Frequent urination at night, is it a sign of kidney problems?

Netizen question: My dad has been having to get up to urinate at night for the past few months. From once a night at first, he now has to go three times a night.

I searched online and it said it was nocturia. Is that true? Could it be a kidney problem?

As the saying goes, "urination" is intolerable, but "nocturia" is even more intolerable.

Nocturia refers to urinating more than once at night. In short, as long as you wake up to urinate once during sleep, you can be considered to have nocturia.

Generally speaking, nocturia can be divided into two types:

The first type: The 24-hour urine volume is within the normal range, but the frequency of urination increases at night and the urine volume is also large, which is also called nocturnal polyuria.

In this case, the amount of urine at night is generally 20% (for young people) to 33% (for the elderly) greater than the 24-hour urine volume.

If you drink a lot of beverages, soup, tea, etc. for dinner, it is normal. In this case, you can correct it by paying attention to changing your lifestyle habits.

However, some people suffer from renal insufficiency, congestive heart failure, estrogen deficiency, lower limb edema, hypoproteinemia and other diseases, which reduce the secretion of antidiuretic hormone at night and lead to increased nocturia. In this case, the underlying disease should be treated in order to be effective.

The second type: You urinate frequently at night, but the amount of urine you urinate each time is very small, and the total urine volume is not much either.

This situation is more complicated, and the cause may be a disease that can reduce the effective bladder capacity, such as interstitial cystitis, prostatic hyperplasia, overactive bladder, contracted bladder, etc.

This type of patients will also experience frequent urination during the day, and frequent nocturnal urination has a greater impact on health, and patients often feel very distressed.

In short, the problem of nocturia can be serious or minor. If it persists for a long time, or even gets worse, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible.

In fact, as long as you follow the clues, find the crux of the problem, and treat the cause in time, nocturia can actually be controlled and even cured.

After reading this, I guess you already have the answer. Your father's condition is indeed nocturia.

However, it is not certain whether it is caused by kidney problems. It is recommended that you accompany him to the hospital for examination and treatment.