Bedwetting Medication

Have you spoken with his doctor?
How about trying an alarm, ie., WETSTOP, to see if night training might help. Medication should be the last step.

if you choose to go the medication route DDAVP works well. it is in pill form. there is also a version available as a nasal inhaler, i believe. have you tried the alarm sheets? my friend reported they worked well for his 8 year old boy.

Hi. Yes my son just turned 9 and we finally found something that works to stop his bedwettting. First we tried DDAVP nasal spray and that did not work very well. Next we tried something from the healthfood store - Hyland's Bedwetting Pills, these worked better but still not all the time. We just recently put him on Ditropan 5mg and it works like 98% of the time. It's great. The only time it doesn't seem to work is if he had caffeine or he gets cold in the middle of the night (he shares a room with his older brother and he turned on the fan one night). It's a small pill that he takes with a small amount of water right before bedtime. HTH! Good Luck!

HI, I was so eager when I saw your question as my 9 yr. old son still wets the bed too. Perhaps you can share the advice you get, I am sure it will roll in soon..
My ped. did offer meds but I feel I will have to be totally fed up with the situation before I can even consider it. I suppose it is worth learning more about but I would rather not interfere with the function of the kidneys if I can help it. I must admit that when we make a point of having him drink plenty of water during the day, so he does not find himself so thirsty in the evening - making it easier for him to stop fluids past dinner, he wakes up dry.
I also read that if you interrupt his sleep shortly after falling asleep (an hour or so) have him get up and go, that works too.
For now when I forget to do the above, the flannel crib protector pads work great under the sheets to avoid washing the big bulky waterproof mattress pad every time.
Have tried all the brands of pull-up type wear, they all leak now and then.
Good luck! It won't last forever ~
T.

Has there been a workup with a Urologist? All kind of reasons for 6 year olds still bed wetting, but to rule out something physiological that could be corrected, a urologist should be consulted...(former wife of one)

Hi K., I am a stepmom to a ten year old boy and although he never did this I remember going through this myself shortly after my parents divorce when I was around the same age. My dad was on a business trip and I was staying with a friend. Although I remember just feelings of embarrassment at the time now I look back on it as an adult can understand there were so many emotions I was deali g with at the time.

Please don't approach your stepsons issue as one that can be fixed with medication. Rather try to understand and deal with the underlying causes of this behavior.

Best of luck and please keep us updated.

-A.

I have been reading some of the responses you have gotten and agree that there are better ways. My daughter has been faithfully going to the chiropractor weekly for over a year. We have still had some wet nights, but they are few and getting farther and farther apart.

I was medicated as a child for bed wetting. It was the most disgusting tasting stuff you can imagine. I had to take it three times a day so I had to take it to school. I think my problem was a little more severe. I was having accidents during the day as well (especially during first grade). I would talk to the doctor and if he/she does not feel that there is a problem, let it go. It will eventually get worked out.

Good luck and God bless.

Just put a waterproof sheet on the bed, put him in big pullups and wait it out. There is no reason to give harsh medication like that to a child. Your pediatrician will remind you that bedwetting at that age is common.

Check out www.nobedwetting.com. You will be amazed at what you will learn about the subject! (speaking from experience).

L.

I tried the nasal spray with limited success for my oldest daughter when she was six. I tried limiting liquids & having her put her bedding in the wash. The only thing that worked sucessfully for us was the alarm. The sensor is sewed into the child's underwear & the alarm is placed onto the child's shoulder (I believe it velcro's). It worked great. Within a week or two she was dry completely. Turns out she was just a hard sleeper. re: Ditropan. I never tried that with my daughter, but I was on it for Interstitial Cystitis. I remember calling a doctor at 2 AM & finally finding out that the reason I couldn't pee for 24 hours was because it had relaxed my bladder too much. I don't recommend it.

Hi K., I had this issue until I was 11 years old...I too had accidents during the day time through 1st grade. My Aunt has this until she was 13 years old. When my parents took me to a Dr. they ran tests to make sure I could control my bladder which I could...it ended up being an allergy to something.

I had to take one pill every night. I don't remember how long it took, I just remember that I no longer wet the bed & eventually stopped taking the meds. Taking one small pill a day was not an issue for me yet every child is different.

Hope you find out what is going on with your step-son. Wetting the bed at friends houses or camp outs is embarrassing! Good luck to you!
M.

Mt 7 year old nephew has to wear night pants and my cousins son, who is 13 just recently stopped bedwetting. Before you medicate him I would rule out any medical issues. Have him see a Dr. first. My nephew sleeps so deeply he doesn't realize he has to pee or knows when he did. During the day he is fine. My cousin's son had a medical issue. Also, new changes, such as a new mom can cause changes in children's habits, behaviours etc. Don't get mad at him, he is adjusting to a situation that causes stress whether you all get along or not. Be patient, buy night pull-ups, a waterproof mattress cover and relax. A lot of the time, pressure makes it worse. Again, see if there is a medical issue, make sure he is adjusting to you and a new environment okay, and relax and sit back and see if you take some pressure off it might resolve itself. (I don't know if you are getting upset with him, but wanted to comment on that just in case) If all those things don't work then consider medication. (Who would've thought we would be offering our kids medication for bedwetting.) Anyways, good luck and I hope you find a solution.

