“Where’s the Bathroom?” (aka: frequent urination)

My case of frequent urination began at a very early age: around 9 or 10 years old. By the time I was a teenager, my life was controlled by the availability of a bathroom due to the need for using, about once per hour. After numerous tests, including a very painful procedure involving enlarging the urethra, I was assessed with having an untreatable condition with no known cause.

Sometime in my mid twenties I developed digestive issues AND I still had frequent urination. I had the good fortune at this time, to meet an acupuncturist at a workshop. She noticed that I was making very frequent visits to the bathroom all through the workshop, and suggested acupuncture as a possible treatment to cure this problem. However, I was terrified of needles, plus I also felt pretty hopeless about anything helping my condition. Over time, I became good friends with the acupuncturist and decided to allow her to insert one needle. Suffice it to say I discovered it was no big deal and proceeded to receive regular treatments, along with herbal therapy prescribed by my acupuncturist. After 1 & ½ years, my condition was completely reversed. Since I had the problem for close to 20 years, it felt like a reasonable time frame to reverse an “untreatable” condition.

In Chinese Medicine we think of frequent urination as a problem with the Kidney system not the urinary bladder. The kidneys provide the energy for the bladder to contain the urine. Frequency is a different measure than volume, with this model. If a person has frequent urination, the number of trips to the bathroom stays pretty much the same with just the volume changing, when the amount of water consumed is higher. The other important distinction in Chinese Medicine is that deficiency patterns, such as frequent urination, have a different strategy for treatment than excess patterns, such as kidney stones. For frequent urination it is recommended to only drink water when you are thirsty as too much water makes the kidneys work harder. Test this by offering the body water to see if it wants some, but never force it. Bone broth soup or water that has full spectrum salt are good alternatives for water as they provide other important elements for the Kidney system. If you have kidney stones, which is a kind of excess condition, it is appropriate to drink lots of water.

If you have frequent urination what are some things you can do to help minimize or at least slow down the progression? First and foremost is getting enough rest. Going to bed by 9:30 pm helps to avoid cortisol surges, which negatively affect the adrenals, a significant part of the Kidney system. In the cave dwelling times cortisol was used to deal with night time stressors such as the fire going out or a drip of water in the cave itself, etc. Basically fairly small things that we needed to wake up for to deal with the problem at hand. In modern times the issue has become the artificial light that keeps us up too late. Normally our bodies secrete melatonin about an hour past the arrival of darkness outside. If we stay awake past this point then our bodies secrete cortisol to stay awake. This cycle repeats until we finally go to bed, thereby creating a chemical war of sorts. The other important detail in this circadian rhythm misfire is that cortisol surges are small, but if we repeat multiple times per night then it can equal the same energy required for an adrenaline surge. That makes it easy to see why people who go to bed late in the day oftentimes have adrenal fatigue. Rest also includes taking breaks when you are tired, such as those wonderful power naps, especially between the hours of 11 am and 2 pm, plus following the 70/30 rule. What that means is to only use 70% of your total available energy at any given time. This is potentially very challenging for Kidney system deficient folks as they often use their will to power through, as a chronic coping strategy. In other-words, they rarely know what their 70% is. If you suspect this is an accurate picture of yourself, it’s very helpful to have an ally. An ally looks like someone who can point out that you are in over-do-it mode and actually encourages you to take a break when you need one. Speaking from experience, it is potentially a difficult habit to break solo.

All seasonal changes are challenging to the Kidney system. However, winter is probably the most challenging. One of the many functions of the Kidney system is to regulate our internal temperature: keeping us cool in summer and warm in winter. Heating is generally more demanding, so in times of cold weather it is even more important to get enough rest. Hibernating bears have the right idea.

Exercise that doesn’t require a huge exertion is more supportive for Kidney deficiency. This principal is sort of shunned in the west, where everyone is viewed as being the same kind of tree: exercise hard and use your will to power through. Some people are oak trees, some are ginkgo, etc. Each tree needs different conditions to thrive. For deficiency conditions, less is generally more. When we age the dynamic always pushes us into the deficiency window unless we modify the body’s demands. Sometimes there is also a backlog of blockage which is an excess condition. As we age it is not uncommon to have both dynamics in play.

Here, in America, we like to think of ourselves as immortal. We expect to do just as much when we are 60 years old as 40 years old. However, to age gracefully, it may be more appropriate to tune in and really listen to see how much energy is in the savings account and spending it wisely. This is why you see middle aged and the elderly doing Chi Kung in the parks of China: they can no longer deny the effects of aging and wish to enhance their savings account and make it last. Age appropriate exercise has a very significant outcome. Some people age more quickly, due to what they have inherited, and of course the opposite is true. So the important thing is to learn how to listen and feel what is right as an ongoing process.

I will end this article with an image that will hopefully be helpful to those of you reading that have a tendency to over-do. About 10 years ago, when Chad (my was-band) and I were in the first stages of developing People’s Choice, I came home from work really tired one day. On the couch was a gigantic pile of laundry. Rather than folding, I decided to read a little so I pushed the laundry aside to make room for myself. About 4 hours later, Chad came home and took one look and started to applaud. This had a huge impact for me and is an image I treasure. It contradicts all of my up-bringing that says I was just being lazy. Does this sound familiar? We really are own worst critics and it is so important to avoid comparing ourselves to others. We inherit strengths and weaknesses and acknowledging this has the potential to empower and truly reveal our gifts. From there we can develop the wisdom to allow our bodies to lead us versus our minds, which has the potential to lead us gracefully into our later years.

To Health & Vitality no matter what our age,
Leslie Shanai

first published: Wednesday, April 11th, 2012