bedwetting questions re: 10yo boy

[Leandra]

I have a 10yo son who struggles with bedwetting all his life. Until a
couple of years ago, he wet every night and wore GoodNites, and didn't
mind. Then he starts saying they wasn't comfortable and he wants to
quit wearing them. So we got one of those bedwetting alarms, and it
helped. He was dry several weeks with the alarm and then he stopped
using it, and was dry for a couple of more months. Then he starts
having accidents again about twice a month. He tried the alarm a few
times since that initial time, and it helps for a couple of months but
then the accidents start up again. We don't get mad at him about the
accidents. He tried DDVAP for camp, but I don't think it worked, he
had a couple of accidents at camp even on the medication. (His camp
handles bedwetting nicely, the counsellors washed and replaced his
sheets while the kids was out of the bunk and nobody never said
anything bad to him about it.)

So, I got 3 questions about this:

1) The alarm got him down from accidents every day to a couple a
month. Is there anything else he can do to take the final step to no
more accidents?

2) We had a streak last week where he wet 4 days out of 5. This is
way more than usual for him. Since then he's been dry 3 nights. Any
ideas what could of cause that kind of thing?

3) When a boy hits puberty and if he's still wetting the bed, if he
has a wet dream will he be able to tell that it isn't pee?

thankyou,
Leandra

[Louise]

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 17:59:40 EST, (Leandra)
wrote:

>2) We had a streak last week where he wet 4 days out of 5. This is
>way more than usual for him. Since then he's been dry 3 nights. Any
>ideas what could of cause that kind of thing?

Stress.
Overtiredness.
Illness.
Drinking milk in the evening or otherwise having a lot of dairy
products late in the day.
Anything else that means he's sleeping very deeply those nights.

Louise

[Leandra]

Louise > wrote in message >...
> On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 17:59:40 EST, (Leandra)
> wrote:
>
> >2) We had a streak last week where he wet 4 days out of 5. This is
> >way more than usual for him. Since then he's been dry 3 nights. Any
> >ideas what could of cause that kind of thing?
>
> Stress.
> Overtiredness.
> Illness.
> Drinking milk in the evening or otherwise having a lot of dairy
> products late in the day.
> Anything else that means he's sleeping very deeply those nights.

thanks for your thoughts. Was wondering about stress because his
teacher was out for a week (planned) but then the expected sub had a
death in the family and was also out, so all plans and schedules went
out the window, but the streak started before all the stress, maybe
just a coinsidence, also there might be a vicious cycle of stress if
peeing the bed causes stress, which it does.

If it hadn't of stopped when it did, which was on a weekend, I would
of brought him to the doctor to get checked for any physical reason
that could of caused it.

He wasn't sick or having extra dairy at those times. we found
chocolat might increase accidents for him too, but that was not the
culprit this time.

thanks,
Leandra

[lili today, who knows tomorrow?]

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 17:59:40 EST, (Leandra)
> wrote:
>
> >2) We had a streak last week where he wet 4 days out of 5. This is
> >way more than usual for him. Since then he's been dry 3 nights. Any
> >ideas what could of cause that kind of thing?


Rule out any organic cause with your paediatric urologist, please!
Bedwetting at his age can have psychiatric indications later on. Male
bedwetters can end up with psychosomatic sexual dysfunctions. If all
clear, his urologist may recommend taking a higher protein, lower
processed carbohydrate intake. Without enough proteins and too much
sugar in the blood (white bread, white rice, pasta etc turn to sugar
quickly in the blood overloading it) the bladder weakens and spasms at
night, and after a sugar drop, he is likely to sleep through any
disturbances in the night. Also, if he suffers from a sleep disorder,
he could be sleeping in an unnatural state whereby he cannot awaken to
use the toilet. I strongly suggest you spend whatever you have to in
order to rule out any organic cause. It will be worth putting off the
family vacation for a while, or to go without cable for a few months,
for your son's mental and physical health in later years. If you have
an HMO and they refuse to refer your son to a urologist, then please
save up and give him the gift of a visit to a qualified paediatric
urologist?

[Sandi Jones]

For our boys not allowing any dairy products after lunch *instantly*
cured bed wetting. Someone told me about this one, and I was cynical,
but then my laundry loads were drastically reduced. It may or may not be
a causative factor with your child, but I'd beg you to give it a shot.
It's a cheap test. 1 week, no milk after lunch, and see if you have more
dry nights than usual.

