Polyuria, which produces abnormally large amounts of urine, is generally associated with diabetes.
Polyuria is a fairly common condition. However, excessive urination is one of the main symptoms that people with diabetes report before being diagnosed.
Many people with diabetes may experience polyuria after diagnosis.
In this article, we will investigate the relationship between the causes of polyuria and diabetes.
What is Poliuria??
Polyuria is a medical term when a person is producing excess urine.
It is usually noticed that excessive urination is either when someone urinates more frequently than normal ones, or when there is more urination in the bladder than is typical of the bladder.
However, both urinary frequency and urinary urgency are different symptoms than polyuria. Polyuria is particularly relevant to the total volume of urine produced by the body.
Poliuria should always be reported to your doctor or healthcare provider, especially if it is not fully explained in a condition you know.
Poliuria may also be associated with nocturia, a medical term for having to wake up at least once a night and go to the bathroom.
How much urine is considered polyuria?
Healthcare professionals define polyuria in terms of the total amount of urine a person produces in a day.
If someone is drinking a normal amount of liquid (about 2 liters or 68 ounces of liquid per day), the normal amount of urine that they produce is between 800 ml and 2 liters of urine.
However, from exercise to external temperature and humidity, to medication and coffee intake, these numbers can affect them and are not always in a diagnostic condition. Also, people may urinate more or less, depending on their level of hydration.
For adults, the National Library of Medicine considers polyuria to produce 2.5 liters of urine (68 ounces, or more than 2.5 quarts) of urine in 24 hours.
Some undiagnosed diabetics urinate up to 15 liters of fluid per day, an extreme case of polyuria, but possible.
How often do you pee?
First of all, there is no set number of times per day, whether someone should or should pee. However, on average, a typical person pees 6-7 times a day.
People can urinate anywhere between 4-10 times a day, and can be considered healthy if they are not hindering their daily lives. However, Poliurians produce more urine than usual, so they pee more frequently than usual.
Peeing on average more than 10 times a day may be considered polyurination, especially if it is a nuisance to your schedule and life.
If you are urinating more frequently than usual, or if you are urinating more than once a night and producing a large amount of urine every time you pee, you may want to talk to your doctor.
If you pee frequently but aren’t productive, you may be experiencing prostate problems (male only) and you may want to talk to your doctor.
What are the symptoms of polyuria?
Symptoms of polyuria include:
- I urinate more than usual
- Urinate more frequently than usual
- I wake up at least once a night to urinate
- I feel like I have to urinate right after using the toilet
- I feel like my bladder is not completely empty as soon as I use the bathroom
What are the most common causes of polyuria?
Polyuria is a condition in several conditions, including:
- Undiagnosed type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes, or prediabetics
- Hyperglycemia levels in people diagnosed with diabetes
- Diabetic Ketosidosis (DKA)
- ketosis, especially in combination with hyperglycemic levels, or when someone has fallen into ketosis at the start of a ketogenic diet
- Kidney damage due to illness, infection, or physical injury
- Sickle cell disease
- Liver disease
- Overactive bladder
- Bloody Prostate or Other Prostate Problems (Male)
- Urinary tract infection (UTI)
- pregnancy
- Specific prescription drugs
In the most benign cases, polyuria can be the result of just drinking large amounts of liquid, but in these cases it disappears once the liquid intake returns to normal.
Why does diabetes cause polyuria?
Diabetes is most often undiagnosed diabetes, causing polyuria due to hyperglycemic levels.
If the body does not have enough insulin or the bloodstream does not have insulin, the cells cannot digest glucose from the edible food. When that glucose spreads to the bloodstream, hyperglycemia levels are produced.
When blood sugar levels are high, the kidneys produce more urine to try to flush out excess glucose from the body.
This cycle also causes classic diabetic symptoms of excessive thirst. Undiagnosed diabetics are urinating so much that the brain tells the body to drink more to exchange all the fluids that are lost.
This can be a dangerous cycle if someone’s blood sugar levels don’t drop immediately. If you are struggling with both excessive thirst and excessive urination and have not been diagnosed with diabetes, call your doctor immediately.
If you are experiencing both excessive urination and excessive thirst and have diagnosed diabetes, check your blood sugar levels immediately to check your ketones.
If your blood sugar levels are dangerously high and you have medium or high ketones, call your doctor immediately.
Making diabetes naturally does not cause polyuria. Hyperglycemia does that. If your blood sugar level is high and you are urinating more than normal, take insulin (or other prescribed diabetes medication) and when your blood sugar level returns to normal, polyuria usually disappears.
Conclusion
Polyuria is a condition in which the body produces excessive amounts of urine. In reality, it is a condition of a variety of conditions, including undiagnosed diabetes, diagnosed diabetes, diabetic ketosidosis, pregnancy, kidney infection, urinary tract infection, and even prostate problems.
A typical person will drain less than 2 liters per day, usually six to eight times a day. However, Poliuria people may urinate multiple times, day or night, at more than 15 liters per day.
If you are experiencing polyurinary symptoms, including increased urinary output (no underlying causes such as excessive water or coffee intake), increased frequency of urination, the need to constantly use the toilet, or using the toilet all night long, you may want to talk to your doctor about the symptoms.
Diabetes is a common cause of polyuria due to untreated hyperglycemia levels in the bloodstream. When the body lacks insulin, blood sugar levels rise, and the kidneys produce more urine and flush out the excess sugar body.
This can quickly lead to dehydration and another classic diabetic symptoms, excessive thirst.
If you think you have undiagnosed diabetes, or if you have diagnosed diabetes and are experiencing these symptoms, check your blood sugar levels immediately and ideally check your ketones as well.
If blood glucose levels do not return to normal ranges, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) can develop, which can potentially be life-threatening.
