Posted 11/7/2012 2:14 PM (GMT 0)
Alf: I am not at all surprised that you urinate 15 times a day. I will express this in US and Metric so both side of the pond can easily understand the problem. If you are drinking 2850 ml (96 ounces) per day, you will easily make urinating something like a hobby rather than a rudimentary bodily function. 96 ounces is 3 quarts in US equivalents or 3/4 of a gallon.
This is a good teaching moment for newbies with incontinence issues or for many of us who are missing a prostate and only have one sphincter to hold our bladder in check. For those who go to physical therapy to control urinary issues, one of the primary concepts learned is to modify fluid intake. Drink in excess and you will urinate in excess. Simple input/output mechanics apply when measured. The difference between the two is due to respiration and perspiration.
The urban health myth we all grew up with was that we should drink 8 glasses of water per day (translated: 64 ounces or 1892 ml of fluid) to maintain overall health. Researchers tried to find the reasoning for this dictum and the best they came up with was that the 8 glasses a day requirement was attributed to Weight Watchers who advocated water intake to curb hunger.
In H. Ballentine Carter's new book "The Whole Life Prostate Book," which I highly recommend, for overall reading on prostate health both pre and post treatment has a section devoted to fluid intake, especially as it relates to Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS). Carter also questions the 8 glasses per day myth and boils it down to a simple sentence. Drink fluid when you are thirsty. Under certain conditions men can consume as little as 32 oz or 946 ml per day or more if exercise and climate dictate the need for more fluid intake, but let thirst be the trigger to drinking.
This advice worked for me. Carter was my RP surgeon and on a follow up phone call he scolded me when I told him I was consuming around 58 oz or 1751 ml of fluid per day. I drank 16 oz at breakfast, 20 oz of ice tea in the morning, 14 oz of water at lunch and 8 oz at dinner. The doctor said how could I hope to achieve any urinary stability when I was creating so much activity for my bladder. Currently, I drink around 46 to 50 oz of fluid per day (1360 ml to 1478 ml) He also said that high consumption of fluid makes for less efficient and thorough filtering of waste products by the kidneys. So overall, more fluid was not better for me as I had thought. Some of the fluids you are drinking also have diuretic properties so not only will your body drain itself of fluids, it will excite your bladder to some extent as it rapidly fills.
So unless you really enjoy urinating 15 times per day, my advice would be to wean yourself off of drinking 2850 or 96 oz of fluid per day. I could post the same stats as you did if I drank as much fluid. If I am standing, my bladder only holds around 200 ml before I get both the urge to urinate and a tiny amount of leaking that tells me my bladder pressure is exceeding the limits of my sphincter's ability to hold back the flow. Worried Guy can give you the engineering details if he posts a reply....
Hope this helps provide a different perspective on fluid intake.