The Top Five Misleading Suggestions For Treating Bedwetting- HARD HITTING FACTS

• Take Medication – Often the first suggestion from physicians, the medication effectively dehydrates the body, and is known to be only a temporary fix at best.  If it works at all, once the medication is discontinued, the bedwetting resumes immediately.  The serious side effects need to be taken into consideration as well.

• Wait, It Will Go Away – Often the second suggestion from physicians, but equally erroneous.  Bedwetting is not a medical condition, so we have to look beyond the physical. Most of our patients are teens–the average age in our care is 15–and they, like our adult patients, have been waiting their whole lives to outgrow bedwetting, and have had to deal with the effects of poor quality sleep along the way.  Symptoms of poor sleep may be masked until after a new pattern of sleep is established, then positive changes become evident.

• Use A Software Program + Blue Mat Alarm – This inexpensive product ends up costing you more.  We consistently hear from families who have tried it and saw little to no progress.  That’s because videos and data entry cannot replace close personal guidance.  Working with a sleep pattern is complex and nuanced, and it requires an individualized and closely-monitored program.  Unlike this alarm company claims, permanent dryness cannot occur within a few weeks, and because they only sell a product and don’t offer follow-through, they cannot guarantee a dry bed for life.  Ongoing, live, and integral support is not offered.  

• Restrict Fluids –  Consumption of fluids is not a contributory factor to bedwetting.  One could refrain from drinking all day and still wet the bed at night.  Excessive fluids before bed will only effect the volume of urine.  

• Treat Constipation – Impacted bowels is not a causal factor for bedwetting.  We discovered a urologist who is suggesting a protocol of 90 days of enemas, which is not only missing the mark, it’s unnecessarily traumatizing.  Unfortunately we’ve heard from parents who have tried it because they didn’t know where else to turn, and because a doctor proposed the idea.