Good luck,

Sandi Jones

[Leandra]

Sandi Jones > wrote in message >...
> For our boys not allowing any dairy products after lunch *instantly*
> cured bed wetting. Someone told me about this one, and I was cynical,
> but then my laundry loads were drastically reduced. It may or may not be
> a causative factor with your child, but I'd beg you to give it a shot.
> It's a cheap test. 1 week, no milk after lunch, and see if you have more
> dry nights than usual.

Thankyou for that suggestion. We have experimented with alot of
different diet suggestions in the past including no milk but
unfortunately we never found any diet that make a difference for my
son.

Thanks,
Leandra

[Leandra]

In article >,
lili today, who knows tomorrow? > wrote:

>Rule out any organic cause with your paediatric urologist, please!

WEll of course we have already ruled out pathological causes in
general many years ago. But the cuase is "organic" (as opposed to
psychoological). It is caused by low levels of antidiaretic hormone
(ADH) combined with deep sleep. ADH helps reduce urine when sleeping,
which is why most adults don't have to pee in the middle of the night.
For some kids with low ADH but that are light sleepers, they don't
end up being bedwetters because they wake up when they need to pee and
go to the bathroom.

But since my son has had an increase in his frequency of bedwetting
during the past 6 weeks we have asked his doctor whether any new
physical cause may be contributing to the problem and we have a
referral for a pediatric urologist but unfortunately it takes along
time to get an appointment.

>Bedwetting at his age can have psychiatric indications later on. Male
>bedwetters can end up with psychosomatic sexual dysfunctions.

Do you have any reference on that?

> If all
>clear, his urologist may recommend taking a higher protein, lower
>processed carbohydrate intake. Without enough proteins and too much
>sugar in the blood (white bread, white rice, pasta etc turn to sugar
>quickly in the blood overloading it) the bladder weakens and spasms
at
>night, and after a sugar drop, he is likely to sleep through any
>disturbances in the night.

Do you have any reference on *that*? that is a theory that I haven't
heard yet and I have heard quite alot in these past 5 or so years of
doing research on this issue to help my son.

>I strongly suggest you spend whatever you have to in
>order to rule out any organic cause. It will be worth putting off the
>family vacation for a while, or to go without cable for a few months,
>for your son's mental and physical health in later years. If you have
>an HMO and they refuse to refer your son to a urologist, then please
>save up and give him the gift of a visit to a qualified paediatric
>urologist?

I can aford a urolgist apointment just fine thankyou and I don't
appreciate your assumptions or the lecture on priorities. We have
always put our children's medical and other needs first. And as I say
we are waiting to see ours because of the change in our son's pattern
has made us concerned.

But I think you overestimate the harm to my sons mental health (and
other boys his age) from his bedwetting. It is treated matter of
factly by us and on sleepovers and even overnight camp, he has had no
teasing or bad feelings because of this. My son *and his friends*
understand that this is a medical condition that he can't control.
There are lots of kids that are bedwetters that can't be fixed by a
change in the diet or anything and they are not all doomed to poor
mental and physical health. MOst of them out grow it eventually and
grow into normal healthy adults. I don't think there is any need for
your doo m and gloom additude.

Leandra

[dragonlady]

In article >,
(Leandra) wrote:


>
> But I think you overestimate the harm to my sons mental health (and
> other boys his age) from his bedwetting. It is treated matter of
> factly by us and on sleepovers and even overnight camp, he has had no
> teasing or bad feelings because of this. My son *and his friends*
> understand that this is a medical condition that he can't control.
> There are lots of kids that are bedwetters that can't be fixed by a
> change in the diet or anything and they are not all doomed to poor
> mental and physical health. MOst of them out grow it eventually and
> grow into normal healthy adults. I don't think there is any need for
> your doo m and gloom additude.
>
> Leandra
>

I want to echo that. I understand having a medical check with a change,
or even a quick check when a child reaches 8 or so -- our doctor said
that a high enough % of kids -- especially boys -- were still bed
wetters that he saw no point in an expensive medical evaluation until at
least that age.

I suspect if there ARE psycho/sexual problems later, it isn't the
bedwetting that "caused" it, but rather the parents' reaction to it --
as if it is under the child's control and they are being "bad" for
wetting the bed.

I wasn't consistently dry until I was 8; DH and one of my brothers
until they were 12. DD#1 was 7 (late for a girl), but DS was 14. I
have one uncle who wet the bed until he was nearly 18. This DOES run in
families, and there really aren't any long term effects that I've been
able to see.

meh

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care