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Do you find yourself urinating more often than usual? How much urine is too much?
While it’s normal to go on occasional bathroom breaks throughout the day, expelling three liters of urine daily can signify a bigger problem.
The body is a highly complex structure that performs deliberate mechanisms to sustain life—and, in the same league as sleeping and breathing, urination is one of the body’s ways of maintaining itself.
If you feel the urge to go more often than usual, it could be a sign that you’re facing something more sinister than a full bladder.
It’s important to understand the potential causes of frequent urination (polyuria) and know when it’s time to worry.
Let’s learn more about polyuria, when to be concerned, its symptoms, and ways to manage this condition.
What is Polyuria?
Polyuria, or frequent urination, is a medical term that’s marked by an uncharacteristically high urine volume over a 24-hour period.
Polyuria doesn’t pertain to the frequency of times you go to the bathroom to urinate. Rather, it concerns itself with the volume of urine you’ve produced during those bathroom trips.
In healthy adults, the average urine output per day is between 2 liters or less. But, if you find yourself urinating more than 3 to 3.5L per day, and not simply because of excess water intake, it could signal polyuria.
In most cases, polyuria is the result of another underlying health condition. The compounds found in the urine samples in polyuria patients are crucial determinants in finding the underlying cause.
4 Safe Reasons Why You’re Frequently Urinating
Some factors may increase urination volume but aren’t necessarily concerning.
These are some likely reasons why you’re urinating more often than usual:
- Frequent hydration: The higher your fluid intake, the higher your urine production.
- Cold weather: Winters or cooler temperatures could also be why you’re running to the bathroom every few minutes. Your kidneys usually filter out excess fluids during cold seasons to keep your body warm.
- Aging: Urination frequency increases prominently with aging, especially in men. Men urinate more times in later decades due to weakened and less rigid bladder muscles.
- Alcohol or Caffeine: Alcohol and caffeine have diuretic effects, which make your kidneys remove more sodium and water. The typical result after some beer or coffee is peeing more frequently.
If you had a day where you were extra active, drank lots of fluids or coffee, and consequently peed a larger volume than normal, it’s not typically a cause of concern. It’s just a natural byproduct of cause-and-effect.
If you’re peeing more in your 50s or 60s than your early 20s, but not at an alarming amount, you’re likely not going to be diagnosed with polyuria, either.
5 Worrisome Reasons Why You’re Frequently Urinating
There are some telltale signs that your frequent urination is linked to an underlying health issue. Find them below.
1. Medications
If your rate of urination has increased drastically, it might be a side effect of the medications you’re taking. Some medications can cause urinary retention or cause your bladder to fill up faster than usual.
Here is a list of medications that may potentially heighten urination:
- Diuretics such as some high blood pressure medications
- Antihistamines
- Tricyclic Antidepressants
- Mood stabilizers
- Antipsychotics
- Alpha-blockers
- Opioids
- Some type-2 diabetes meds
- Calcium channel blockers
- Decongestants
Contact a doctor to adjust your dosage or prescribe you a better treatment plan.
2. Kidney Problems
Your kidneys filter the urine before passing it to your bladder. So, if the kidney filters are damaged, you’re likely to experience urinary problems, such as urination urgency.
Diseases like interstitial nephritis may also frustrate kidney functions, such as the reabsorption of fluids into the blood. This leads to water retention problems and increases the daily urine volume.
Many kidney patients may ignore this red flag until it’s too late. According to the National Kidney Foundation, 37 million Americans with kidney disease don’t know that they have it.
3. Urinary Tract Infections
You’ve probably heard women are at higher risk of urinary tract infections than men. It doesn’t mean you’re impervious, however. Some studies show that men, particularly those older than 50, can also develop a urinary tract infection.
Older men are susceptible to a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH. This prostate condition develops when the prostate gland enlarges, blocking normal urine flow.
If urine remains in your bladder, it’s also likely to cause bacteria buildup. This may spark off infections that can escalate to affect your entire renal system.
4. Diabetes Mellitus
Type 2 diabetes has been shown to exacerbate urinary problems in both men and women.
A blood sugar imbalance can weaken bladder muscles and damage your urethra. When diabetes symptoms overcome your body, you can’t control how urine flows out, thereby retaining or leaking urine volume uncontrollably.
5. Stress
Sexual health has direct ties to stress.
Patients struggling with soaring cortisol levels over time are at a higher risk of polyuria. This is because urea and water reabsorption is impaired when your stress hormone levels are high.
Symptoms of Polyuria
The main symptom of polyuria is, unsurprisingly, increased urination.
But for many patients with polyuria, there’s a slew of additional symptoms that make the condition more difficult to manage.
Some of the symptoms that tend to be associated with excessive urination include:
- Feeling thirsty
- Wakefulness at night
- Weight loss
- Night sweats
- Back pain
- Fever
- Mental disorders
- Leg weakness
- Nocturia
- Muscle cramps
- Nausea
- Dry or sticky mouth
Polyuria shouldn’t be solely managed through positive lifestyle changes. This is because the condition can signal life-threatening conditions like cancer, kidney infections, and severe diabetes that require medical assistance.
If you happen to have any of the above symptoms on top of urinary problems, finding medical treatment is strongly encouraged. Get in touch with a doctor for a possible polyuria treatment solution.
Contact Central Florida’s Top Male Sexual Health Clinic for a Medical Consultation
Frequent urination can disrupt your life and shatter your confidence. But more importantly, it’s a harrowing sign that something is deeply amiss with your health.
If you have any of the risk factors or want to ensure you’re taking the best preventative measures for polyuria, seek professional help. Contact a doctor today for a specialized treatment plan.
The medical professionals at men’s clinic Premier Men’s Medical Center specialize in treating conditions that impact men’s health. Our concierge approach positions your unique case at the centerpoint of our focus. We don’t just give you a pill and send you on your way. We treat the underlying issues that led to conditions such as Erectile Dysfunction, PE, Low Testosterone, and more. Contact our office today to schedule an appointment.
