over active bladder?

[faem]

Hi. My son is nearly 8 and is being treated with desmopressin for his bedwetting. It seems to have helped a little but he has only had a few dry nights, nothing consistent. It does seem to help if I lift him late at night, otherwise he usually wets, sometimes several times. We have seen the continence nurse and are assured he drinks the right amount of the right fluids. He has previously had a dairy allergy with chronic constipation but that has all been fine for about a year.

One thing we have to do before his next appointment is fill in a chart about how much he wees and how much. This has highlighted how many trips to the loo he is making! It's only 11am and he's been 7 times already! Each time its been between 60-80mls. Apparently it should be 240ml? Sometimes he's had to rush urgently. I'm guessing this could be the reason he's wet at night? He's dry through the day and theres no signs of infection. When he was born he was hypoglycaemic...not sure if theres any connection? Any advice would be great!

[AliStan]

Hi, with my daughter (almost same age) I've been told they "think" it's an overactive bladder although with her, she doesn't seem to go that often but when she needs the toilet she has little or no warning and so has to run - more often than not, not quite making it. She also can have accidents within 10-30 mins of just going. We had blood tests and scans and she's never had a UTI in her live (despite numerous tests over the years) so all tests seemed normal. They put her on Oxybutin (thinking it was overactive bladder) trying to resolve day issues before we worried about night time but that seemed to actually make it worse so we're back to nothing for now. We've been referred to specialist clinic in London and finally got appointment through for next month so am hoping that will give us some answers!

The only helpful advice I could share so far from professionals is to try and always get her to do a wee-wee - ie when she goes to the toilet, to finish, stop, stand up and then sit down and try again, doing it every time she goes. Might be worth a try to see if it can help empty out a bit more. For us nighttime is less of the worry right now, she went for number of years dry at night but then for the last couple of years she now seems to struggle to get through the night. For her it is usually only damp so easily contained in pull ups whilst we try and get daytime under control.

Another Mum on here suggested stopping using fabric conditioner on underwear as that helped her daughter. I've tried that recently and it does seem to have helped a little, not fully stopping the accidents but she used to stay in damp knickers and not realise, and that seems to have improved. If it's a sensation thing that's making your son go that might be worth a try too.

Sorry, not sure that this is much help as we're struggling to find answers too but maybe just a couple of ideas to keep you going.

Good luck

x

[faem]

Thank you for the replies. I have since spoken to the continence nurse who thinks it maybe overactive bladder and has booked him in for a scan at his next appointment. She is thinking of referring him for oxybutin. We have had a couple of drier nights recently and this seemed to be a result of drinking less in the afternoon and more in the morning. Last night however, he had wet twice by 1 am. Thinking about it though, he had been on the laptop close to bedtime so there could be a connection. I did resort to a pullup in the end...something I really didn't want to go back to.

Thanks again for the advice...and good luck to you both with your little ones x