Bed-wetting in teenagers and adults: what your doctor can do

Check that there is nothing seriously wrong. Your doctor will ask you questions, especially about whether you have wet the bed since childhood, or whether it is a new problem. He or she will do simple urine tests for infection and for diabetes. Your doctor will also check that there is nothing physically wrong with the bladder system this may require a hospital referral to a consultant urologist and/or a bladder X-ray or ultrasound scan.

Bedwetting alarms (enuresis alarms) are used for children who wet the bed (see bed-wetting alarms), but they can also work for teenagers and sometimes for adults. Modern types are worn between two pairs of pants, so they are small and discreet. If you have a partner, they will obviously have to be understanding and as motivated as you are. Your family doctor can advise you about obtaining an alarm or, in the UK, you can buy one from ERIC (see Useful contacts). If the alarm has not produced any improvement after 3 months, talk to your doctor about combining it with desmopressin (see below).

Medications are available on prescription from your family doctor.

Desmopressin is the best medication and is taken as a tablet or nose spray. It works by concentrating your urine so that there is not such a large volume to cope with. It is especially useful if you stay away from home, or if you have a bed partner. Although it stops bed-wetting completely in less than one-third of people, most find it reduces the number of wet nights. It does not cure the problem – when you stop taking it, the bed-wetting often recurs – but it is safe to take it over a long period.

Imipramine is a medication that somehow helps the bladder to hold more urine. It used to be popular, but is now used only if desmopressin has not helped. It has some side effects and is dangerous if too much is taken.

Tolterodine and oxybutynin calm overactive bladder muscle. They may be helpful if you have daytime wetting) as well as bed-wetting, and have to rush to get to the toilet (urgency). They can cause side effects, such as dry mouth and constipation, but these can be minimized by taking the medication at night. If desmopressin has not worked, they may be useful in combination with imipramine.

Written by: Dr Margaret Stearn
Edited by: Dr Margaret Stearn
Last updated: Friday, March 12th 2010

Useful contacts for Bed wetting in teenagers and adults: what your doctor can do

Click to see all the contacts that you may find useful in relation to bed wetting adults | Bed wetting in teenagers and adults: what your doctor can do

Useful contacts

Tell us your thoughts

Did you find what you were looking for?

Submit

Add a comment

A problem shared is a problem halved: help others by sharing your frustrations or successes at tackling your health problem.

We have noticed that many of your queries are answered on the website, so please search for your problem before submitting a comment. As all comments are moderated, there will be a delay before your comment appears.

Display Name Age: Sex: Country: Comment:

Submit

Discussion content reflects the view of individual participants only. Health Press Limited bear no responsibility for accuracy of participant comments and will bear no legal liability for discussion results. Comments will be moderated before posting and Health Press Limited reserves the right to delete any material. See About our site for our moderation policy

Comments on this article

Posted by marc on 18/04/2010 at 10:53:53 pm

i think i need diapers to stop wetting the bed

Posted by Aggravated on 08/03/2010 at 05:13:46 am

I have been wetting the bed since i was little. i made up lies to hide it so that my own sisters and brothers didnt laugh at me or tell my friends at school. I moved out of my moms house, got an apt...i was still wetting the bed and i had a son. while i was pregnant with him i peed the bed only once, but i thot my water broke, it didnt! but for a while after i had him, the bedwetting stopped. but around 3-4 months after he was born it came right back and stayed. it kept happening over and over again. not night after night...not quite, but pretty close. then 3 yrs go by of wetting the bed and i get pregnant again. and during that whole pregnancy i peed the bed only once again...and i was about the same amount of months along w this child as i was my first. well once again after i had my other son i hadnt peed the bed even once...now its comin back. it jus hapnd and my son will be 4 months on the 14th. this is driving me crazy! I do have a bed partner and yes he does understand that things happen, but i dont want this to control my life or the people in it. I want the bed wetting to stop! Ive tried to stop drinkin for hours b4 i went to bed and id still go. but when i wasnt peeing the bed b4 i could drink as much as i wanted b4 bed and id always wake up in the middle of the night and go pee or id wait til i woke up in the morning and go pee...but i wouldnt ever pee the bed. What else can i do? i already take depression medicine so i dont wana have to take anything for it. Please someone help me! ive got a 3 1/2 yr old and a 4 month old and i have to do my luandry jus as much as i have to do theirs.

Posted by concerned on 02/02/2010 at 09:28:00 pm

My son is 15 and wets the bed off and on sometimes every night then he will go days or weeks without it but on average like 10 times a month. I am reading about all of you and I am DEEPLY concerned. I am praying for ALL OF YOU... Sounds like one common factor is stress??? In his story too. His father went to jail when he was 2 and not a fine example of a dad since. :( Again my prayers are with all of us God is the only way out of this. STRESS FREE prayer. I am going to check him out with a doctor if nothing pans out physically I can only think it is emotionally.

Posted by Frustrated on 18/01/2010 at 09:45:00 am

Iv had a problem with bed wetting since i was 11 its started after alot of movin around and was caused by stress.now 9years on it wont stop.i was kicked out of home at 18 cause of it and am living at a hostel and this is making my life so hard as i live with 10boys in a shelter!!!iv tried desmopressin and oxybutin hydrochloride and av stopped drinkin tea and coffee and try to do pelvic floor muscles to control my urge but nothing works!!im at my wits end.please if someone has any advice id love to hear it

Posted by Becky on 11/01/2010 at 01:50:00 pm

Ive resently had alot of stress in my life with my parents, and have just wet the bed for the first time ever i never did when i was younger. I ve done it twice now and its makeing me a bit nervous. its not a fun thing. i have a boyfreind who i stay with alot and it makes me nervous now cuz i dont want to wet the bed when im with him. it really is embaressing.

