Night time trips to the loo!

I don’t always have to get up in the night since I cut out my 11pm cup of tea, but once I wake, it is urgent. I am going to stay with a friend soon and am worried about not making it to the loo in time if I have to get up in the night, or more likely, first thing when it may be engaged.

The answer is a commode which people with mobility problems or no upstairs loo find ideal.My bathroom/toilet is next to my bedroom should I need to pay a visit in the night.

Sarahellenwhitney, I can hardly take a commode on the train to visit my friend.
You probably weren’t replying to me specifically!

We both go once, but it is annoying. Try to cut back on the last cuppa before bed, but doesn't always help. We've fitted a night light plug in that is motion censored and find it is just enough time to get there and back without fumbling for light switch and bumping into things. We get straight back to sleep too now.

I control my liquid intake during the day. I have no more than 5 mugs of tea/coffee and the last one no later than 6pm. I generally don't wake up to go to the loo unless I drink more or later. My friend is amazed when I tell her I've slept for 8 hours (without going to the loo) but she drinks more and later. She won't take the hint but that's her choice.

www.bladderandbowel.org/ Has some useful information.

I saw on a different thread that the latest Tena ladies are very good so perhaps worth taking some when you are staying elsewhere. Just as a precaution. Take some scented bin liners if disposal is likely to be difficult.

I had prolapse op about 20+ years ago and don’t have to get up. OH usually gets up once in the night. I always have a drink of tea about 9pm and have a glass of water on the bedside table that I take a sip from if I am thirsty.

Never heard of double voiding but I will give it a go as I have major issues with my bladder so I'm very interested in this post, hope you don't think I'm jumping on this post!

I not only have to get up two or three times, but also find I'm in danger of wetting myself. I found the solution! While our bathroom was being rebuilt, I bought a camping toilet - a bucket with a seat and a lid just like a loo. I now keep it beside my bed - not very glamorous but we're not featuring in Ideal Homes any day now It's surprisingly sturdy, can't tip over, and takes my weight which at times is bordering on 18 stone!

I am 74 years old, and I never have to get up in the night for anything.
I always take a cup of camomile tea to bed with me too.
I must have a very strong bladder. If I’m out in the day and need a wee, I can hold for quite a long time until I get home.
Never had problems in that department.

Normal...age thing

Same in our household after treatment for prostrate cancer. None of us is totally alone withgransnet out there

Oh dear Willow3 I do feel for you. Your post us EXACTLY THE SAME as me. I wake and I literally try to run to the loo (painful when you have osteoarthritis and RA) but I'm always too late..
Thank god I've got a wet room so easy to clear up but by the time I've washed cleaned up etc I'm wide awake and in awful pain... Then the bleedin dogs want to be let out! ?
(ladies massive apologies for that....Too much information)?!
Anyway, Its sole destroying ?? isn't it. I'm Shattered during the day because of.

I think it is because I sleep badly. Pain wakes me and when you wake up in the night for some reason you need a wee too. I notice that when I disturb the dogs from their sleep they too have to have a wee. Maybe it's just that we sleep less well, wake a bit more in the night?
Naturally any worries about bladder etc need a trip to the Doc. Says she who puts everything like that off for months.....

I have a motion sensor type light that hangs on the washbasin in the bathroom. Got this to enable GC to go to toilet if they wakened in the night. Also changes colour. My DH finds it useful for his nocturnal trips to the loo. No need to put light on. Got it on line, think they can be hooked on the toilet just like a toilet cleaning block.

Check you haven’t got a lowgrade infection

I have this problem too and I think it's partly due to blood pressure medication, partly perhaps to a slight prolapse of my bladder etc due to old age.

I usually go at about 1.30 and again at 4.30. I find I sleep through if I take Ibuprofen before going to bed, but I only do that if I have a headache or other kind of pain somewhere.

I keep a spare pair of knickers in the bathroom cupboard as I often leak on the way there.... (sorry if TMI)

If its not me getting up its my OH and if its not him its the dog wanting a wee - either way one, two or even the three of us are up every night.

I found bladder training during the day helped to cut down on my night time visits to the loo.

I dont very often have to get up in the night,but when I do I dont open my eyes a lot, bathroom is opposite our bedroom and the lights from outside are enough I dont need to put the bathrom light on, I then easlily get back to sleep.However during the day its non stop sometimes, due to the diuretics I take in the morning,I always need to know where the loo is if in a strange place. Going on a long journey, I just dont take the tablets that day, the joys of getting old.

Imagine what it must have been like when loos were outside...or when you had to squat over the chamberpot.

I have given much thought to the question of why I have to get up in the night for a wee. Do I wake up because I need a wee, or do I need a wee because I have woken up? I have concluded, after much research in my laboratory (my bedroom) that I only need to wee if I wake up. On the odd occasion that my sleep is undisturbed and I don’t wake up until it’s time to get up, I don’t wee til then. Odd, really.

I very rarely do not wake up to go to the toilet in the night. I am much better if I do not drink after say 9pm and do not go to bed till 11pm. If I have a very bad night and do not sleep due to worry etc I can go to the toilet numerous times. Do not have anything to drink at least two hours before going to bed and see if you are any better. I think you will notice the difference.

Like Phloembundle I dream about looking for loos and invariably they cant be found, or have a huge queue, or are unusable for some reason. In real life I have to get up twice or even three times in the night. I have more or less given up staying with friends, its too embarrassing and disruptive. I even find holidays a bit of a chore, because I dont sleep as soundly when I am away and then am trotting to and from the bathroom half the night. I dont drink caffeine after mid-morning and have no drinks after 8.30pm. Also exercise my pelvic floor muscles three times a week. Nothing seems to help and I get steadily worse, albeit slowly. Goodness knows what things will be like when I am in my 80s!

narrowboatnan I’ve come to the same conclusion.