The medical name for not being able to control your pee is enuresis (pronounced: en-yuh-REE-sis). Sometimes enuresis is also called involuntary urination. Nocturnal enuresis is involuntary urination that happens at night while sleeping, after the age when a person should be able to control their bladder.
Nocturnal enuresis or bedwetting is the involuntary release of urine during sleep. Bedwetting can be a symptom of bladder control problems like incontinence or overactive bladder or more severe structural issues, like an enlarged prostate or bladder cancer.
Primary enuresis is much more common. Secondary enuresis in older children or teens should be evaluated by a doctor. Bedwetting in this age group could be a sign of a urinary tract infection or other health problems, neurological issues (related to the brain), stress, or other issues.
Overview. Bed-wetting — also called nighttime incontinence or nocturnal enuresis — is involuntary urination while asleep after the age at which staying dry at night can be reasonably expected.
Try bladder retraining.
Go to the bathroom at set times during the day and night. Slowly increase the amount of time between bathroom visits -- for example, by 15 minutes at a time. This will train your bladder to hold more fluid.
Bedwetting can frequently occur in children with ADHD. The medical term for bedwetting is enuresis. Research has found that around 28–32% of people with ADHD may also have enuresis. Another study found that around 40% of children with ADHD may also have enuresis.
Psychological factors are clearly contributory in a minority of children with enuresis. These children have experienced a stress such as parental conflict, trauma, abuse, or hospitalization. In these few cases the wetting is seen as a regressive symptoms in response to the stress.
Bed-wetting that starts in adulthood (secondary enuresis) is uncommon and requires medical evaluation. Causes of adult bed-wetting may include: A blockage (obstruction) in part of the urinary tract, such as from a bladder stone or kidney stone. Bladder problems, such as small capacity or overactive nerves.
Hormonal imbalance: The body produces antidiuretic hormone (ADH) to slow urine production at night. If the body is not producing enough ADH, or if the kidneys are not responding to the hormone as usual, it can cause bedwetting. Genetics: People are more likely to wet the bed if they have a family history of bedwetting.
Seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis (MS), and Parkinson's disease have been linked to adult bedwetting due to impaired bladder control.
Manage what you eat and drink before bed.
People with nocturnal enuresis can take some basic steps to prevent an overly full bladder, such as decreasing the amount of fluids they drink before going to bed. You can reduce the chances that you'll wet the bed by going to the toilet just before bedtime.
About two out of every one hundred teenagers and young adults wet the bed at night. This is called nocturnal enuresis. It can be a problem for both young men and women. Most teenagers and young adults who wet the bed have done so since they were a child.
Stress and anxiety in and of themselves will not cause a child who never wet the bed to start nighttime wetting. However, stress can contribute indirectly to nighttime wetting. Emotional and psychological stress can cause a child to behave or act differently, which can lead to nighttime wetting.
One common scenario in adults is a when the sleeper dreams that they are urinating and they wake to find they have urinated in the bed. This type of bedwetting is not generally associated with any medical problem and may be down to a disturbance in REM sleep.
Bedwetting is more common in boys—and in all children whose parents wet the bed when they were young. Your child's chances of wetting the bed are about 1 in 3 when one parent was affected as a child. If both parents were affected, the chances that your child will wet the bed are 7 in 10.
A specialist in urology can treat nocturnal enuresis (adult bedwetting) and the conditions that cause it.
Ongoing stress or anxiety about a situation you are going through may trigger adult bedwetting, which may last long after your stressful problem is over.
Conversely, children who are depressed sometimes show up with symptoms common in childhood like enuresis or bed-wetting -- that's a common symptom of depression in young people.
What are the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in children? These are some of the most common symptoms of PTSD in children: Sleep disturbances including fear of sleep, nightmares or bedwetting.
In fact, according to a study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, as many as 38% of children with autism experience bedwetting beyond the age of five, compared to only 15% of typically developing children.
It's worth eliminating these from your child's diet. And rather confusingly, real sugar can also be the cause of wet beds. Most parents would agree that sweet, fizzy drinks can also result in a bad night.