bathroom dreams

[jackiegram]

I  recently read a question posed to you regarding a man with nocturia who recently began having "dreams" that he needed to urinate. I dont feel like you really addressed his concerns, since I have the same problem and feel like you totally ignored the problem.  Let me explain this in a different way.  I am 47 years old, female  and have no prior history of bedwetting.  About a year or so ago I began having dreams that I needed to urinate and in my dream I am sitting on the toilet urinating.  Obviously  since I am asleep and vividly dreaming that I am sitting on the commode I cannot make the concious distinction of dream vs reality so I end up urinating in bed while in my mind and in my dream I am urinating on the toilet.  I always wake up immediately afterwards and discover that I was only "dreaming" that I was sitting on the commode and i am laying in a puddle!!!!  I do not have a UTI and have no urinary problems while awake.   The problem is the dreaming!!!!  How do I stop myself from dreamming that I am sitting on a commode urinating??????

[Bravely66]

I am a 49 year old woman and this happens to me. Thank you all so much for your posts. I have just woken from one of those dreams which happens to me occasionally and mostly when I am either exhausted or stressed. I have been to the doctor who sent me  to a urologist and all tests came back normal. It has really been stressing me out. My partner is fine with it and never makes me feel bad but it is embarrassing to say the least. I have the waterproof mattress protector and just throw everything in the wash but I worry that it will get worse in the future and really want to fix this problem. If I find a solution I will post here. In the meantime I think I will go back to the doctor and get some sleep deprivation tests. The best thing is knowing I’m not completely alone in this.

[georgette6334]

Same problem - really vivid bathroom dream, result: really wet bed. Occasionally I manage to wake up mid-dream/mid-stream, before it's too dramatic. (But not last night.) And it only happens occasionally - like every six to nine months. I'm really lucky - my husband is totally relaxed about it, and always makes me feel better. But still - I'd love not to have to deal with it.

I'm not in any way a medical professional, but I'm not inclined to treat this as a physical problem. I think my bladder, etc, are fine - it all certainly seems to work fine during the daytime. I agree with the poster (maybe it was the related forum) who tied this to sleep deprivation. For me, this seems to happen when I go to bed dog-tired or super-stressed; I think it's my brain finding a creative way NOT to give up any sleep time. And since it happens relatively rarely, I don't have much hope of re-training myself. So I'm taking the damage-mitigation route: not diapers, but a waterproof mattress cover, since my biggest concern is ruining our bed. Everything else can be thrown in the wash.

Anyway - just wanted to say thanks to everyone for posting. It makes me feel better to know that I'm not alone in this.

[TallulahMae]

I am a 40 yo woman who has the bathroom dreams. It effects my waking life too, because if I am in a strange bathroom I panic and worry I am dreaming. When I am asleep dreaming a bathroom dream, in the dream I am worrying I am asleep.....

I do try not to drink much after 8pm, which helps a lot. Last night I had tea at 8:30 and sure enough had a bathroom dream.

I feel way to old to have to deal with this.

[NAJEL]

The urologist did a bladder retention test and a ultrasound of my kidneys.  Tests came back fine.  The next step I guess is a sleep study to see if lack of efficient sleep is the problem.  The urologist had me buy a bed wetting monitor (about $50, can buy online).  I use it at night, but because I know it is there I sleep more lightly and haven't had any episodes.  The concept behind the monitor is that it is retraining your brain to send wake up impulses when urinating and then your brain learns that "when I need to urinate, I will also need to wake."  He said that if you urinate most nights that it should take a couple of weeks to months to rehabilitate.  In my case, since I only have accidents one or two nights a month, I am supposed to use it for a least a year.  Keep you posted on my progress.

[rexalan]

I am a 58 year old male that started betwetting a couple years ago. I will be dreaming about something then in real life I have a strong sensation that I have to pee. This becomes part of my dream and I am frantically looking for a bathroom. I have had these types of dreams for years but about 2 years ago I actually started to go in my sleep.  A couple weeks ago I must have got out of bed while I was still asleep because I was standing next to the bed holding myself and peeing, my worst accident so far. I must have thought I was in the bathroom.

[momof2grlz]

I found the comment from the man who experiences this with sleeplessness very helpful.  I was never a bedwetter as a child but have had several incidents after having children (I'm the mother of two young children).  I thought it might have to do with some type of physical change resulting from pregnancy and childbirth, but it always occurs with the dreams and I don't seem to have any problems with urination in general.  I am, however, consistently sleep deprived.  It seems to happen on nights when I can finally get a good night of sleep.  Maybe I'm able to slip into such a deep state of sleep that this occurs.  It's horribly embarrassing!  Thank you for the comments - this is helpful.

[NAJEL]

I am a 29 year old female.  I have the exact problem stated above.  I peed the bed as a child until the age of ten. I solved the problem when my physician told me that I should pinch my wrist everytime I used the restroom at night.  If I was awake I would feel and could pee.  If I didn't feel it, that meant I was asleep and should tell myself to wake up.  As a child of ten this did the trick.  However, as an adult it no longer works.  I still pinch myself, but in my dreams I have now convinced myself I can feel it and wake in a puddle.  I have been to my physician.  They ran diabetes and thyroid checks on me.  In my case either was not the problem.  I have an appointment with a urologist in a couple weeks.  I will keep you posted.

[HankJax]

You're right, jackiegram, this problem was ignored in the response; and has been generally ignored since your post, it appears.  This same thing started happening to me. I'm 41, and I had this ridiculous dream every 4 years or so, but the frequency increased to maybe once a year about 8 years ago.  Very disturbing and embarrasing (i'm married now).  As it turns out, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea almost a year ago.  I started on the CPAP, and that seemed to resolve the problem.  Since I've been more rested, I could arouse myself from sleep a little easier.  I got off the CPAP for most of the past 2 weeks, and have been getting 3 to 6 hours of sleep per night due to heavy work demands.  It happened again last night!  I'm conviced that a built up sleep deficit (as a result of the apnea and my work schedule) makes it almost impossible for me to wake up, so I incorporate this into a commode dream.  I would like to know what other thoughts on this are, because I really don't want to bring this issue to a doctor for further humiliation.

[gemini614]

Has there been a response to this question?  I am a 38 year old male, experiencing the exact same thing.  The only difference is my bathroom dreams the lead to me urinating are 5+ years apart.  So it has happened to me 3 times in the last 17 years.