Medicine For Bed Wetting

Sometimes all your efforts to keep your child from wetting his or her bed are unsuccessful due to a medical condition that requires treatment. There is some medicine for bed wetting available.

Some children have increased urine production in the night, often more than their little bladders can hold. For a lot of these kids, bedwetting can be reduced and even avoided with medications such as desmopressin or imipramine,. Consult with your child's pediatrician to see if this treatment would be an option.

Be aware that these medications not work for every child – results have been inconsistent and sometimes unpredictable. At the same time, it has helped a large number of children. There are also some side effects that are caused by the medication. Your child's physician should discuss these with you in more detail.

Desmopressin acetate, is given as a nasal spray or as a pill. It is a synthetic form of the antidiuretic hormone, and thus it helps the child’s or teen’s body make less urine during the night, which in turn decreases the chances that the bladder will be filled during the night. This drug works quickly and causes fewer side effects than Imipramime. This medication does not work in all children – in children and teens who have a small bladder, enuresis will still occur.

The second mentioned drug, Imipramime, is an antidepressant. This drug can cause serious side effects, so it needs to be closely monitored by both the parents and especially the doctor who prescribes it. This drug is successful at reducing bedwetting in about 1/3 of the children who use it. It is thought to work by improving the patient’s sleeping pattern as well as increase the efficiency of the smooth muscles in the bladder.

The advantage to medication is that this will work quickly and may be a good way to stop bed wetting for the interim until your child grows out of the condition. The disadvantage is that enuresis can return after medication is discontinued – the effects are not permanent.

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