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Sunday, February 10, 2008

Calling All Bedwetters Past And Present

Parents of bedwetters too!

Did you or do your children wet the bed every single night, in what appears to be large amounts?

I understand the sleeping through the feeling part completely. Katherine is a very deep sleeper so that makes sense. What I don't understand is the fact that it happens every single night, multiple times. I mean even I, who has had three children and pees when I sneeze (TMI but, whatever) doesn't have to pee that much at night. Most nights her pullup is soaked to the point of being heavy. And, on the nights where she asks not to wear one because she is becoming really self conscious about the whole thing, she wets the bed and doesn't even wake up until morning.

The fact that Julia is now (or as of tonight anyway) going to be in a bed and soon after she adjusts to that, out of pullups (she wakes up dry almost every morning)is making me re-evaluate Katherine's situation a little bit more. I think it will be harder for her, despite my telling her that she shouldn't feel bad about it and it is not something she can help. My real concern though is the sheer amount of urine that she expels at night, and the fact that she is sleeping so deeply that she doesn't even wake up when she is pullup-free after wetting. Should someone be sleeping that deeply? She has even slept through the smoke detector going off.

What do you all think?

4 comments:

Caltechgirl said...

Has she had a sleep evaluation? It sounds like she's not switching from deep sleep to wakefulness easily enough. What does the neurologist say about her sleep?

Sharon said...

No, actually she has not had a sleep eval. I am beginning to think that this is more connected to sleep than any other thing. Katherine is the only one of my girls who hasn't had to visit a neurologist. Emily is the one with seizures so maybe you were thinking of her. Anyway, yes, it definitely could be related to deep sleep/wakefulness.

Anonymous said...

You know, I have never figured it out. As you know, I was a prodigious bed wetter as a child, until about puberty, and seldom since, though it's not unheard of.

I seem to have a problem of my body retaining a disproportionate amount of fluid and then releasing it overnight, so I get up to pee way too often, and depending how far it goes before I do, it can get downright painful.

It helps not to drink much late in the day, but sometimes I swear I could stop drinking at 3 PM and still pee all night. It also seems as if I can take a sip of water, and a short time later output a bladder full from somewhere.

The thing that saves me is not sleeping as deeply as I probably need to sleep, and that could mean it's a degree of apnea, stress, or whatever contributing to keep the sheets dry. If I sleep really deeply, it can happen. The worst adult incidence was in a phase when I was particularly depressive, had particularly comfortable bedding, and got particularly out of shape. Seems like overall muscle tone kind of thing going all to hell is associated with losing control of those muscles. I had to pointedly exercise them and drink less late in the day and lose a little weight and become a little more active as part of the means of making it stop.

No answers for you, I suppose, mainly comparative experience. The irony of it being possibly a sleep problem is that I think it's the inverse sleep problem that helped make me sleep unsoundly enough. I still sleep so soundly sometimes that it's nothing but practice and stronger unconscious muscle control keeping it at bay.

Caltechgirl said...

Actually, I just assumed Katherine had seen the neuro, too, even just to rule out problems because of Emily and Julia's issues.

Good luck, whatever you and Ryun decide to do. I really hope this improves for her.