Waking up to go to the bathroom

So ive read on here that apnea and waking up to go to the bathroom are related....that I'm not actually waking up to go pee. Here is my question...is it normal to have events at the same time every night? I'm like clock work...i usually go to bed around 10:-30 to 11....i'm up at 0:56...then around 2:45 and then again around 4 to 4:30...sucks cuz my alarm goes off at 5.

Sounds like maybe REM stage sleep cycles.
Google "sleep stages" and look at the normal hypnograms and get a feel for when REM normally happens.
In general the first REM sleep stage is about 90 minutes after sleep onset but can take a little longer or shorter...and as the night progresses the REM sleep stage comes on more frequently or sooner and lasts longer with the greatest amount of REM usually happening in those wee hours of the morning.

Now it is common for OSA to be worse during REM sleep...so if that is the case you might have more apnea events during REM than in other non REM sleep stages. Anytime you have more of anything you run the risk of the anything causing you to wake up.

My OSA is 5 times worse in REM than in non REM. It's quite common.
Also quite common for OSA to be worse when sleeping on our backs than when sleeping in other positions.

How it relates to getting up to go to the bathroom....well maybe some people just equate "I am awake I might as well go pee" and get up.
For me it was more than that. I would wake up and my bladder would be painfully full....it wasn't a matter of "I might as well go pee" it was a matter of "I am hurting so bad that I have to go pee"....and I was doing it about every time I would normally hit a REM cycle.
Sometimes 3 to 5 times a night. That all went away when I went on cpap and in fact was the first sign that cpap therapy was working.
That's where the ANP stress hormone comes into play.
So sometimes it's a "I might as well go pee" thing and sometimes so much ANP is in the system the kidneys are producing large amounts of urine as a byproduct and we have the " I HAVE to go pee" thing.

For me it's " i have to go pee" most of the time...one night last week I didn't think I was gonna make it...lol

I'm so ready to get things moving...not counting today...3 more days til my study!

Have you read about the ANP stress hormone thing and how that impacts the "I HAVE to pee" thing?
ANP stress hormone...Atrial natriuretic peptide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrial_na ... ic_peptide

The condensed version is when we have an apnea event there is stress put on the heart and when under stress the heart dumps ANP into the blood stream. Once the ANP filled blood makes its way to the kidneys the kidneys filter the ANP and it causes the kidneys to work harder and we all know when the kidneys work harder they produce more urine and the bladder gets filled up faster than normal.

So we wake up...either from the full bladder or from the apnea event itself causing sleep disruption.

Now for the guys (and of course some gals) there are other medical reasons for having to go pee often but if it's just the sleep apnea causing the ANP to get dumped into the blood stream most people people will be able to sleep through the night without having to go pee. It's very rare that I ever have to get up in the middle of the night to go pee. That benefit alone makes it worthwhile for me to do the cpap therapy thing.

They guys have the old prostate thing that can impact the need to go pee and the gals have the overactive bladder thing...those things aren't related to sleep apnea though as they are separate problems. If cpap therapy doesn't fix the nocturia...then time to talk to the doctors about the chance of the nocturia being caused by something else.

Gotta start somewhere though and if a person has some of the other usual signs and symptoms of sleep apnea then they might as well start with the obvious and work from there.

AirMech74 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 20, 2018 5:25 am

is it normal to have events at the same time every night?

Are you using Sleepyhead software? Is your CPAP machine compatible with Sleepyhead? With this software, you can see exactly when you are having events.

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:35 am

Are you using Sleepyhead software? Is your CPAP machine compatible with Sleepyhead? With this software, you can see exactly when you are having events.

No machine yet...no sleepy study to confirm diagnosis yet.
I think slated for a home study for diagnosis to be picked up and done in 3 or 4 days.
The rest to of course be determined based on the home study results.

I do my sleep analysis this weekend. I pick up the home study kit on Friday and will do it friday night and sat night.

I have been on my CPAP for about 6 weeks. I have yet to sleep a full night. I most always get up once to relieve my bladder sometimes twice.

Do yo have waterworks issues per se?. If that is not a rude question. I have recently been diagnosed with an enlarged prostate, which causes me to wake up frequently in the night. That can only be feeding into the apnea-induced events.

Best management strategy ahead of my appointment with a urologist is simply avoiding fluids two hours before bedtime and it works quite well. Plus a "double void" at bedtime. There is plenty of common sense advice online that is simple to implement.

In addition to the other issues that have been answered, you simply need to go to bed earlier. You can't expect to get a good day out of 7 or fewer hours of sleep - even uninterrupted sleep. While there are many who do it, they are always tired and cranky.

Ok, so last night, I made sure not to drink anything after 9...went to bed around 11...wife was already asleep and our 11m old decided she wanted to stay up with daddy...anyways, relieved myself before laying down....I made it til almost 3 this time. Was the only time I remember waking up other than my wife getting up cuz our daughter started crying. First time in a while I didn't get up more than twice...but I was still tired as hell when my alarm went of this morning at 5...it was a struggle getting out of bed.

AirMech74 wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:28 am

Ok, so last night, I made sure not to drink anything after 9...went to bed around 11...wife was already asleep and our 11m old decided she wanted to stay up with daddy...anyways, relieved myself before laying down....I made it til almost 3 time. Was the only time I remember waking up other than my wife getting up cuz our daughter started crying. First time in a while I didn't get up more than twice...but I was still tired as hell when my alarm went of this morning at 5...it was a struggle getting out of bed.

Before treatment where I was up most everynight I would stop drinking anything at dinner except to take 3 or 4 ibuprofen before bed.

I usually go to bed at 11 and wake up at either 6:30 or 7. Most days I don't wake up at all but if a do its about a half hour before I would wake up. But some nights I do what would call a hard wake up at 1 or 3 ish like if it was 6:00 AM I would maybe just get up and start my day.

I think most here are going to say 6 hours is not enough sleep but if you have an 11 m old all bets are off. When we had an 11 month old we were 6 months away from having a 17 m old and a newborn.