My Turn

2.Safety

While nationwide public opinion varies, the medical community touts its success and safety. The process for developing and approving vaccines is rigorous and includes clinical trials and extensive testing to ensure both their safety and efficacy. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has monitoring systems in place to continue tracking vaccine safety even after they are approved for use.

In addition, vaccines do not cause autism. This myth has been perpetuated for years, but multiple studies have proven that vaccines are not the cause of autism. The original study linking vaccines to autism has been retracted and debunked, and the overwhelming scientific consensus is that vaccines are safe. Pregnant women should also get vaccinated. Vaccination can protect both the mother and the fetus from serious diseases, such as influenza.

“Not only are vaccines extremely safe, but it is a great health initiative to help the overall population. This is how we address infections nationwide and keep everyone safe,” added Blais.

3.Vaccines for kids

The most important vaccines for children include DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis), MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella), and HPV (human papillomavirus). These vac-

By Eva Briggs, MD

Does Frequent Urination Impact Your Sleep?

Nocturia means getting out of bed to urinate more than once during the night.

Frequent nocturia impacts sleep.

Disrupted sleep increases the risk of daytime drowsiness, decreases energy, delays reaction times, diminishes mental and physical performance and makes people cranky.

Over the long-term, poor sleep increases the risk of depression, immune suppression, cardiovascular and other physical disease, and motor vehicle accidents.

But there is no one size fits all cure. An accurate history and exam is key to determining both cause and possible treatments. First, do you wake up because you need to urinate? Or do you head to the bathroom because something else awakened you — perhaps pain or sleep apnea? Is the urinary stream strong or weak? Are there daytime symptoms such as frequent urination or urgency?

Keeping a journal will enable you to distinguish between frequent small amounts of urine (a storage or overactivity issue) versus voiding large volumes (overproduction). Your doctor might use ultrasound check how much urine remains in your bladder after you urinate. This is called post-void residual.

Failure of your bladder to empty completely could be a blockage in the urinary tract, an enlarged prostate, a medication side effect, narrowing of the urethra (the tube carrying urine from the bladder) or damage to the nerves that control bladder function.

Behaviors leading to nocturia include drinking habits such as the timing of caffeine and alcohol intake or taking diuretics (water pills) too cines protect children from serious illnesses and diseases that could lead to complications and even death.

Sami Blais is a physician assistant for Oswego Family Physicians.

Vaccination continues to be the most effective way to protect individuals from serious and life-threatening illnesses. It is important for both children and adults to receive all the recommended vaccines to protect themselves and their communities. Vaccines are safe and have been thoroughly tested before being approved for use. If you have any concerns or questions about vaccinations, speak with your healthcare provider.

“We recommend that you follow up with your pediatrician because they know the full schedule you need from the time you are a newborn,” said Blais. “This is something that we push because when kids are not vaccinated routinely, that is when you start seeing the spread of certain diseases whether that is measles or chickenpox.”

4.Vaccines for adults

Vaccines remain just as important for adults as they are for children. Many adults need booster shots for vaccines they received as children, close to bedtime.

If nocturia is associated with ankle swelling, there may be underlying heart issue. Obesity, large neck, and loud snoring suggest possible sleep apnea. In fact, people with sleep apnea are as likely to have nocturia as snoring. During breath holding spells (apnea), the heart releases a hormone called atrial natriuretic peptide which prods the kidneys into excreting salt and water.

Once the cause or causes of nocturia are determined, your doctor can guide you to the best treatment.

Possible solutions include:

Lifestyle changes — avoiding liquids for two hours before bed, avoiding alcohol and caffeine in the evening, and ensuring diuretic medicines are taken early in the day.

When there is a mechanical obstruction to urine flow, surgery can improve urine flow and postvoid residual. Because nocturia can arise from a combination of factors, surgery does not always improve frequency or urgency. But correction of the obstruction can permit the use of medicines that must be avoided when there is urinary outflow obstruction.

A medication called desmopressin acetate helps some people who produce large volumes of urine during the night. This requires close such as tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. In addition, adults should receive certain vaccines based on their age, health status and occupation.

“When it comes to adults, we recommend various vaccinations whether that is shingles, the flu vaccine or receiving your tetanus booster every 10 years. We don’t want people thinking that just because you are an adult, you no longer need to be concerned about vaccinations,” she added.

5.COVID-19 update

This summer the CDC has made some slight changes to its recommendations for vaccinations. There is an updated vaccine dose for adults 65 and older and additional doses for people who are immunocompromised. This allows more flexibility for healthcare providers to administer additional doses to immunocompromised patients as needed. CDC recommends that everyone aged 6 and older receive an update. For young children, multiple doses continue to be recommended and will vary by age, vaccine, and which vaccines were previously received.

monitoring by a doctor because it may lower the blood sodium concentration. Newer formulations of this medicine released in 2017 using lower doses to reduce this risk.

One cause of nocturia is overactive bladder, with symptoms of frequency, urgency, and sometimes urge incontinence (wetting oneself before being able to reach the bathroom.) This may respond to a type of medication called antimuscarinics. If these don’t help, or if the patient has other conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, previous stroke, an urologist may need to do additional workup.

Other treatments for selected patients with nocturia include pelvic floor therapy, timed voiding, botulinum toxin.

If your sleep is interrupted by nocturia, see your doctor for help.