I have a 15 year old daughter who has an 'over-active sensitive bladder'. This was all shown on a neurodynamic test. The bladder holds the urine but when urinating only is able to let go of 120mls. The rest remains in her bladder. All this causes my daughter to urinate every 1-2 hours with dire urgency. I have exhausted all possible known measures to help my daughter but to no avail. Bed alarms, six-seven varieties of medications,
specialists, doctors, operation on the bladder to try and stretch it, which has caused more severe leaking during the day. As all these issues cause a great deal of stress to myself, family and particularly my daughter. Nobody wants to assist us financially or otherwise as they do not consider my daughters' condition severe because she hasn't got a Mental Condition. We were told that nothing more can be done till her brain triggers. She also gets a huge amount of colds which I feel she gets a chill from an overly wet undergarment. I have got her Medical Practitioner to give her a flu injection to see if that will assist.Coincidently she does wet the bed on average 3-4 times a night. Would you have any other ideas that we could use as I really do not know what else to do.
This must be very distressing for your daughter and your family. As I am not a surgeon I am unable to comment on the efficacy of surgical interventions, I can however suggest some ways that you can help her manage her bedwetting and hopefully lessen the stress at home. You can try and reduce the amount of urine her kidneys produce by limiting caffeinated drinks and food. Things like chocolate and soft drinks are very high in caffeine and cause the kidneys to produce higher quantities of urine. Some children have found a change in diet (i.e., increase in fibre) to be helpful particularly if they a prone to suffering from constipation – constipation is a common medical cause of bedwetting. If she is not already doing so, you could try wearing absorbent pants like DryNites to bed to help reduce the amount of washing you have – the need to change children’s bed linen everyday can be extremely draining and quite costly when you factor in washing powder and electricity – particularly with winter upon us. If you find her urine output to be too high to make it through the night you could try setting an alarm to wake her up to change them. Sometimes you do need to be careful with this as lost sleep can interfere with daytime functioning. DryNites are designed to absorb the urine and keep it off children’s skin – children no longer wake up feeling cold and wet which will hopefully reduce her susceptibility to colds. Given the many attempts you have made to help her achieve nighttime dryness I am sure she is starting to feel quite exhausted and helpless – as no doubt you are too! It is very easy for families who have older children to become isolated and experience feelings of helplessness and shame. It is important that you do not restrict your activities because of your daughter’s nighttime incontinence – still go away on those holidays, visit friends and attend sleepovers. Talk to parents or friends before staying overnight and prearrange a place where she can discretely change her clothes and dispose of her DryNites – you’ll be surprised how supportive people can be. The less the bedwetting interferes with her life, the better both you and her will feel about it. Can I also recommend that you contact the Continence Association of Australia (1800 330 066) they maybe able to put you in touch with a paediatrician who specializes in this area they can also talk to you about the Continence Aids Assistance Scheme which you may be eligible for to help cover your costs.
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