Collegiate Incontinence?
I am a 23 year old male college Senior, I still wet the bed on occasion. It happens once every few years, but when it happens its for 2-3 weeks straight. Does anyone know of a medical reason this might happen? Does anyone have any advice about how to deal with sleeping arrangements? (I live with my girlfriend, we only have one bed) I think its odd that it only happens every few years, but it bothers me enough when it happens that I am looking for some answers about possible causes. Please cite any sources that might be helpful.
There are few obvious medical reasons for this, and it is not actually so uncommon but you describe it happening in "clusters" which is – interesting. There are medications, but they require a doctor’s prescription – and have annoying side effects if you are not really sick.
You need a "pad and bell" alarm. You wear a little pad with a copper pattern on it, held inside a thin cotton pouch, inside your underwear (yes, slightly inconvenient!) and placed directly over your penis so that the moment you start to pee, it conducts an electric current (at too low a voltage for you to feel it) across the pattern and the pad has wires connecting it to a box which you sit right next to your pillow so that immediately the pad is wet, it sounds a loud alarm and startles you out of sleep – which should also stop you peeing.
You then have to get up, wash off the pad and find a new, dry cotton pouch to put it back in (change your undies and anything else necessary – easiest to simply sleep on a once-folded towel as I suspect you already do) and go back to bed/ sleep.
Notice I did not say at this point, to pee (or finish peeing) just because you got up! If you *really* feel you need to, you can, but your problem is *not* that you can’t hold it because I presume you are fine holding it in the daytime, so in fact you should *not* try too hard to reduce the amount of urine you make overnight. The problem is that you have to *teach* yourself not to start the peeing process while you are asleep, or else to wake up. The "pad and bell" alarm is to train you that if you have to pee, you wake up – first!
A couple of other things. It *may* help you a little to practice holding for longer in the daytime. It will help a little to know when you go and pee, is the amount that comes out normal? You can get a measuring jug (only costs a few dollars) and see just how much you pee each time during the day. Learn what is happening – normal is about 200 to 300 ml depending on the habits you taught yourself as a child. Less than that suggests you just like going to the toilet. 500 ml or so can be held fairly easily, up to 600 or 700 if you are busy exercising and not sitting or standing still.
Sleeping it is actually not unreasonable to hold out for 900 ml to 1 litre, even up to 1100 ml or so. Of course, as soon as you wake up with anything like that, you *will* have to go.
And finally, an interesting question – when you pee in your sleep, were you *dreaming* that you were peeing? This is not uncommon.
There are several things you could try,first see a urologist to rule out any physical problems, also it maybe a subconscious thing but finding the trigger could be tricky. I can only suggest you make sure you limit your fluid intake before bed and use the toilet before going to sleep. Good luck dude
References :
There are few obvious medical reasons for this, and it is not actually so uncommon but you describe it happening in "clusters" which is – interesting. There are medications, but they require a doctor’s prescription – and have annoying side effects if you are not really sick.
You need a "pad and bell" alarm. You wear a little pad with a copper pattern on it, held inside a thin cotton pouch, inside your underwear (yes, slightly inconvenient!) and placed directly over your penis so that the moment you start to pee, it conducts an electric current (at too low a voltage for you to feel it) across the pattern and the pad has wires connecting it to a box which you sit right next to your pillow so that immediately the pad is wet, it sounds a loud alarm and startles you out of sleep – which should also stop you peeing.
You then have to get up, wash off the pad and find a new, dry cotton pouch to put it back in (change your undies and anything else necessary – easiest to simply sleep on a once-folded towel as I suspect you already do) and go back to bed/ sleep.
Notice I did not say at this point, to pee (or finish peeing) just because you got up! If you *really* feel you need to, you can, but your problem is *not* that you can’t hold it because I presume you are fine holding it in the daytime, so in fact you should *not* try too hard to reduce the amount of urine you make overnight. The problem is that you have to *teach* yourself not to start the peeing process while you are asleep, or else to wake up. The "pad and bell" alarm is to train you that if you have to pee, you wake up – first!
A couple of other things. It *may* help you a little to practice holding for longer in the daytime. It will help a little to know when you go and pee, is the amount that comes out normal? You can get a measuring jug (only costs a few dollars) and see just how much you pee each time during the day. Learn what is happening – normal is about 200 to 300 ml depending on the habits you taught yourself as a child. Less than that suggests you just like going to the toilet. 500 ml or so can be held fairly easily, up to 600 or 700 if you are busy exercising and not sitting or standing still.
Sleeping it is actually not unreasonable to hold out for 900 ml to 1 litre, even up to 1100 ml or so. Of course, as soon as you wake up with anything like that, you *will* have to go.
And finally, an interesting question – when you pee in your sleep, were you *dreaming* that you were peeing? This is not uncommon.
References :