Has your step son ever had an accident that harmed his tailbone? This area is rich in nerves, and these nerves feed the area of the bladder too. It's worth checking out.If this is the case you can have a Bowen therapist gently move the muscle around the tailbone, so that it goes back into place. The web address is www.bowenworks.com.

Go to nobedwetting.com. He may have a too deep sleep problem. My grandson wet the bed until he was 14 until we found the problem and it took almost a year on their program to get him over it, but it worked. Nothing else ever did. We never tried medication, but I am one that really does not believe in medication.

There's a medication (which has been used for decades) called Imipromine, which is used to treat both bedwetting as well as depression in kids. It has pretty severe side effects, such as fainting, low blood pressure, dry mouth, constipation. But that is one that I know of. The decision to medicate (especially a child) should never be taken lightly. I was medicated for depression (at age 11) when they had done no long term studies on the effects of it and I wasn't capable of making an informed decision. If you're treating diabetes or epilepsy it's an easy call, but with bedwetting I hope you'd try every other option first. Good luck!

Dr. William Kennedy at Lucile Packard Children's hospital is a good pediatric urologist. (650) 725 - 5530. My son is on Ditropan, but I can't say if that's the best medication for your step-son.

My son is almost 6 and wets the bed at night, sometimes right through the pull up he wears. I mentioned it to my dr. but she isn't worried/concerned in the least bit. In fact she said she wouldn't worry about it until he was 10. It seems to bother my boyfriend more than me since his son is 8 and never has wet the bed. I have noticed the more he brings attention to it the worse my son feels about it since he has no control over it. His dr. explained to me that every child develops at thier own pace and that includes thier insides as well. His bladder just hasn't caught up with the rest of his body and medication won't change that. I hope this helps.

Hello K., Thank you for asking this question, my daughter is still bedwetting and I was curious also.
good luck!
--R.

Chiropractic has a LONG history of helping with bedwetting. Dear Abby even wrote about it several times. Se below:

"Dear Abby"

By Editorial Staff
"Chiropractor frees boys from bed-wetting misery," read the March 5, 1992 headline in "Dear Abby," Abigail Van Buren's syndicated advice column that is read by an estimated 95 million readers daily.

It was a pleasant surprise to see Abby's column once again get the good word out about chiropractic.
Reed Expositions
The previous time was December 18, 1990 when Abby's entire column was devoted to chiropractic.

This time, a mother from South Carolina wrote Abby after reading in her column of a mother's desperation over a 20-year-old son who still wet the bed. As the 20-year-old had been to medical doctors but to no avail, the South Carolinian offered this advice: "I took my 15-year-old twin sons (both bed-wetters) to a chiropractor, and within a month, both boys were completely cured of their bed-wetting. Regular medical doctors could not help them."

The mother of the twins added: "... all I can say is it worked, which meant everything in the world to me and my boys."

Abby's reply: "I believe you. I Have several hundred letters bearing the same message concerning chiropractors. ... I am well aware that some in the medical profession will criticize me for giving what sounds like a 'commercial' for chiropractors... but I would be less than honest if I did not publish your letter.

The next letter in the column is also devoted to bed-wetting. A Mrs. D.S.B. wrote that her 16-year-old was cured of his bed-wetting when a pediatric nephrologists prescribed DDAVP (a nasal spray!) and no liquids after 5 p.m. (no liquids after 5 p.m. would seem to go a long way toward "curing" the problem). The DDAVP is purported to stimulate an antidiuretic hormone that is believed to be enhance the bladder's ability to hold urine through the night.

The chiropractic adjustment or DDAVP? It's nice to know that chiropractic offers people a health care alternative to prescriptions.

Hi K.,

I also have a bedwetter son. He has gone a long time without wetting the bed. It used to be a nightly occurence.
He is not taking drugs.

I have read that a magnesium deficiency or milk allergy can cause bedwetting. (here's an interesting fact...the drug Ditropan has magnesium stearate in it.hmmm!)

I do alot of vitamin research and have realized that we can get vitamin deficient VERY easily with our modern diets. Most of us are deficient in several vitamins and minerals at any given time.

Foods that are high in magnesium are raw pumpkin seeds, boiled spinach, swiss chard, chinook salmon, sesame seeds, baked halibut, and brocoli. (the stuff no one eats!)

I have been serving brocoli 3 times a week to my family.
I have found a way to make it more palatable. When I steam it, I put about 3 T of Soy sauce in the water with it. Yum.

Since urination is controlled by the nervous system you should also consider his vitamin B level and should give him a vitamin B complex liquid, 3 times a day, under the tounge.

The thing about vitamin therapy, if you want to call it that,is that it takes longer to see results, but the resluts are more... permanent. Unlike medical drugs, which can act quickly, but most often just cover up symptoms and fail to cure anything.

