falling asleep right away. And when my kids wake up at night and tell me they can’t fall asleep, I tell them to go pee and try again, and they usually can go back to sleep once they have.
Anyone who says female plumbing is badly designed needs to look at the idiocy of having a critical waste pipe pass through a firm organ that shrinks and hardens with age. :smack:
I’ve often wondered if a permanent stent could be inserted to keep the prostate passage open wider. I’ve done a little searching but it’s apparently a touchy procedure for emergencies only.
Then again, male-centric medicine sets the ‘safety’ bar to the max when it comes to their precious junk. I once had a brilliant gynecology practitioner/professor tell me that if current chemical birth control were for men, it would be banned as unsafe. (She also quoted the line that if abortion were for men, it would be a sacrament.)
It seems like a teflon or titanium stent would be a permanent, or at least years-duration, solution to men’s prostate and urinary problems, and worth some small risks.
A full bladder will wake me up in the middle of the night. At bedtime I always go before I get in bed, it’s a nervous thing. If I don’t I’ll lie awake wondering how long before I need to go.
After two pregnancies and a hysterectomy I now need to get up just before turning the lights off to visit the bathroom and any time I wake up I must go to the bathroom again before going back to sleep. It’s not yet bad enough that it wakes me on it’s own but I sense that is in my future.
For me it’s a dream where I’ve peed - and STILL NEED TO. Annoying as hell until it finally gets through to the part of the brain that yells WAKE UP, YOU DUMBASS!!!
But like the OP, if the bladder is even hinting at containing any liquid, it’s tough to go to sleep. I can often manage, but it’s much much harder.
… so does anybody need to have just eaten something to sleep, too? Because I do. A few bites of yogurt or half a slice of bread do fine for me, but without that, I can’t fall asleep.
It’s mostly mental, I am not “ready” to go to sleep unless I peed recently. And I may do that several times if insomnia. It’s barely full in all cases.
Interestingly, I am able to hold an actually full bladder in the morning if it means more sleep.
I can sleep without peeing - but if I think about it, I usually have to get up and go. I prefer to pee just before getting into bed to make sure this doesn’t happen. It’s much, much more restful that way. So no, you aren’t alone!
I second what Dervorin said, above. Peeing is one of the absolute last things I do before going to bed - after I’ve brushed my teeth, etc. I like to avoid having to go in the middle of the night if at all possible.