Polyuria (Excessive Urine Production)
What Is Polyuria?
Do you always have to go? If you have a condition called polyuria, it’s because your body makes more pee than normal.
Adults usually make about 3 liters of urine per day. But with polyuria, you could make up to 15 liters per day. It's a classic sign of diabetes.
A few other conditions make you need to pee more often, such as an overactive bladder, an enlarged prostate, and urinary tract infections. They can make you feel like you have to go all the time, even if there isn’t much in your bladder. But polyuria makes you have to go more often because your body makes more urine.
What Are the Symptoms of Polyuria?
Besides making a lot of pee, you might also:
- Feel thirsty. You're losing a lot of fluid, and that can lead to dehydration.
- Wake up often at night. Your urge to go doesn't stop when you sleep.
What Causes Polyuria?
Things that can cause you to make too much urine include:
- Calcium channel blockers. These medications open your blood vessels and can lead to your body making more urine.
- Diuretics. These medications help you move water and salts out of your body.
- Lithium. This medication for bipolar disorder can damage your kidneys.
- SSRIs. This group of drugs is used to treat depression but can prevent your body from making ADH.
- Tetracycline. Demeclocycline, a form of this antibiotic, can affect ADH production.
Diagnosing Polyuria
Your doctor looks at many things to diagnose polyuria.
- Symptoms. They’ll ask about the amount of fluid your body makes and how thirsty you are.
- History. Your doctor will ask you when your symptoms started and check on any medical treatments that could cause it, like getting fluids, tube feeding, a urinary blockage, surgery, stroke, or head trauma.
- Physical exam. They’ll check for signs that you might have diabetes as well as other mental and physical conditions linked to polyuria. And they’ll look for swelling in your hands, feet, or belly. They’ll look for things that can cause diabetes insipidus, like cancer, Sjogren’s syndrome, antidepressants, and hypercalcemia.
- Urine test. Your doctor might use an 8, 12- or 24-hour test: You’ll get a special container and you’ll pee into it over a 24-hour period and take it back. When the 24 hours are up, go once more, add that urine, and note the time. Keep it cool until you can return it. The test looks for the same things as a random test, but gathering urine over a longer period gives the doctor a better idea of what’s in it.
A water deprivation test can help decide how well your kidneys work when ADH is in your system. You’ll have no fluids either for 8 hours or until you’ve lost 5% of your body weight. Your weight and urine concentration will be tested at regular intervals.
- Blood tests. These will check for electrolytes, calcium, and sodium.
- Glucose test. Your doctor will check your blood sugar to see if you have diabetes.
- Pituitary function test. This gland makes ADH. If something is wrong with it, your production could be off.
Polyuria Treatment
How you stop polyuria depends on what’s causing it. For example, if you have diabetes that isn’t under control, you may need to make changes to your treatments. If a medicine you take is the cause, talk to your doctor about switching to another drug or changing your dose.
At home, cut back on how much fluid you drink, especially those that have alcohol and caffeine.
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