Here is another consideration. All these can potentially cause undue wetting:
UTI
diabetes
hypertention
nephritis
kidney stones or disease
fecal impaction

Lastly, take a look below at the side effects of Ditropan. Considering that this drug is not curing anything ( if you stop taking it the problem returns) It would not be prudent to put anyone through these menacing and more importantly, potentially damaging side effects:
dizzy
drowsy
decreased persperation
impaired vision
impaired reaction time
severe thirst
headache
painful urination
increased propensity for UTI
vomiting
tachycardia (heart problems)
convulsions
agitation
hallucinations
runny nose
weakness

Please don't give him drugs for it. Try to find another way. Medical doctors will only want to drug him and cover up his symptoms...with thier 'out of site, out of mind ' mentality.

Praying for you both,
Gail

My son is 8.5 and he is still wetting. His Dr wont even worry about it. When I asked for other solutions he never mentioned a medication. One thing you might want to try is the ciropractor. My son had several months of sucess after a good adjustment. His only problem is the last couple times we tried an adjustment to help the problem he was only dry the night of the adjustment. The very last time we tried it they told him no jummping around like off a bench or what ever to give the adjustment time to hold. Well the next day we went to the park and sure enough he jumped out of a tree. I just thought I can not afford to pay for that again if he is going to play so rough with his body. He says now he wants to go back for another adjustment since it is raining and cold, he promises to take it easy so it will hold. We do pull ups but went through a phase where they leaked and the bigger ones leaked cause they did not fit right. If there was a magic pill I would sure consider it. I too wet my bed clear into age 11 or past.
Good luck! Love to know how it works for you if you try it.
By the way-we took him to one guy who he did not trust and would not let him fully adjust him and had no success after seeing him. So make sure your child feels comfortable with whom ever you choose if you do choose.
:-)W.

Hi Kimberley,
My son who is 12 yrs old well be 13 in april still wets the bed once in a while. we have tried everything from the meds to waking him up 3-4 times a night. you name it i have tried it. the meds did not work for my son, i still have the pills at home. My son is such a deep sleeper that he just could not feel that he had to go until it was to late.

its frustrating as a parent but i think its more frustaring for the kids themselves. My son does not do sleepovers at freinds house becuase of the bed wetting, going to camp over the summer breaks are very hard from him. just have some patience, get teh pull-ups, dont let him have anything to drink after bed, wake him up just before you go to bed and that should help some of the problem.
chiro dr's did not work, meds did not work, the alarms did not work for us at all.

In regards to the meds, its just a temp fix, once he stops taking the pills he will wet the bed again. we go the pills for when he went to camp to help me out.

please feel free to e-mail me if you want more info the pills, i'm happy to share, as i have talked to the ped dr and the urologist on several occasions and they all gave me the same advise, he will out grow it when he's bed is ready.

also they said that when he pee's to have him stop mid stream, this way it helps teach he's body to hold it in longer.

N.
____@____.com

I don't agree with medicating children for bedwetting especially not at that age. Sometimes their bladders just aren't developed enough, and it takes longer in boys. It's not uncommon for children to wet the bed up till the age of nine. Pull ups work well. Also sometimes temperature changes will cause bed wetting. Have you noticed that he is more likely to have accidents on cold nights?

You might want to get online and search dairy and bedwetting or food allergies and bedwetting. Dairy is a common cause of bedwetting. There are other foods too that can cuase it. It is worth looking into. Don't get me wrong...I am a dairy lover but am allergic. I love cheese but can't do it anymore. We are the only species that continues to drink milk after the age of 2 and we are drinking the milk of another species. It is foreign to our bodies which can cause allergies and intolerances to dairy and other foods.

Here are a few articles to get you started.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/388487/bedwettin...

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/240251/dairy_all...

Dairy and other health issues--This Dr. doesn't like it!
http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/pediatricks/dairy.asp

Good luck.

MY SON TRIED IT ON A CAMPING TRIP LAST SUMMER. DOCTOR SAID TAKE 1-3 PILLS. WE STARTED WITH 1 and ended up using the highest dose of 3. It was hit and miss. Still had to use a pull-up. He will use them for sleepovers...but usually stays up late, worrying if he'll be dry. It breaks my heart. So, for us, it is not the answer we were hoping for. The other thing is, you can only take this once in a while, not daily. If you find something that helps, please post it. Thanks.

K.,
I have a hairdresser who has a daughter who wet her bed regularly well into her teens. Her mother did the same, so it must be a hereditary thing. Anyway, the problem all got sorted out as she got older and everything is fine.

They make night time 'diapers' for boys up to age 14! There's a reason for this, isn't there? I know it must be hard on an 8-year old, but why in the world would you want to give him medication? (Unless your doctor has found a medical reason/problem to do so). I wouldn't do it! Just give him time and let mother-nature work it out over time. Though do consult if you think it's a problem of a medical nature.

Good luck.