What causes frequent urination? Related conditions and treatments
Overview: What does frequent urination look like?
Running to the bathroom to urinate is considered too frequent if it happens more than eight times daily. People should be able to sleep through the night without urinating or, at most, only having to get up once to pee. Unless someone drinks a large amount of liquid, frequent urination is often a sign that something is wrong with the genitourinary tract or the body itself. Most of the time, people who urinate more than average also have other symptoms. They may feel an urgent need to pee, even after they’ve emptied their bladder. They may “leak” urine before or after urinating. They may have to get up several times during the night to urinate. They may find it hard to start peeing, even though they feel the pressure. They may not be able to finish peeing. Depending on the cause, urinating can cause pain or burning in the urethra. There may be a discharge from the urethra, or the urine may be cloudy, odd-colored, or smelly. Fever might also be a symptom if an infection is the cause. All these accompanying symptoms are vital clues to finding the underlying cause and starting the appropriate treatment. However, people sometimes urinate too much, and there may be no accompanying symptoms. It may not seem important when this happens, but a healthcare provider should look into it.
Key takeaways:
Frequent urination may be a common symptom caused by infections, urinary incontinence, overactive bladder muscles, kidney or bladder stones, diabetes, an enlarged prostate, cancer, vaginal prolapse, pregnancy, radiation therapy, medications, or drinking too much.
Typically, frequent urination does not require immediate medical attention.
Frequent urination generally requires treatment if a healthcare professional has not already evaluated it. It typically resolves with or without treatment within a variable timeframe.
Treatments of frequent urination vary by cause: urinary tract infections (UTIs), kidney infections, kidney stones, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), prostate cancer, and diabetes.
Depending on the cause, frequent urination can be managed by modifying fluid intake, lifestyle changes, pelvic floor exercises, and herbal remedies.
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What causes frequent urination?
The causes of frequent urination include infections, mechanical or structural problems with the genitourinary tract, systemic problems with the body, medications, and lifestyle habits. The most common cause of sudden, frequent urination is urinary tract infections (cystitis and urethritis). Other causes include:
Kidney infection (pyelonephritis)
Bacterial vaginosis (vaginitis)
Frequent urination causes that involve some failure in the urinary system include:
Overactive bladder syndrome (OAB)
Urinary incontinence
Enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia)
Prostate swelling (prostatitis)
Narrowing of the urethra
Bladder stones
Kidney stones
Organ prolapse (cystocele)
Painful bladder syndrome (interstitial cystitis)
Spinal problems
Nerve problems (some occurring after an injury or stroke)
Cancers that may result in urinary frequency include:
Bladder cancer (about 20% to 30% of patients will have urinary frequency)
Vaginal cancer
Systemic problems that may cause urinary frequency include diabetes insipidus, Type 1 diabetes, and Type 2 diabetes.
Diuretics (“water pills”) are the most commonly used medications that cause significant urinary frequency. Other medications, such as antidepressants, blood pressure drugs, and antihistamines, may cause urinary incontinence. The primary symptom is loss of bladder control and leakage, but people with urinary incontinence may also need to urinate more frequently than usual.
Lifestyle habits that may cause urinary frequency include:
Drinking too much fluid
Drinking too little fluid
Consuming bladder irritants, such as caffeine and alcohol
Should I be worried about frequent urination?
If frequent urination is a new development, it could indicate that there may be an underlying medical condition needing treatment. See a healthcare provider to have the situation adequately diagnosed and treated. There will usually be other symptoms, such as frequent night urination, painful urination, urinary retention, cloudy urine, back pain, side pain, fever, increased thirst, unexplained weight loss, or similar symptoms. Some of these symptoms may be more urgent than others.
Remember, when people start urinating more than usual, the problem is often due to a urinary tract infection. Untreated urinary tract infections can lead to complications, such as kidney infection, kidney damage, abscesses, sepsis, pregnancy problems, and recurrent UTIs.
Emergency room treatment is usually unnecessary for frequent urination, but get urgent or emergency care if there’s significant pain, a high fever, and frequent urination.
RELATED: Diabetes symptoms: What are the early signs of diabetes?
How is the cause of frequent urination diagnosed?
To discover the cause of frequent urination, clinicians will take a medical history, conduct a physical examination, and perform a urinalysis. If an infection is a likely cause, the clinician may perform a urine culture to identify the pathogen and a blood test.
In an interview with the clinician, be prepared to answer questions like:
How often do you urinate each day?
How often do you get up at night to urinate?
What’s the volume of urine? The normal amount? More than normal? Less than normal?
Is it hard to urinate? Does urine flow seem blocked?
Is there leakage or involuntary urination?
When did the problems start?
Are there other symptoms?
What medications are you taking?
How much do you drink each day? How many caffeinated beverages do you drink?
