Side Effects of Drug-Based Bed Wetting Cures

The search for a cure to your child’s bed-wetting can be a long, trying process. There is SO much advice available – not all of it helpful.

Some parents feel forced to turn to medicinal drugs to help change their child’s behaviour during the night and decrease the chance of enuresis. However, these drugs can have serious side effects and complications; extreme care should be exercised before deciding to place your child on a drug regimen for bed-wetting.

Desmopressin Acetate – Desmopressin acetate, often abbreviated DDAVP, is designed to help increase anti-diuretic hormones in your child’s body. These hormones help decrease the amount of urine produced during the night, helping to alleviate the chance of a bed-wetting episode.

The drug is available both as a nasal spray and in pill form, though the pill form is the one approved to treat bed-wetting. However, children and adults using the drug (it’s also used in diabetes treatments) should exercise great care when consuming liquids. Limit fluid consumption to only what slakes thirst; too much fluid can induce seizures.

Imipramine – Imipramine, sold under the name Tofranil, is used quite frequently to treat bed-wetting. This drug is actually an antidepressant and helps by changing your child’s sleeping patterns. It has also been shown to have an effect on the muscles surrounding the bladder, allowing your child to hold their urine for longer periods.

However, Imipramine comes with some serious potential side effects. Extreme caution should be used prior to deciding that this is the right course for your child. Potential side effects include:

• Behavioural – Confusion, hallucinations, delusions, anxiety, nightmares, activation of latent schizophrenia, aggressiveness, decreased memory and more
• Cardiovascular – Hypotension, tachycardia, syncope, hypertension, arrhythmia and other assorted heart and cardiovascular system problems
• CNS – Tremors, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, speech problems, ataxia, seizures, peripheral numbness and tingling• Endocrine – Weight gain, gynecomastia (male breast enlargement), blood sugar depression, testicular swelling and more
• Allergic – Rashes and itching are the most common allergic reactions to this drug, though nasal congestion, pneumonia, edema and fever have also been reported

Ditropan and Levsin – These drugs are designed for individuals with small bladders. Both function to reduce the effect of bladder contractions, as well as helping the bladder to increase in size. These drugs are sometimes combined with others mentioned above, though this is no guarantee of an effective treatment.

Side effects of Ditropan and Levsin include dry mouth and flushed, red facial features, increased sweating, increased risk of heat stroke and fever, constipation, inability to urinate, weakness, drowsiness, eye paralysis, hallucinations and more.

Obviously, drugs for the suppression of bed-wetting carry serious risks and should only be used as a last resort. A behavioural approach which uses a combination of alarm with bladder exercises, proven to be the most effective form of long-term treatment, should be tried first.

One final side effect common to all of the aforementioned drugs is that bed-wetting is likely to resume once the drug is no longer taken; these are short-term fixes, rather than actual cures.

The Surprising Prevalence of Bed-Wetting in Children

Most parents find bed-wetting in their child to be frustrating. Of course, at a young age, it is to be expected. However, many parents believe that the problem should resolve itself by a young age, with their child sleeping through the night with no further accidents. Surprisingly, enuresis (nighttime bed-wetting) is quite common, even in children 10 years of age or older. What age should your child stop wetting the bed? What are the statistics involved in bed-wetting?

4-Year Olds – According to a recent national study, up to 25% of all four-year olds still wet the bed on a regular basis. However, that same study showed that children moved out of the bed-wetting phase by as much as 15% each year.

5-Year Olds – According to the same study, up to 23% of five-year old children continue to experience nocturnal enuresis, at least a couple of nights each week.

Elementary Age Children – During the elementary age years, most parents expect that their child should have outgrown bed-wetting. However, up to 20% of elementary aged children continue to experience bed-wetting. Of course, younger children experience a higher rate of enuresis than older children do, with seven-year olds coming in at 20% and ten-year olds coming in around 4%.

However, the fact that 4% of all ten-year olds in the US suffer from nighttime bed-wetting should be a sign for parents. In fact, up to 3% of eighteen-year olds still suffer from occasional bed-wetting episodes.

Which children are at the greatest risk of continuing to have bed-wetting problems? Studies show that nocturnal enuresis can be inherited, so a child who has even one parent who experienced bed-wetting during their own childhood can expect to endure a longer period before bed-wetting stops. Most children with inherited bed-wetting stop at about the same age as their parent.

Boys are also at an increased risk of bed-wetting.  According to national statistics, up to 7% of boys aged ten years can experience bed-wetting, as compared to only 3% of girls aged ten years. In most cases, bed-wetting does not indicate any serious problem; medical studies have been conducted and have found that most children experience this as a natural part of life, rather than due to bladder or urinary tract abnormalities. Of course, children suffering from spina bifida and other similar conditions, as well as birth defects can experience a higher rate of enuresis.

However, if a medical condition does exist, it is important that it be diagnosed quickly. Diseases and conditions that can result in bed-wetting include diabetes, epilepsy, sleep apnea and spinal cord injury. Of course, as mentioned, these cases constitute only a fraction of a percent of bed-wetting cases.

If your child continues to experience bed-wetting, it is important to treat it with a combined behavioural approach. By far the most effective treatment is the use of an alarm, combined with bladder exercises and supportive parents.