Hiya, I posted on here about a year ago about my bedwetting issues. I am now 16 and for a while it improved. However now it has moved to day time wetting as well as slightly soiling. This has had a huge impact of my life and the stress I have. This is on top of exams etc. I really don’t know what to do any more. Any advice/recommendations would be extremely helpful.
Secondly, my school have is now not a helpful or useful. Before they would help and were understanding of my situation but they seemed to have a different outlook now.
Hi Ofkfnf. This sounds like the root problem is constipation. Pressure on the bladder and soiling can be overflow from constipation. I seem to remember that you tried disimpaction some time ago? Have you got any specialist help overseeing a regular medicated bowel regime? By that I mean have you been prescibed Senna and Movicol (or something similar) and is anyone professional monitoring what is happening on a regular (3 monthly or 6 monthly) basis with any kind of future plan in mind ? It takes a long time to get normal bowel function back and you need to keep using stool softeners (like Movicol for example to keep things moving easily) and Senna to give some impetus as well for much longer than you might think. Eventually the idea is to reduce dosages slowly over time in the hope that the established regular bowel habit, stays.
My son is 15/half and now has a good bowel habit (twice a day, every day) but we are always keeping an eye on it and it has taken years to get there. The biggest early change though was that once his bowel was emptying properly and regularly, the day wetting disappeared rapidly. The other thing is that this may not be the answer to the night wetting (not for my son at present) but absolutely nothing will improve until your bowel function has normalised a bit.
Do your own research too. Google is a wonderful thing sometimes...
Do you mind me asking what region do you live in?
Has a doctor ever run a blood test (recently)?
Sorry if this is just repeating stuff you know. The thing is to get yourself some kind of proper monitoring and support. Perhaps you have?
I have done disimpactation about a year ago and it took a massive toll on my mental health and still does today. I am seeing a specialist however they have no future plans for me which is also hard.
I have never had a regular bowel movement as I don’t feel it if you get me. That is hard. How did you start to get you son into a regular bowel routine? If I am lucky I have one proper bowel movement every 10 days. Even when I do my bowel is never fully empty.
I live near London ish. I haven’t had a blood test in about 8 months.
I regards to your last questions I don’t feel like I have proper support from anyone so I feel like I am doing this solo
Hi Ofkfnf. Perhaps you need some more advice on where you should be, if you know what I mean. If you are nearish to London, the Evelina Children's Hospital is part of St Thomas' Hospital, very close to Waterloo station in London. You could ring their Paediatric (yes 16 still counts as child services) Bladder Clinic for advice about what is happening to you and the lack of support you have, and that the specialist you are seeing currently has no plan of action for you . . . and how to get a referral to see them , , and ask the question - could they (at Evelina) do more for you? The nurses line is 020 7188 4647/4592 or Dept Secretary 020 7188 4662. You can leave a message and they do ring you back. Ask about how to go about getting a referral to them and exactly what Dr and department you should ask your GP to refer you to. (Honestly - write it down).
That's exactly what we did about 6 months ago. They were terrifically helpful, there was no problem asking our GP to refer and we didn't tell our truly useless and totally disinterested local paediatric dept (who we had recently been transferred to from a retired doctor's list), still keeping appts there as well (for what it's worth).
Just a thought.
The question about how my son got his bowel to a regular habit was a long journey. He was about 8 when we got a referral to a bowel clinic. He was prescribed Movicol and Desmomelts; Movicol is a stool softener to get poo moving smoothly and Desmomelts are a synthetic hormone mimicking vasopressin,( which controls reducing the amount of urine we all ,make at night). He started off on about 4 sachets (paediatric dose) a day, split morning and evening for a week or so and then dropped to one sachet morning and one evening and after about 3 months dropped to one sachet early evening ... and kept that up for about 2 years really with little breaks to see if he got 'bunged up' again and if he dropped below one proper poo every day. He had to sit on the toilet about half an hour after eating his breakfast and after his evening meal and try to have a poo for at least 20 minutes - regardless of whether he thought he needed a poo or not (and he usually didn't think he did.... but then generally did when he sat there long enough).
We got on with it but the night wetting although massively improved was still an issue. Another Dr we saw put him on Senna to try to train sensation of needing to go. Like you, he didn't really have any feeling early on and for a long time about needing a poo. I think his bowel was so used to feeling distended it felt normal; his brain didn't register ' I need a poo!' But gradually it did. He now goes twice a day every day and even comes in from school busting for a poo. So this is good - at least he feels it now.
I don't know if any of this helps or gives you any ideas for yourself.
