Bed Wetting Cure

JS writes, "I want to share my story with other families. My 10 year old son had been on two different medications (DDAVP and oxybutinin) for his bedwetting, but he still continued to wet every night. We had taken him to two different doctors, who prescribed the medication, but did not offer much else when the medication made no difference. We were at our wIt's end and our son felt like he would wet forever.

A friend told me that her son had gotten to dryness by using one of the Malem bedwetting alarms. I reluctantly bought an alarm, and truthfully, expected that it would not work for my son who is such a deep sleeper. I'm writing to tell you that he is now dry, and has been for the past two months. Some nights, he gets up and uses the bathroom and some nights, he just sleeps until morning. His self-esteem has sky rocketed and he's anxious to stay all night with a friend. Thanks. I wish I had known about this a couple of years ago.

Congratulations to your son, JS. The response that your son had is typical of many of the kids who have failed to get dry through the use of medications. There was an interesting study published last month in Urology. It was a retrospective study of about 100 children who had partial or no response to the medications that your son used, and/or kids who had begun wetting again after stopping the medication. Of these children, more than half got to dryness when enuresis alarms were started and importantly, up to 88.9% did not have relapse 6 months after stopping the use of the alarm.

This study was reported from Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, Korea, and the conclusion was that enuresis alarms were an effective therapy for children with pharmacotherapy-resistant nocturnal enuresis. I want to emphasize that bedwetting alarms are very effective cures for bedwetting, even in kids who have tried medication and failed. With the possible side effects and high relapse rate of medications, enuresis alarms are a much safer and more permanent cure, as well. They should be the first-line treatment for bedwetting.