Nocturnal polyuria

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.