If i drink 3 liters of water a day how much should i urinate

Excessive amount of urination means that your body makes larger than normal amounts of urine each day.

An excessive volume of urination for an adult is more than 2.5 liters (about 67 fluid ounces or about 2.6 quarts) of urine per day. However, this can vary depending on how much water you drink and what your total body water is. This problem is different from needing to urinate often.

Polyuria is a fairly common symptom. People often notice the problem when they have to get up during the night to use the toilet (nocturia).

Some common causes of the problems are:

• Diabetes insipidus
• Diabetes mellitus
• Drinking excessive amounts of water

Less common causes include:

• Kidney failure
• Medicines such as diuretics and lithium
• High or low calcium level in the body
• Drinking alcohol and caffeine
• Sickle cell anemia

Also, your urine production may increase for 24 hours after having tests that involve injecting a special dye (contrast medium) into your vein during imaging tests such as a CT scan or an MRI scan.

To monitor your urine output, keep a daily record of the following:

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

Contact your health care provider if you have excessive urination over several days, and it is not explained by medicines you take or drinking more fluids.

Your provider will perform a physical exam and ask questions such as:

• When did the problem start and has it changed over time?
• How often do you urinate during the daytime and overnight? Do you get up at night to urinate?
• Do you have problems controlling your urine?
• What makes the problem worse? Better?
• Have you noticed any blood in your urine or change in urine color?
• Do you have any other symptoms (such as pain, burning, fever, or abdominal pain)?
• Do you have a history of diabetes, kidney disease, or urinary infections?
• What medicines do you take?
• How much salt do you eat? Do you drink alcohol and caffeine?

Tests that may be done include:

• Blood sugar (glucose) test
• Blood urea nitrogen test
• Creatinine (serum)
• Electrolytes (serum)
• Fluid deprivation test (limiting fluids to see if the urine volume decreases)
• Osmolality blood test
• Urinalysis
• Urine osmolality test
• 24-hour urine test

Elsamra SE. Evaluation of the urologic patient: history and physical examination. In: Partin AW, Domochowski RR, Kavoussi LR, Peters CA, eds. Campbell-Walsh-Wein Urology. 12th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2021:chap 1.

Landry DW, Bazari H. Approach to the patient with renal disease. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 26th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 106.

Updated by: Kelly L. Stratton, MD, FACS, Associate Professor, Department of Urology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

On the flip side, if you’re peeing too often, it could be a hint that you're drinking more water than you need to. However, if you cut back on your intake and your pee falls in that pale-yellow-to-clear range, but you’re still constantly racing to the bathroom, you might have overactive bladder.

If you feel like you have to pee all the time and need to go right that second, you may have overactive bladder.

“Overactive bladder is a syndrome defined by urinary urgency, frequency, and nocturia—somebody wakes up at night to go to the restroom,” George says. Symptoms can also include urge incontinence, aka leaking pee before you can make it to the bathroom (or even thinking you might leak without actually doing so).

“When the bladder gets distended, it sends a signal to the brain saying it needs to empty,” George says. But if you have overactive bladder, your bladder sends false signals to your brain saying it’s time to empty even if it’s nowhere near full.

While peeing very often can also be a sign of a urinary tract infection, overactive bladder doesn’t usually come with the burning, pelvic pain, and bloody urine that can accompany a UTI, Bellows says.

There are many reasons you might have an overactive bladder, including childbirth.

Nerve injury during childbirth is the biggest risk factor for bladder issues. “As a baby goes through the birth canal, it stretches the ligaments and muscles down below in the pelvis,” George says. Specifically, childbirth can affect the pudendal nerve, which impacts the bladder and rectum. “Because of that injury, there can be a miscommunication between the brain and bladder—the bladder has a mind of its own, and instead of staying nice and calm until [it's full], your bladder has involuntary spasms throughout the day,” George says.

Overactive bladder may also come down to what George calls a “voiding dysfunction,” or not being able to completely empty your bladder when you pee. “Going to the restroom very frequently but having small-volume voids is classic overactive bladder,” George says. Beyond childbirth, common reasons for this include neurological issues like stroke, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s, or having had previous bladder surgery.

Less frequently, excessive urination can be a learned behavior, George says. If you pee every hour during your work break even if you don’t feel the need to go, it can get your bladder accustomed to emptying that often no matter what, for example.

Kegel exercises and diet changes can help an overactive bladder. You may also need to see your doc.

Behavioral therapy can help with overactive bladder that’s due to a learned behavior, George says. And since strengthening the pelvic floor, which supports the bladder, is often a major part in combating other overactive bladder causes, doctors might send patients with overactive bladder to a physical therapist specializing in pelvic floor dysfunction.

“They usually help patients target the pelvic floor muscles and teach them how to do Kegels,” George says. “Lots of times, people aren’t doing Kegels properly—they may be contracting their glutes or thighs or abdominals instead of it being a focused contraction of pelvic floor,” George says. (If you're curious, here's the right way to do Kegels in order to strengthen your pelvic floor.)

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