Question
Hi! I have a concern here. Usually, I take down a glass of water or two before I sleep. It has been a frequent or almost sure matter where between my sleeps, I would have the urge to urinate. It starts from an erection. Most of the times, I ignore the erection and sleep on. I think it lasts for few hours till sometimes up to 5 or six hours. I am in a condition of sleeping, thus, I am not clear of what's really happening, you see. Sometimes, the erection I feel in between my sleep will partially interrupt my sleep as it is not really comfortable. Once I get up in the morning and urinate, the erection is eased immediately.
What I am concerned here is about gall stones. I know that a person who holds himself from urinating often might develop gall stones in the long run. Does this seem to apply to my condition above too? What can I do to prevent this potential disease? How do I know if I have some accumulation of gall stones in my kidney/bladder? Finally, is the main cause of erection an accumulation of water in my bladder/penis?
Thanks for your time.
Sincerely from,
Alan Mak (AM)
Answer
Gallstones are formed in the gallbladder, which is quite different than the urinary bladder. The gallbladder is a sac that holds bile (used to digest fatty foods) and it is situated on the bottom surface of the liver. It releases bile when we are digesting meals, and if a stone is present and lodges in the area where the bile is exiting, you can have problems. Drinking water and urinating may, if anything, prevent the formation of gallstones, because it increases movement in the digestive tract. Holding urine should not in anyway affect the process. You might be confusing gallstones with kidney stones. These form in the ureters, which are the tubes connecting the kidneys to the urinary bladder. Drinking water should prevent the formation of most types of kidney stones, since this increases flow in the ureters and keeps things more diluted and less able to crystallize into stones. Holding your urine won't affect this because under normal conditions, the contents of the urinary bladder are kept from backing up into the ureters by a one way valve. If there is a problem with this valve, then backup of urine into the ureters could occur, and this would be worsened if one ignored the urge to urinate. IF this were the case, you would very likely have frequent urinary tract infections as the consequence, but not increased kidney stone formation or an increased tendency to get an obstruction. As urine backs up over a long period of time, it leads to increased caliber of the ureter, and the bigger the hole, the less likely you will ever be able to block it. Also the greater the flow, the less likely you will get stones, so to answer your question, you are not hurting yourself if you have no history of kidney problems and know you don't have a problem with backup of urine. AS I said, the tip off would be infections. If you get kidney stones, the sign is pain from obstruction, which causes spasm of the ureter and is very painful. You would want to drink a lot of water to prevent this, although it would only help in some types of stone formation (there are more than one).
As for the erections, men have them during REM (dream) sleep, and this is normal. It should occur several times a night and would have nothing to do with the contents of the bladder other than an erection with a full bladder may be painful and would cause you to wake. I would suggest spacing your water intake out during the day and getting a good night's sleep. You would see the same benefits and it is important to get continuous sleep and to dream as much as you need to. You may be interrupting things and cutting dream sleep short by having a too full bladder. Drinking two glasses of water before bed will definitely disrupt things. If you change this to daytime drinking and still have the problem, then write back. Newer research indicates that increased urine production and nocturia (having to get up to urinate at night) may indicate the early stages of a sleep disorder. Certain sleep disorders cause changes in blood flow in the heart and lung, and would prevent the normal decrease in urine production that occurs at night. Normally, urine production drops dramatically during sleep, and this is probably to prevent just the thing you are experiencing - nocturia. IF this doesn't occur, it wakes us up and prevents normal sleep cycles from occuring.
