Bedwetting is an annoying ailment that still has a lot of taboo surrounding it. There are solutions to help you get rid of it, but they are not easy. First, one must discover the true cause of bedwetting.

Bedwetting

A child wants to be toilet trained from the age of 2. It is not alarming if a child between 2 and 5 years old is not toilet trained. One must assume that there is a problem if a child from the age of 6 is not yet toilet trained. It can be said that the problem will not go away by itself. It is a problem that mainly occurs at night. About 1 in 100 of all adults suffer from this. Before one can start looking for a solution, one must discover the true cause of bedwetting. For this, one is referred to a urologist.

Three pillars

The research into the true cause of bedwetting is based on three pillars:

• Capacity to awaken
• Excessive urine production during sleep
• Bladder instability

You should sleep deeply. If you produce more urine than can fit in your bladder and you sleep deeply, you will wet the bed (if you sleep less deeply, you wake up and get up). If your bladder contracts during your sleep and you do not wake up, you will also wet the bed.

To research

One must go through a number of tests to discover the true cause of bedwetting:

• Ultrasound of the kidneys and bladder: the doctor uses an ultrasound to examine whether there are any abnormalities in the kidneys and bladder.
• Pencil test: You have to try to grab the pencil with your toes. You must have three nerves that are fine. Those three nerves are also very important for the normal function of your bladder.
• Uroflow measurement: after the pencil test, a uroflow measurement is performed. This is a simple and painless urination test that measures the amount and strength of the urine stream within a specified period of time. You will be asked to urinate into the flow meter (a funnel-shaped device). A cup is placed under this flow meter in which the urine is collected. The flow meter automatically registers the strength of the urine stream. This measuring cup is subsequently placed on a scale that is connected to a computer that will measure the quantity.
• A Doppler device will then be used to check whether the bladder is completely empty. This is a device with very high sound waves that we do not hear ourselves and which can measure very precisely whether the bladder is completely empty.

Solutions

After all these examinations, the urologist can perfectly determine the cause of the bedwetting. Depending on the cause, he will propose one of the following solutions:

• Just do nothing and continue to wear Pampers at night. The chance that you will become dry is 15% per year.
• Try to ensure that you produce less urine at night. Drink a lot in the morning, very little in the afternoon, the less the better. Take a pill in the evening to slow down the production of urine.
• Wearing pee pants at night. The moment you lose a small amount of urine, a loud alarm goes off, waking you up.