Big bladder confirmed

I have always been a big drinker. My mum noticed early on that if I was grumpy and belligerent, giving me a big glass of lemonade would often solve the problem. I must have often have been unknowingly thirsty as a small child. Recognising your needs is a skill you have to develop! 

By now I am very aware of it, and can take measures. When I ended up drinking two pints of beer on the last night of the swamp hike (the second was unsolicited) I just made sure to drink about 1.5 carafes of water for each of them. That way I was fine. One of my friends was a bit baffled by where I put all that liquid. I only went to the loo at the very end! I know I have both a big stomach and a big bladder. Unfortunately, I had to go twice (!) more in the night, but that was a reasonable price to pay. 

Some 10 years ago, I was ski touring in Norway with a group of friends, and in the beginning we had ski guides with us. One of them told a story of her being stuck in a snowstorm with clients; it was too dangerous to go outside for a wee. Everyone had to wee in bottles. And she said that one lady had done that, but the capacity of the bottle turned out to be smaller than that of her bladder, and once she had started weeing she couldn’t stop. Chaos! I decided there and then I needed to measure my bladder capacity. 

It never made it to the top of my priority list, not even when I kept a 2L milk bottle aside for the purpose. I could weigh it empty and full. 

Then last weekend it finally made it to the top of my list. After all those years, I finally know! If I wait until I feel a strong, but not worrisome urge, I produce 1.4 litres. I suppose I might get up to about 1.5 litres if I wait until it hurts. So if I ever have to wee in a bottle, I should make sure it is at least a 1.5 liter specimen! 

Now that I knew, I wanted to know what ‘normal’ people have. Google suggests the normal range is 300-600 ml. So I’m three times that! That counts as big. 

I know I must have a big stomach too, as it’s not unusual for me to drink 2.5 litres straight after lunch or dinner, which most people don’t do. But then, my digestive system works fine, and with my running career going as it goes one would assume I have a sizeable heart and lungs too. So how does that work? How does it all fit? There is limited space in my rib cage and abdomen. 

This is something I may never find out. But at least, everything works fine, and that’s the important bit. And another thing: I can stop weeing if needed. Not sure if I’ll ever really need that, but it can’t hurt!