Have you had prostate or other pelvic surgery?
Have you had recent radiation treatments?
A physical exam may consist of an abdominal exam, a genital exam, a pelvic exam, or a rectal exam. The clinician may check for abnormal weakness if a problem with the nervous system is suspected.
A family physician may be the healthcare professional who performs the initial exam, but they may refer you to a urologist, a specialist in urinary tract diseases, for further tests and treatment.
More specialized tests include:
Cystoscopy: the clinician examines the inside of the urethra and bladder by inserting a long, narrow tube attached to a camera into the urethra
Cystometry (also called urodynamic testing): determines how much fluid in your bladder makes you feel “full” and prompts urination
Ultrasound, X-rays, or a CT scan
A biopsy if cancer is suspected
How long does frequent urination last?
Frequent urination will last as long as the underlying condition is causing the symptom. UTIs are the most common cause of frequent urination. Symptoms of a UTI usually fade within two or three days of starting antibiotic treatment. Other medical conditions may take longer to improve.
How to stop frequent urination
Unless caused by lifestyle choices or urinary incontinence, frequent urination is not directly addressed in treatment. Instead, healthcare professionals focus on the underlying condition:
UTIs are treated with antibiotics.
Overactive bladder syndrome is treated with prescription medications that relax the muscles in the bladder. The most commonly prescribed are anticholinergics, such as oxybutynin, though other drugs may be used if first-line treatments are ineffective.
BPH is treated with prescription medications that relax the prostate and bladder neck or help shrink the prostate. In more severe cases, minimally-invasive or open surgery is used.
Treatment options for bladder stones include drinking plenty of fluids to help pass the stones, breaking up the stones, or surgical removal.
Prolapse is treated with pelvic floor exercises, pessaries, or surgery.
Cancers are treated with chemotherapy, immune-modulating drugs, antibodies, radiation therapy, and surgery.
Diabetes is treated with drugs that control blood sugar levels. As blood glucose levels get lower, problems with frequent urination should improve.
Living with frequent urination
Whether frequent urination is due to lifestyle or an underlying medical condition, a few actions may help reduce the need to urinate often:
For someone who drinks a lot of fluids, cut back
For someone who does not drink enough fluids, drink eight glasses of water per day
Avoid caffeine
Avoid alcohol
Avoid chocolate
Practice pelvic floor exercises called Kegel exercises—these will help improve the ability to hold urine
Use bladder training to improve bladder control—this involves urinating on a schedule and steadily increasing the amount of time in between urinating
If the need to urinate is interrupting sleep during the night, try the following:
Avoid drinking liquids at night
Elevate the legs when sleeping
If medications are causing frequent urination, take them in the morning rather than closer to bedtime
Most importantly, see a doctor
If you notice a more frequent need to urinate and the cause is not obvious, see a healthcare professional. The same is true if there are other symptoms. In these cases, there’s probably an underlying condition that needs treatment, so the sooner it’s diagnosed, the better the outcome.
FAQs about the causes of frequent urination
What causes stomach bloating and frequent urination?
UTIs are the most common cause of frequent urination. A UTI will do more than just cause frequent urination. It will also cause a host of other symptoms, including abdominal pain and pressure. The abdominal discomfort of a UTI may feel like bloating.
What causes frequent urination at night?
Frequent urination at night is called nocturia. Healthcare professionals consider urinating two or more times during the night to be excessive. Nocturia has many of the same causes as frequent urination during the day: producing too much urine, infections, an overactive bladder, nerve problems, and obstructions. Nocturia may also be due to drinking too many fluids at night, medication timing, behaviors, or sleep disorders. Other possible causes include physiological changes at night, such as fluid redistribution during sleep, high blood pressure, and diminished bladder capacity at night.
What STD causes frequent urination?
Gonorrhea and chlamydia often cause urethral or bladder infections that have painful and frequent urination as prominent symptoms. Many symptoms of these sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), like frequent urination, are easily mistaken for UTI symptoms.
What’s next? Additional resources for people with frequent urination
Test and diagnostics
Cystoscopy, Cleveland Clinic
Diagnosis of urinary incontinence, American Family Physician
Urinary frequency, Merck Manual
Urodynamic testing, NIH National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
UTI symptoms: what are the early signs of a UTI?, SingleCare
Treatments
BPH treatments and medications, SingleCare
Diagnosis and treatment of non-neurogenic overactive bladder (OAB) in adults: AUA/SUFU guideline (2019), American Urological Association (AUA)
UTI treatments and medications, SingleCare
Scientific studies and clinical trials
Associations between bacterial vaginosis and urgency urinary incontinence in women, Urology
Nocturia as an unrecognized symptom of uncontrolled hypertension in black men aged 35-49 years, Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA)
More information on related health conditions
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