| Frequent urination trouble
Hi there. I'd love to hear some advice on a problem I've been dealing with (and largely ignoring) for most of my life. Basically, I urinate way too much for what seems normal. From what I've read, average seems to be 6-8 times per day for men. I would say, on average, I urinate closer to 20, sometimes more. I don't really recall this being a problem as a child, but maybe it was and I just didn't tune in to the fact that it was abnormal until my adult years. I never really concerned myself with it until people in my life started pointing out that I go to the bathroom a lot. Either way, I've been like this all of my adult life, at the very least. The amount I urinate is proportional to what I drink (naturally) but regardless of my intake the output is also proportionally excessive. Sometimes, when I drink a lot of water or consume alcohol, I will literally urinate every 5-10 minutes for hours. Sometimes I will also have an overwhelming sensation to urinate, but then when I go it's only a very small amount. Often the sensation returns within a few minutes and this repeats.
I wake up a minimum of once per night to urinate, with twice probably being average. So this is also something that affects my sleep quality to a large degree, leading to me being chronically fatigued as well. I compensate for this be squeezing in naps on my lunch break, after work, etc.
Also, I seem to have a dehydration problem. No matter what I drink, I regularly have symptoms of mild dehydration. Specifically, my muscles (especially legs) often have that "tight," almost cramped feeling that dehydration can bring. I also tend to have a slight headache in the morning and a very dry mouth (I'm not a mouth breather), no matter how much water I consume the day before.
It's almost as if my urine just doesn't concentrate or everything I drink just goes straight through me without being absorbed much by my body. I'm just speculating here and clearly I'm absorbing at least some or I would have died of dehydration years ago lol.
For most medical professionals reading this, diabetes probably comes to mind. Just to clear that up, I've been tested for diabetes twice in recent years and it doesn't look like that's the issue. I did the test where they give you this extremely sugary drink and then you come back in a while to test your blood sugar and make sure your insulin response is good. Mine was just fine both times. Diabetes is present on both sides of my family, but it is only in a few cases (an uncle on one side, great uncle on the other) and those cases can probably be chalked up to lifestyle, not genetic factors. As in bad diet, overweight, problem drinkers, etc. I'm physically fit and eat healthy, so I don't feel like diabetes is a huge concern for me if genetic predisposition can be reasonably ruled out.
I've been in the military for 10 years and am required to do an annual medical exam. I've brought this issue up every single year for 10 years and it's mostly fallen on deaf ears. Only once was I referred to a urologist, a few years back. I went to the initial appointment and told my story and was prescribed a drug called Oxybutynin in order to see if this would reduce the frequency. I took it for a month and, best I can tell, the medication did nothing except give me some crappy side effects. I had a second appointment which I ended up missing. Since then, the pandemic happened and I've relocated to another area, so I've not gotten back to a urologist. The second appointment was to shove some sort of scope up my urethra and have a look around. I have mixed feelings about missing that appointment lol.
I'd love to get some insight/advice on this matter if anyone can help. Thank you!
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