Thursday, February, 09, 2012

Urination - excessive volume

Table of Contents

Alternative Names

Polyuria


Home Care

You should keep track of the following every day:

  • How much you drink
  • How often you urinate and how much urine you produce each time
  • How much you weigh (use the same scale every day)

Call your health care provider if

Call your doctor if you have excessive urination over several days, and it is not explained by medications or increase in fluids.


What to expect at your health care provider's office

Your health care provider will perform a physical exam and ask you questions about your medical history and symptoms, including:

  • Time pattern
    • How long has you noticed this problem?
    • Do you produce the same amount of urine every day?
    • What time of day does the problem seem worse?
  • Quality
    • What color is the urine?
    • Do you have blood in your urine?
    • How many times each day do you urinate? What about at night?
    • Any problems controlling urine?
  • Aggravating factors
    • What makes the problem worse?
    • Does drinking large volumes of fluid make you produce more urine?
  • Relieving factors
    • Does anything help relieve the problem?
    • Does restricting fluid intake reduce the urine volume?
  • Other
    • What other symptoms do you have?
      • Do you have any pain or burning when urinating?
      • Do you have back or abdominal pain?
      • Have you had a fever?
      • Is bed wetting a problem?
    • What medications do you take?
    • Do you have a family history of diabetes or kidney problems?
    • Have you had a previous urinary tract infection?
  • Dietary factors
    • How much do you drink every day?
    • How much caffeine do you have each day?
    • How much alcohol do you drink each day?
    • How much salt do you use each day?

Tests that may be done include:

  • Blood glucose (sugar) test
  • Blood urea nitrogen test
  • Creatinine studies
  • Electrolytes
  • Fluid deprivation test (the intake of fluids is restricted to see if the urine volume decreases)
  • Osmolality blood test
  • Urine osmolality test
  • Urinalysis

Review Date: 09/30/2009
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Scott Miller, MD, Urologist in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)