Posts Tagged ‘vibratory watches’

Daytime Wetting Solved

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

I recently saw an 11 year old girl with a history of wetting daily for most of her life. Any urologic testing that had been done was normal and she had never had a urinary tract infection. She wore an adult woman’s panty liner every day to school and both she and her mother felt this was something she would just have to do the rest of her life. They did not know there were options available to help her.

An important piece that was identified during taking her history was that she had infrequent bowel movements, 2 or 3 times a week. She was reluctant to go at school. Constipation often goes along with daytime wetting so we worked hard on correcting this. A high fiber diet, increased water intake during the day and Miralax every morning quickly made a huge difference in the frequency and consistency of her bowel movements.

Along with this, we instituted a timed voiding program, using the Vibrowatch set to vibrate at convenient intervals, about every two hours. We made sure the right times were set so that she started PE, lunch and the bus ride to after care all with an empty bladder. A 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm time made sure she voided while her mother was busy preparing dinner and doing evening chores.

Although a little skeptical at first, both parents and daughter were willing to cooperate with the instructions. At two weeks, stools were much improved and her panty liner was no longer soaked. When I described our goal of getting rid of the daytime panty liner, she expressed nervousness about doing that. We implemented a plan of going without a panty liner on weekends first so that she could prove to herself that she could stay dry with the timed voiding program in place. During a follow-up call one month later, mom described her success at staying dry during the day, no panty liner and a huge boost to her self-confidence. She can continue this regimen for the next few months, until her body is able to do the alerting.

Vibrating Wrist Watches for Nighttime

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

ST asks, “My 8 year old son can stay dry in the night if my husband or I wake him up 1 or 2 times. If we don’t wake him up, he wets. Can I set the vibrating alarm wrist watch for a couple of times a night so it can help his bet wetting and remind him to wake up?”

ST, I do not recommend this for a couple of reasons. First, how do you know what time your son will need to go to the bathroom? It’s difficult to predict when the bladder needs to empty, which can change from one night to the next. Because you are picking an arbitrary time to alert him, he will not be able to put together the signal of a full bladder and getting up at that precise time. This is also why setting an alarm clock for a specific time each night does not cure bedwetting. Moisture sensing bedwetting alarms are superior, because the alarm does not sound until your son physiologically needs to go to the bathroom.

The second reason is that a 20 second vibration on the wrist is typically not enough stimulation to wake a soundly sleeping child. Because the vibration stops after 20 seconds, most children will sleep through or ignore it and wake up wet and frustrated in the morning. Because you have no idea when the watch is vibrating, you cannot be available to help. With a sound making bedwetting alarm, you can be available to alert him when it sounds. Vibrating watches work great to remind children in the daytime when they should be using the bathroom. Because daytime wetting and nighttime wetting have some different causes, different products are best for each condition.

School Wetting

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

EP writes about her 7 year old daughter who will be starting 2nd grade soon. In first grade, there were times that she waited until the last minute and didn’t make it to the bathroom in time. This resulted in wet pants, sometimes requiring a complete change of clothes. She has been checked out by her doctor and there does not seem to be any associated problems. Mom wonders what she can do to prevent this from happening this school year.

Urologists around the country agree that this can be a common and frustrating problem that is best handled by frequent urination on a regular basis. Emptying the bladder regularly eliminates the urgent messages that sometimes result in urine leakage. The difficulty arises when children get busy with other activities and lose track of time. Telling a child to go potty every 2 or 3 hours is a hard concept to grasp. Even remembering to go to the bathroom before lunch or recess can be difficult. A discreet vibrating wrist watch is a reliable tool for providing a reminder to go to the bathroom.

We carry several vibrating wrist watches that are perfect for this purpose. Our top selling watch is the Vibrowatch. Up to 12 specific times can be programmed to coordinate with your daughter’s schedule. The watch vibrates for about 20 seconds and is difficult to ignore. It comes in several different colors and has a durable plastic band. Vibrating watches are generally a little larger than time telling watches to accommodate the larger battery.

Starting the new school year off with a reminder watch is likely to eliminate many of the embarrassing accidents she had last year. You can consult her teacher about the best toileting times and make sure she has free access to the bathroom when her watch reminds her to go.

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