Kate Halim
When Clara Peters married her husband seven years ago, she didn’t know she was signing up for a life of difficulty.
Like other women who face challenges in their marriages, Mrs. Peters is dealing with a shameful but prevalent issue in her marriage.
She has been enduring this challenge but things are getting harder these days. She is too ashamed to tell people that her husband bed wets. Not even family members know about this secret the couple has been hiding for years.
“I am at my wits end. I don’t know how to handle this issue anymore. The worst part is that my husband is not doing anything to help me. He believes that I have to take him as he is, she complained bitterly.”
Her husband who bed wets almost every night doesn’t want to go for medical check-up and treatment. His adamant stance on this important issue is threatening peace of their marriage.
Mrs. Peters is not alone. Many spouses are dealing with bedwetting partners. It is even worse when the person affected doesn’t want to get medical help for their ailment. Some of them claim it is a spiritual issue that doesn’t require medical solution.
Medical causes of bedwetting
Bedwetting, also known as sleep enuresis and urinary incontinence is a common condition in young children and is often seen as a sign of immature, developing bladder says Doctor Gabriel Omonaiye.
According to him, “It is estimated that 15% of children over three, and 10% over five wet the bed occasionally. In fact, most doctors don’t consider bedwetting in children to be a sign of a problem unless the child is older than seven years old.”
He however said that “when adults wet the bed it is often an indication of an underlying illness, disease, or a symptom of other untreated medical conditions.”
According to the doctor, “Adult bedwetting can be an embarrassing condition to live with and can be attributed to urinary tract infections, bladder cancer, bladder or kidney stones, anatomical abnormalities, small bladder, and other conditions.”
Other causes of bedwetting include genetics or family history, Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), small bladder, diabetes, kidney disease and enlarged Prostrate gland, Prostate cancer, bladder cancer, side effects of medications, neurological disorders, stress, anxiety, fear, and other psychological issues.
An adult may feel embarrassed to wake up to wet sheets, but it’s not their fault. It could be due to a medical condition, medicine, or a problem with their bladder. And there are many ways to fix it.
How bed-wetting is diagnosed
A doctor will do an exam and ask about your symptoms and health history. You will have to answer questions which may include how often and what time your bed-wetting happens, how much urine comes out (a lot or a little), what and how much you drank before bed, and any other symptoms you have had.
Dr Omonaiye said that tests will be carried out to diagnose the problem. “These tests include urinalysis which checks a sample of one’s urine to look for an infection or other conditions of the urinary tract -the collection of organs that are involved with urine like the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra.”
Another test that is used to diagnose adult bed-wetting is urine culture. The doctor sends a small sample of your urine to a lab, where technicians put it in a special dish with nutrients. This test looks for bacteria or yeast in your urine. It can also diagnose a urinary tract infection.
According to Omonaiye, “Uroflowmetry is another test used to diagnose bedwetting in adults. It involves an adult peeing into a special funnel to measure how much urine they make and how quickly it flows out.”
Post-void residual urine measurement is another test which measures how much urine is left in one’s bladder after they pee.
Treatments for bed-wetting
According to Dr. Omonaiye, adults who bed wet can help themselves by setting fluid intake limitations, reduce or cut out caffeine and alcohol from diet, and make urinating a routine. They can also set a schedule to make sure to urinate every one to two hours during the day, empty bladder before bedtime even when they don’t quite feel the need to go.
Another way to treat bed wetting in adults may include setting a night time alarm to urinate in the middle of the night, and protecting beds with special mattress covers.
Bladder retraining is another way to treat bedwetting.
You can go to the bathroom at set times during the day and night. Slowly increase the amount of time between bathroom visits. This will train your bladder to hold more fluid.
If you bed wet, don’t drink right before bed advised Omonaiye. That way, you won’t make as much urine. Avoid caffeine and alcohol which can stimulate your bladder.
Medications and procedures
There are several types of medications that can be prescribed to reduce or eliminate the need to urinate at night.
A doctor will determine which medications to prescribe the patient based on his or her specific condition after tests.
If medicines and other treatments don’t work, a doctor might recommend some procedures. One of these procedures is bladder augmentation. It’s an operation that makes your bladder larger, which raises the amount of urine it can hold.
Another procedure is sacral nerve stimulation. It helps control an overactive bladder. A doctor puts a small device into your body that sends signals to nerves in your lower back that help control the flow of urine.
The third procedure is detrusor myectomy. It is a major operation that treats an overactive bladder. A surgeon removes part or all of the muscles around your bladder to stop them from contracting at the wrong times.
If you try one treatment and it doesn’t work, go back to your doctor. Sometimes it takes a few tries to find the right solution to bed-wetting in adults.