Urinary Incontinence Support Group

Well, we are finally going to give it a go! I took my son in for his physical today and we discussed again his bedwetting with his pediatrician. Last time we discussed bedwetting, the ped seemed a little reluctant to try anything opting to wait things out a little. Well, it has been a couple of years and a whole lot of laundry and mountains of soggy pull-ups later, and his pediatrician said we would give DDAVP a try. So, tonight, my son has taken his first dose and we'll see how he does. Doc says to give it a week, if we see no results, we will up the dosage. If we still see no results, we will up the dosage one more time. If we see no improvement on 3x the dosage, then DDAVP will NOT fix the problem.

Apparently, DDAVP (or Desmopressin) is a brain chemical replacement that tells the kidneys to stop producing fluid in the night. It is what most brains do normally. In my son's case, it could be that his brain is not producing this chemical, so the kidneys do not know to shut down. As the doctor says, if this is the case, we will see improvement with the medication, and this med will actually help "train the brain" to know what to do. So, within 12-18 wks, my son should be able to wean off the med and stay dry thru the night. That is the hope anyway. The doctor also said that sometimes it takes 2 or 3 courses of treatment. If this DOESN'T work, then we'll start looking at other possible treatments or problems.

So, it's a start!

~Mary

Hey! My daring son woke up dry this morning! He is excited! We are very hopeful that this will work for him.

~Mary

Mary,

Praise God!!! So glad that it looks like this may really help him. But not only him, you too, no or a lot less extra laundry and as you put it, no or a lot less soggy pull-ups. I will continue to pray that this works the way it should so he can stay dry.

Not so much success today, and the little man was pretty disheartened. But, I encouraged him. I told him, "Remember, the doctor said it might take about a week for your body to get use to it, and if 1 pill doesn't work, we'll try 2. If 2 doesn't work, we'll try 3. We still have time."

He is VERY concerned because 8th grade goes to Washington DC in March. He NEEDS to be better by March and the poor results this morning freaked him out. He thought things would be perfect from here on out due to his "great success" on the first day. He may be physically 13, but he is emotionally 9 or 10. So, I keep encouraging him, "We've got to work the plan, just like the doctor said".

I think it will work out. We still have some time.

~Mary

He is young and if anyone can do it Mary you can keep the faith.

God Bless.

We are trying DDAVP now. Daughter is 11 and only has 1 kidney due to cancer when she was 5. Doctor's say no connection to her cancer but it makes you wonder. I did have a problem too when I was younger but pretty much over it by 11-12 and it was not daily like her's, though hers has improved some this last year but still pretty frequent. My daughter is rather thin and I think has a small bladder too. She 4'9" at about 74 pounds. We tried to do this a few years ago but my DH is against medication, so doing it on the sly now as my daughter is really sick of dealing with this and wants to fix it. We know the medication works for her, and use 0.2 mg. Been on it about a week now and no accidents, she is thrilled. Luckily she never let it stop her from going to sleepovers or anything (she refused to wear Good Nights at friends once she turned 10 as she was afraid of them seeing them), would just not drink after past 7pm and stay up late so she would be fine. ---but got a new prescription at her oncology appt last week, which they set up thru the pediatrician, so set for the next 3 months and doing excellent. So far so good and with any lucky in a couple months all the signals will be reset and she will not have to worry about this any more.

Unfortunately, we are not doing so well over here. My son is VERY discouraged. I told him, "Remember; work the program; follow the plan." We are on 2 pills a night now and still no success. I think the "initial success" was probably placebo effect and partially coincidental, as he will have a random dry night here and there. But, we will keep at it.

I'm glad your daughter is doing well. I, too, would be suspicious of the cancer. Let's face it, any time you have trauma to the body, there are likely to be repercussions somewhere down the line.

Welcome to the incontinence forum!

~Mary

thanks, I hope the 2 pills work out for you and your son. I know the frustration you go thru, so hard as you cannot show it to them. We tried the bed alarm thing a couple years go, but she would just sleep thru it, woke me up though, LOL. I know my daughter is frustrated too. She worries about enough things w/o having to deal with this. Just follow the doctor's instructions and see how it goes!

A little update on my son and the workings of DDAVP. So far, we have graduated up to 3 pills a night. He is very discouraged. But, one thing that I noticed that I pointed out to him is that he is not wetting nearly AS MUCH at night. So, his urine output has greatly decreased at night. Yes, his pull-up is WET, but it is not SATURATED to overflowing. I pointed out to him that this is a step in the right direction. We would continue with this for the next couple months and see if things continue to improve.

~Mary

Had to pick up a refill of DDAVP for my son today since we have upped his dosage. $56/mo to take 3 pills a night!!! ...and that IS with insurance coverage AND for the generic formula. Over $400 without. I thought I was going to pass out. I'm praying that this will do the trick because it sure is a costly experiment.

~Mary