Are you an adult who sometimes lacks the ability to control voiding your urine during the night? Do you wake in a wet bed because you’ve involuntary urinated in your sleep? Your health condition is referred to adult nocturnal enuresis, aka bedwetting.
Unintentional bedwetting can occur at any age, but for many it tends to emerge later in life. However, a small percentage continue to experience child nocturnal enuresis into their adult years.
There are a variety of conditions that can cause voluntary control of urine excretion to become less effective. The control of urine is very complicated and largely autonomic as it accumulates in the kidneys and is sent to the bladder for storage. A combination of chemicals and nerve signals cause bladder muscles to contract and sphincters to relax for emptying. Both physical or psychological issues can circumvent the holding of urine until you wish to let it go.
Adult nocturnal enuresis occurs for a variety of reasons, such as urological disorder, neurological disorder, urinary tract abnormality, genetics, hormonal, diet related, drug side effect and psychological. Some of the underlying causes for adult bedwetting include:
- UTI
- anxiety
- diabetes
- hereditary
- bladder cancer
- prostate cancer
- uterine prolapse
- enlarged prostate
- overactive bladder
- sleep apnea, sleep disorder
- inadequate bladder capacity
- bladder irritants ~ alcohol, caffeine
- underproduction of antidiuretic hormone
Treatments for adult nocturnal enuresis varies depending on your cause.
One simple treatment for adult bedwetting is to limit fluid intake before bedtime. Also, avoid caffeine and alcohol to discover if this helps. If bladder capacity is your cause, then you may benefit from holding out on the urge to urinate for as long as possible during the day. (These behavioral changes can help treat nocturia as well.)
These measures may fail to overcome your bedwetting because your cause requires more extensive treatment. In this case, visit with your health care provider for diagnosis and treatment. Further options available that may prevent you from wetting in the bed involve an assortment of prescription drugs and possible surgery.