I would think a steady regimen of senna and movicol will break things up and give you some freedom from the constipation. My son was also very backed up, when he first started the disimpaction we dosed him with 4-6 sachets per day and 25 mg senna daily. He is still on 25mg senna and 1 sachet everyday for a year! He is clear but still seems like he doesn’t have the feelings in his bottom to alert him when he goes but it should be happening with in the next year🙏🏼
I just wanted to wish you well and say well done for seeking help. I’m sorry your going through this and will little support. Do you give your self time to sit and relax on the toilet? This is just a little thing but it really helps as your not getting the signals at the moment but if you sit preferably at the same times every day you will get into the habit. Disimpactation can be quite traumatic. That must have been difficult for you. Good luck with these number .. sound like they are fab. All the best x
Charlotte, what has changed from before? Are the daytime wettings because you get urges, but can't hold it long enough, or are you wetting yourself and not even aware that you need to go? If the latter is the case, you and your parents need to push harder to get you to a neurologist. The latter being the case, it sounds like you may have some neurological problems that are not only affecting your bladder, but also may involve your colon and rectum. Just a guess. The other part of this is something that I truly believe will really help and I have spoken of this before. Now I say this with the idea that you still have one or two friends that are really close, and that you spend a fair amount of time with them. I truly believe that if you let them in on what's happening, you won't feel so alone in dealing with this. I think that this will help with the anxiety that you're feeling about this as well. Much of that is being so worried that someone will find out and possibly not treat you well. If you can't bring yourself to speak to them directly, perhaps do it sometime with one of your parents there for a little moral support. Another option might be that one or both of your parents can talk to your friend's parents and have them talk to your friend. With that said, I think it would be much better coming from you. I know we've talked about this, and you HAVE said that you are afraid/uncomfortable doing this. What's the worst that can happen? You're not going to tell your whole school, you're just going to tell one or two friends that you believe that you are close to. If you really feel very confident in the friendship, then it should be a good bet that they will be there for you. If not, then perhaps they were not as good a friend as you thought. I know it's a tough time, but teens are tough, and you will find friends. Hugs, hugs, and lots more hugs.
Thank you - i would tell a friend but the last time i did when we had a major argument a couple of months later they used that against me and told everyone
Understand, that the first time can't be with a casual friend but with someone you have really gotten close to. This is also where it might be prudent to try doing it with mediation from one of the parents (yours or hers.) Without going into any details, can you tell me what the argument was about? Was it something about the problems you are dealing with? If this was someone who at least was really close to you, maybe you can repair that friendship, and that might mean help from someone. Perhaps you could send a card or letter to start things rolling again. At least talk to your mom about it and get her perspective on it and what she thinks might help. The other option, which might be a bit more objective is if there is an adult at your school who might be able to sort this out with your friend(s). Another thought came to me. This one person that you told, and you got into a big argument with. How long ago was that? If we're talking 4 or 5 years ago, you and this other person are not the same people. While at 16 you all still have a fair bit of growing up to do, you are a lot more mature than when you were say, 12.
Hey Charlotte! I thought of something else. But with the medical system they have in the UK, I'm not sure of what the challenges are. Actually, there are two things. First, have you had any kind of testing to see if it's something more than just simple diarrhea? Could there be a neurological problem that is either not getting the anal sphincter to open enough, or a problem with the lower digestive system not effectively moving the feces to the anus. The other thing to think about is the possibility of using the Peristeen pump. I don't even know if this would be possible with serious constipation. The other is the Nuvina system. There is the classic which is like the peristeen pump, or the Nuvina smart which is an electronic control and pump (electric) to do it. I can't find prices, but I would imagine that the classic is a fair bit cheaper. All I could find out about price is that the smart model is over 200 pounds UK. The Peristeen pump is about $190 USD. Please give me some feedback. Thanks.
Charlotte, I have tried several times to get an update from you with no reply. Your GCSE's are surely over by now. I have re-read a couple of your posts again on this and suggest strongly that what you are experiencing is more than just constipation. You need to get your parents to get you to a neurologist to get a full work up on your lower spine. If you have already had this done, do it again with a DIFFERENT doctor. The fact that you cannot feel when you need to have a bowel movement, and the fact that you are increasingly losing bladder control suggests that there may be something neurologic that may be not allowing you to feel what you need to to control your bodily functions. This may also be affecting your large intestine so that you are not able to move waste through and eliminate it. Put simply, I think that both your bladder and bowel issues are two different problems caused by something involved with the control or sensory aspect of your bowel and bladder. If nothing else, I'd like to know how things are going and to be an "ear to bend" if you want to talk. Hope all is well with you! Hugs galore and hope that you are doing well.
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