Posted by s on 29/11/2009 at 06:51:00 pm

I've always had a bedd wetting problem ever since i was a child. I thought i'd finally stopped at the age of 16 years old. I've since had 4 children and now for the last 3 years i've started wetting the bed again,at first i thought it was the fact that maybe its because i've had 4 kids and my bladder isn't strong anymore but it could be a multitude of things. Just lately i've been dreaming that i'm on the toilet i can't understand why or how i manage to incorporate this into my dream. I'm married to the most understanding man in the world, but it still doesn't stop me from feeling ashamed, a few times i've had near misses or i manage to sort it out without him knowing so i don't think he knows the true extent of my problem. Two out of my 4 children have a bedwetting problem so i understand what they are going through, so i'm doing my best to help them get over it. Does anyone else dream that they are on the toilet?

Posted by Anonymous on 22/11/2009 at 11:48:00 am

i am so embarrased right now. i was a bed wetter when i was a kid, but it stopped when i was 7 now im 21, and this morning i woke up to discover that i had wet myself. i cant understand why this happened. i dont drink much but i do find that i have to rush to the loo during the day. i share a bed with my boyfriend every night so obviously i had to tell him. luckilly he was really understanding but i feel so ashamed and dirty. and im too embarrased to go to my doctor about it.

Posted by John on 04/09/2009 at 09:57:00 am

How do i stop occasional bed wetting? say twice in a year. am soo embarrassed about this situation so help me out.

Posted by Anonymous on 25/08/2009 at 01:13:00 pm

i am a 21 year old bed wetter and i am too embarrassed to go to doctor and tell the entire truth. i am so ashamed of myself, what is wrong with me why cant i stop?!

Posted by Anonymous on 21/08/2009 at 02:38:00 pm

I have wet the bed all my life and though it can be a problem sometimes it isn't something that I worry about very much.

Posted by stella on 14/08/2009 at 11:55:00 am

i wet my bed not all the time but occationally and this period its been constant but not every day. i also cannot hold on my urine when i see the toilet it just starts comming out

Posted by K on 08/05/2009 at 12:26:00 pm

I used to wet the bed frquently until i was 17.It then stopped. I am now 42, had a hysterectomy 6 1/2 months ago,all healing well although since my op my urine has been much darker and has a much stronger smell... This morning at 5.30 i was dreaming i was going for a wee,quickly woke up only to realise i had wet the bed.It has really upset me,i feel so..well any dignity i had left has gone. I have been under a lot of family pressure recently,my brother was knocked off his motorbike and suffered bad injuries (3 wks ago) then on the way to visit my brother,my parents car blew up.I have done all the running around and am still working full time (physical job)and keeping the house going...stress do you think ?

Posted by niceta on 15/04/2009 at 05:41:00 am

i wet the bed on and off

Posted by desperate bedwetter on 12/04/2009 at 01:26:00 pm

Hi! I have been a bedwetter for all of my life. My sister and brother also were, but my brother stopped it at the age of 8 and my sister at the age of 10. I am 23 and I still wet my bed. I tried stop drinking liquids at night, but it doesn't always work. Sometimes that I have to go for vacations with friends, I try not to drink anything but when we go out for a drink it's hard not to drink something, if I never dirnk something they might get suspicious. And of course, on these times I try not to sleep for the whole night and so I am always tired and not having fun. The longest period I have gone without wetting my bed is 3 months. From January untill the end of March.After 2 months had passed I tried drinking a lot of water before going to bed, just to see if I was over it and I managed to stay dry, so I was hoping that this would be the end of my problem. But it wasn't. Three weeks ago, it started again, and since then it has happened 7 times. I am tired of waking up like this. everytime I wake up and I am wet, I realise that it will never end, I start crying and hating my self for being like this. I hate my life. I am thinking that I will never be able to get marry. Who would like to share a bed with a bedwetter? And I love children and I really want to have children but I don't think I will. Even if I find a man to marry me, I don't want my children to suffer like me. I know that this can be genetics so it's not worth bring another miserable person to life. I have been reading articles on bed wetting and I really get angry when they say that as a treatmend, parents should let the kids change their own bedsheets and wash them. I have been changing my own bedsheets since I was little. Not because I thought it would stop it but because I was ashamed of my problem and I didn't feel right to have my mother doing it for me everyday. Changing and washing your own sheets doesn't work. We can't stop it by being punished. We don't wet the bed because we are bored to

Posted by j on 01/04/2009 at 02:53:00 am

i dont understand why,even after 2 kids,i still wet the bed.ive been tracking and most of the time,i wet the bed at least twice a month,its embarassing and it has affected my confidence,my partner teases me and so does my family.ive even gone so far to only have 4 hours of sleep each night not going to bed only after i went to the loo.thruoghout daytime,i minimalise my liquids and sometimes its so extreme that i feel dehydrated.i need help.fast!!!

Posted by Anonymous on 16/03/2009 at 08:53:00 pm

I have had a problem of bed wetting since i was a child maybe 4 or so... sad thing is that 17 years have gone by and the problem is still there... i have boyfriend that i share a bed with on weekends and because of this i try so hard not to fall asleep... it hurts. i jus really wish i could stop. i am so scared that one day i will have to tell him that i hve this problem and what if he leaves me. i relly want to get married but won't if this problem continues... i hate myself because of this... and i am so embarresed to see a doctor about it... i need prayers everyone