United Brachial Plexus Network

Hi to all. I haven't had a computer for a couple of years and am just getting back up to speed. Missed checking these boards.

We've taken a therapy break for a year and I'm in the process of setting things back in order. Michaela is now 12 years old and doing great, thinks she's 30! LOL

The main problem right now is she has to were depends to bed every night. She is a really deep sleeper and says she can't feel the urge to go. Daytime she is fine. She has never had a dry night in her life and its only a night time issue. We've tried everything imaginable. In trying to find a solution to this I read some information that children with neurological problems or with ADD/ADHD may also have a sleep disorder causing the bedwetting issue. So now I'm considering having her do a sleep study. I have had 2 for sleep apnea and don't think it would be a problem for her to go through. I don't want to keep making it an issue if there is a real physical problem she can't control. Since she has LOBPI with Horners and Klumpkes and ADD this made since to me. Has anyone out there dealt with this? Thanks LeeAnne Browning

HI,
My daughter had the same problem. Rarely a dry night until age 12 and then only after she used DDAVP. She slept so soundly that an alarm (or I suspect bomb) going off next to her wouldn't wake her though the rest of the house could hear it. Her dr first tried another prescription that had no affect. We asked about DDAVP since a boy down the street told her it worked for him. We asked the dr and first they did an ultrasound of her bladder to be sure it wasn't a physical problem that was causing it. After getting the prescription she was dry after the 2cd or 3rd night and never wet again. It was almost like after being dry her brain recognized that she could do it. So she quit the prescription right away, I think she only took the 3 nights worth and that was the end of the problem. Wish I had known about it sooner as she had attended camps for years and would have to wear pull-ups and hide them from the other campers.
Sue

My son had a terrible bedwetting problem till a few months ago. I stopped it by not making him shower at night.....he showers in the morning. Every night has been dry..thank goodness. I noticed this was teh problem, whe he skipped a shower one night and he was dry in the morning....so I made him shower that night....wet, then did not make him shower, dry etc. No matter which way we sliced it he was dry if he did not shower in the evening. PRoblemed solved. There is also studies, that I cannot find the link for since I am at work about forced handedness. Some posted it here and that is one of the problems with kids that are forced to used other hands than what mother nature intended them to use. GAYLE

So I have three kids. My oldest, my daughter never really had an issue with bed wetting. Then came the two boys. I did get a prescription and tried it, but it never really worked for us. Maybe a night or two, but then then started wetting even while on the medication. I think they just needed to mature, let their bladder mature, etc.....I bought the monitor that you hook up and then when you wet it goes off (an alarm)....about a week of that and my son stopped wetting..the alarm alerts you that you are wet and most of the time you wake and don't fully finish so you can run to the bathroom...its kinda alerting your brain and body the urge you feel right before you wet...that was two years ago and he was about 9 then. I tried the alarm on the youngest one...it didn't work as fast with him as the other guy...it kinda took months for him ...he did stop...most recently and he was 10. Just keep trying different things. I tried the no drinking after 6pm (didn't work), tried the medication (didn't really work). Good luck.

We've tried everything imaginable. The sleep disorder makes since to me since her BPI is so severe, If something in the brain doesn't wake her up. A sleep study would show that. Anyway, her BPI is left and she is right handed so I don't think that is an issue. I just feel guilty complaining if it is really something she can't help. On the other hand her father wet the bed till he was 14 with no issues.

We had a bedwetting issue with our oldest (non-bpi, but kidney issues). I was a bedwetter, too.

We tried meds, but they dried her out so much that her lips cracked and bled, so we stopped them.

What really worked for us was a schedule of peeing. The core of the bedwetting issue is a lack of communication between the bladder and brain. Hence, they either sleep thru their bodies call to pee or there is no call to pee.

Although my daughter found it annoying at first, since it worked, she went along with it. We sent a note to her teacher that said that it was a medical issue. From the moment she would wake up...she would have to pee immediately (even if she didn't feel like she had to). That's where the clock started. Then, every 2 hours, whether the urge is there or not, she would go to the bathroom and pee. Apparently, this puts "the brain in charge". Plus, at the beginning, so she would have a sense of success (because peeing every 2 hours IS annoying), I would wake her before I went to bed, around 11pm, and walk her to the bathroom. She'd have to do the rest...so she was half-awake, just as we are when we pee in the middle of the night. After a week, I didn't need to do that anymore. She got herself up. And, after a couple of months, she didn't even need to pee in the middle of the night. That is what the experts are looking for. Kids should be able to hold their urine for a night's worth of sleep.

She doesn't wake up in the middle of the night anymore to pee and hasn't for years. The alarms didn't work for us..she would disable them.

good luck, I know how difficult this can be.

claudia

The information I got has to do with incorrect REM sleep. Since I have REM sleep problems I'm gonna check it out, whether it is related to the BPI or not. Got my info from www.stopwetting.com .Thanks to all! L