Nocturnal polyuria

I haven't been using a CPAP quite as long as you have but I currently wake up once or twice a night where previously it seemed to be 3 to 4 times at night. I do take tamsulosin in the evening for BPH and have reduced the caffeine I drink during the day and limit the liquids after 6pm which seems to help. The National Association for Incontinence has some good information on treatment and management of nocturia which might be helpful - https://nafc.org/nocturia/.

There are several related discussions and comments from other members on nocturia that you might want to scan through to learn what has been shared - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/search/discussions/.

It is very much an individual thing, and there may be a genetic component. Then again, maybe not; my father rises at least three times each night, and has done so for a couple of decades at least. He's 94. I am 72 and don't have to void at all. Not even once. And, to rub it in a wee bit, not even close. My bladder is never more than half full.

The pituitary gland secrets a hormone called antidiuretic hormone, or ADH. When we are in younger times, we produce more of it while we sleep for that very reason...to keep the kidneys from high throughput of water. As we age, most of us produce less and less ADH, and you are only too familiar with the rest of it. How I escaped that result is beyond me, and no, I don't gloat about it. I just count it as a blessing. Instead, I have atrial fibrillation and severe sleep apnea and cold sores now and then. Hey, nobody's perfect!

hmm, you are male and BPH is benign prostate hyperplasia ?
I had it in 2015 , then laser enaculation and all is well since then,
prostate-wise. So I'd recommend it.

Polyuria/Nocturia is a problem, as others here well know. In our mid-70s we years ago stopped liquids at least 4 hours (often 6 or more) before bed, but it didn't help much. I bought an inexpensive "analog" TENS box and rechargeable 9v batteries for it. We started with the two electrode pads at various places on the Tibial nerve and enjoyed immediate improvement from typically 6 or more nightly sleep interruptions, to 3 or 4 and sometimes fewer.

A year or so ago I found reference to Sacral pad placement, and immediately got to 1-3 nightly sleep interruptions. Sometimes none at all. We also noticed a marked reduction in daytime urgency, often none at all. My guess is that using both Sacral and Tibial (alternating 1 leg per session) might work even better, but haven't tried it.

We had first tried TTNS (uses needles temporarily placed by a medical professional), and it didn't help much if at all. Maybe partly due to the 1/2 hour sessions being only bi-weekly. We've found that daily TENS before bed actually worked much better. The small cost of the small TENS box and batteries was probably recouped just in the cost of gas for one set of TTNS (covered by Medicare) sessions. We didn't try to get Medicare to pay for the TENS unit. Our strategy is to use it for 2 or more hours at whatever time is convenient before bed. We quickly got used to the tingling and before long raised the setting until using the top setting and stopped noticing the tingling at all. We like the inexpensive "analog" type (tried because it was returnable), for the unlimited variability of power settings. Digital could be better for someone who always uses the same power setting, but we found at first that the comfortable setting varied greatly so the fine variability was helpful. In case anyone's wondering, after reading and experimentation we settled on Mode B, Width about 200, Rate about 13, Timer 0 (goes until you shut it off - often 2-5 hours works best for us).

Again, I mention all this here in the hope it may help others to get better sleep. From what I've read, good sleep is crucial for the elderly so I hope TENS helps you too.

It might help us if only we knew what TENS and TTNS stand for.

@bolso1
TENS stands for transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation. Google it for more description.

Interesting thread!

@bolso1 ...what TENS and TTNS stand for.

Sorry about that. Being several years since we started TTNS, I also see that the model "1000" analog unit we have is now $25 and called the 3MT. I even mistook TTNS for Transdermal (needle) which is actually PTNS (Percutaneous).

Bottom line though, is that it has worked wonders for us over the years we've used it.

@plus
But still you haven’t explained what TTNS stands for…

@bolso1 "what TTNS stands for"

T = Transdermal = through the skin. So TTNS = *T*ransdermal electrode patch (no needle) to send a mild adjustable electrical signal through the skin to the *T*ibial *N*erve to *S*timulate it. So TTNS = Transdermal Tibial Nerve Stimulation. That stimulation, for reasons I'm not very clear on, has quite notably reduced nocturia. So basically a method for Tibial Electrical Nerve Stimulation that doesn't require a medical professional with scary needles now and then. Instead we can do it at home, as often as desired, balancing our comfort level vs effectiveness.

It may not work for everyone, and I've found the pad placement required a bit of experimentation - especially on the ankles where Tibial nerves pass close to the skin. In my case the Sacral nerve placement worked notably better, on an easier to find (though initially more difficult for self-placement).

If you spring for the $25 little black 9v analog TENS box to try it, you might consider having a medical professional find and mark your Tibial and Sacral placement points for the two pads (on each ankle for Tibial). I found that helpful as a starting point, then moved them around noting effectiveness for slight further improvement. Having grown used to the tingling, I can now turn the power to max right after placing the pads. Of course nothing helps if I don't stop liquids at least 4 hours before bed.

Hope this helps, and that you'll feel free to ask anything further. 🙂