Children Grown Up: Teenage Bedwetting

Urinating while asleep, also called nocturnal enuresis, is common in children. It is messy and wearisome, however since it is involuntary, it can only be an indication of a developing body system growing adapted to sleeping without diapers. Enuresis in teenagers and adolescents, though, may be worrisome for parents; it can be awkward for older children, and is considered a bodily symptom of deeper troubles in a teenager or adolescent.

What causes enuresis? To understand the phenomenon, one needs to understand how the kidneys and their related hormones work. One particular hormone, the antidiuretic hormone, controls the release of water in the body. The antidiuretic hormone participates in a hormone cycle that ensures that the bladder will not be full until the morning; this in turn ensures that a person will urinate upon awaking.

This antidiuretic hormone cycle, however, is not fully operational in babies. It develops as children age; in some cases, it will be stable by the end of puberty; in particularly rare cases, the cycle is not established at all. These special scenarios are what may cause adolescent bedwetting.

Another means of controlling urination is through the brain itself, which, for its part, controls the body's capability to wake before urination. In children, this is learned by the brain, as it becomes more and more aware of the body's hormonal cycles. This learning process, however, can be interrupted by certain factors such as emotional or physical stress. Such stress can be as mild as forcing children to urinate when they are not fully awake. Other contributing factors can be brutal, such as physical or sexual abuse.

If your teenager or adolescent wets their, you may consider one of the following treatments.

The first consideration in adolescent nocturnal enuresis is the body's inability to develop the antidiuretic hormone cycle, or the brain's inability to recognize it. Physicians may recommend antidepressants such as Nortriptyline and Amitriptyline, both of which can treat enuresis for up to three or four months.

Desmopressin, another common enuresismedicine, mimics the role of the antidiuretic hormone, and can be taken when diagnosis points to poor hormonal development as the cause of enuresis.

The second consideration when treating adolescent nocturnal enuresis is the brain's inability to both recognize the antidiuretic hormone cycle, and to control it with respect to time and sleep. To address this, psychiatrists advocate training machines such as the bedwetting alarm. This nocturnal device can help in the conditioning of teenagers to wake up when they first feel moisture, and discover that they must urinate. Ideally, this will lead to the body finally being able to recognize when the bladder is full, and can curb adolescent nocturnal enuresis.

The third consideration may be the body's complete inability to control nocturnal enuresis, which is quite rare. In this case, health care professionals recommend using diapers or pads, which will help ease the discomfort associated with nocturnal enuresis. Although this lessens the shame, it will not stop nocturnal enuresis completely, and other steps should be taken to eliminate it.

The last consideration may be the brain's inability to control urination or recognize the antidiuretic hormone cycle due to mental conditions. Such conditions may be brought about by stress; if this stress is derived from physical or sexual abuse, your child may not talk to you about it. Psychiatric care and therapy is advised in these situations; although treatment may not directly target the problem of adolescent nocturnal enuresis, it may give you and your child closure on any problems that are brought to light.

Teenage or adolescent nocturnal enuresis is a treatable disorder, and it needs both patience and consideration on the part of the concerned parent. If your teenager is wetting his or her bed, take him or her to your doctor, and have the problem diagnosed and treated. In no time, your teenager will no longer need to deal with the shame and humiliation associated with his or her condition.

Article Source: http://www.parentingarticlelibrary.com

Elizabeth Radisson is an author and contributor to www.OurGoodHealth.org OurGoodHealth provides information and resources about a variety of topics, such as enuresis.

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