Children Grown Up: Adolescent Nocturnal Enuresis

Urinating while asleep, also called nocturnal enuresis, is common in children. It is messy and worrying, but as it is unintentional, it can only be an indication of a growing body system growing adapted to sleeping without diapers. Nocturnal enuresis in teenagers and adolescents, though, may be worrisome for parents; it can be embarrassing for older children, and is considered a physical manifestation of deeper troubles in a teenager or adolescent.

What causes nocturnal enuresis? To understand the phenomenon, one has to understand how the kidneys and their related hormones work. One particular hormone, the antidiuretic hormone, controls the release of water in the body. This antidiuretic hormone is involved with a hormone cycle that prevents the bladder from filling until the morning; this in turn ensures that a person will urinate when he wakes up.

This antidiuretic hormone cycle, however, is not completely operational in babies. It develops as children age; in a few cases, it will be stable by the end of puberty; in extremely rare cases, the cycle is not established at all. These rare scenarios are a potential cause of adolescent bedwetting.

Another way to control urination is via the brain itself, which, for its part, controls the body's ability to wake prior to urination. In children, this is learned by the brain, as it grows more and more aware of the body's hormone cycles. This learning process, however, can be interrupted by certain factors such as emotional or physical stress. Such stress can be as mild as forcing children to urinate when they are not fully awake. Other contributing factors can be more damaging, such as physical or sexual abuse.

If your teenager or adolescent wets his or her bed, you might want to consider one of the following treatments and therapies.

The first consideration in teenage enuresis is the body's incapacity to develop the antidiuretic hormone cycle, or the brain's incapacity to recognize it. Your doctor may suggest antidepressants such as Nortriptyline and Amitriptyline, both of which can treat enuresis for up to three or four months.

Desmopressin, another common enuresisdrug, mimics the action of the antidiuretic hormone, and can be used when diagnosis points to poor hormonal development as the source of the enuresis.

The second consideration when treating teenage enuresis is the brain's incapacity to both recognize the antidiuretic hormone cycle, and to control it with respect to time and sleep. To address this, psychiatrists advocate training machines such as the bedwetting alarm. This nighttime gadget can aid adolescents to wake up when they first feel moisture, and discover that they must urinate. Ideally, this will lead to the body finally identifying when the bladder is full, and can curb teenage enuresis.

The third consideration may be the body's complete incapacity to control enuresis, which is relatively rare. In this case, doctors advise using diapers or pads, which will help reduce the discomfort associated with enuresis. Although this may lessen the shame, it will not stop enuresis completely, and additional measures should be taken to stop it.

The last consideration may be the brain's incapacity to control urination or recognize the antidiuretic hormone cycle because of psychological conditions. Such conditions may be brought about by stress; if this stress is due to physical or sexual abuse, your child may not talk to you about it. Psychiatric care and therapy is advised in these cases; while treatment may not directly target the problem of teenage enuresis, it may give you and your child closure on any issues that are brought to light.

Teenage or adolescent enuresis is a treatable disorder, and it needs both patience and consideration on the part of the concerned parent. If your adolescent is wetting his or her bed, take him or her to your physician, and have the problem diagnosed and treated. In no time, your adolescent will no longer have to deal with the shame and humiliation connected with their condition.