The following articles have been written by young people who have experienced bedwetting. If you have a story to tell we would love to put it up on our website.
Richard, 14
If I wake up wet then I feel very disappointed and I want to cry. I strip my bed and take the sheets downstairs to be washed.
I feel like a freak because my mum takes me to all sorts of different people. I've been to two doctors, a hypnotherapist, a herbalist and a psychologist. I feel like they're out to get me with their strange new cures, buzzers and medicines. They make my feel that I have to talk about things I want to forget.
I know my mum wants to help me by doing this, but it just makes me feel stupid. I am looking forward to being dry because then I will be able to feel normal and I won't have to go to any of these people any more. When I wake up dry I feel very proud because I am getting nearer my goal.
Nicola, 18
I had been dry from quite a young age but had always had the odd accident, maybe once a month, until I was about 6. I then had a two-week spell where it happened virtually every night, but the promise of a watch if it stopped seemed to work, and I had no accidents at all until I was 9.
It started with the odd night of wetting
When it first started, it was just the odd night and I didn't think too much of it. It was about 6 months after it originally started that it was happening more than once a week. I refused to go to the doctor's though because I was too embarrassed; oddly nobody else in my family has ever suffered with the problem; anyway I carried on wetting but it was never every night and never during the day, so my mum never really forced it, as I think she thought it was attention seeking.
Seeking help
The problem continued to get worse and I eventually went to the doctor's, not through choice but my mum bought it up when I went about something else. By this time I was 11. I was referred to a paediatric nurse. I had to answer all these questions which I hated because the questionnaire was designed for seven-year-olds and I felt like I was being patronised. I then had to go every Monday night for weeks, which I also hated because it meant missing my swimming, which I loved. The nurse was very accommodating and did her best but I was a pain in the neck - I didn't want to be there. She first tried putting me on an alarm, which was placed under my sheet. I thought it was great to start with but I am a deep sleeper, so despite my whole family been woken up by it, it had little effect unless it was right by my ear and when it was right by my ear I used to just switch it off anyway and not get out of bed. The main reason why I hated it though, was because it was too sensitive and it drew attention to my problem which I tried to ignore.
More solutions
I was then given another alarm but this one I hated more because it involved wearing a sanitary towel and clipping an alarm to that it was horrible and I soon stopped using it. I was then introduced to desmotabs; I was going on holiday to South Africa and there was no way I'd have managed to not wet the bed. I loved them. It was two weeks of no bedwetting. I was told they weren't a permanent solution so came off them when I came back. The nurse kept trying to come up with new solutions, but I was very unwilling. I felt so stupid that I was still wetting but another part of me held on to the fact it would stop when I started my periods or when I was 13. Both of these events came and went but I was still bedwetting. The nurse, I think more in despair than because there was any reason to suspect the problem was related psychologically, sent me to see a psychologist. While I was waiting for my appointment with him, my mum hit upon a new idea of trying homeopathy. I think it improved things slightly but even at 13 I was very sceptical, so didn't co-operate fully. My mum thought it was a waste of time and money too.
Referred on
I then got the appointment thorough with the psychiatrist. I liked him because he said I could go on desmotabs full time. This was a relief as I was about 14 at the time and this was my worst period of bedwetting (at one stage shortly after my 14th b/day I went 3 weeks without a dry night). The psychologist quickly realised there was nothing psychologically wrong with me. I had loads of friends and was generally very happy (except of course he realised when I had to see him, I gave him the nickname pisspsycho, which he took with a pinch of salt). He then referred me to the hospital but this time there was something different and I immediately felt more positive. For once I believed I would be in the 80% success rate they had as opposed to the other 20% which I felt I was very much becoming a part of - I think everyone goes through a stage where they think they'll never stop bedwetting. Their suggestion was to carry on with desmotabs but up the dosage to 3 as 2 was no longer completely reliable, and then to come off them gradually.(I've just made it sound like an addiction but it really wasn't!).
Finally I stopped wetting
I started in the October and by February I was just about to completely come off and something, I don't know what triggered it all back off again and I had to restart the whole process. I decided though not to do this straightway as I was going away for the summer and wanted to be assured of being dry the whole time, so I stayed on 3 for ages before trying again the following September. This time it did work. It took over 6 months for me to finish on the tablets but I stopped wetting shortly after my 18th birthday and am so happy. I have now been dry for 8 months. I think the reason for my success was that for once I was treated for what I was - a normal teenager who had a medical problem, as opposed to a teenager with a child's problem. The doctor knew I was embarrassed so instead used to phone my mum up for updates instead of dragging me in - this to me was infinitely preferable.
Looking back
I do believe though that bed-wetting has stolen a lot from me. I know my confidence fell a lot, although it is now returning but very slowly. I also missed out on numerous school trips etc. As I never told my friends about my problem, I used to have to pretend my parents were too strict. I also had to endure the agony of staying over at someone house worrying the whole time about what if I wet the bed. The fact I couldn't go away means I have not got used to being away from home for longer than a night and it meant my first few weeks of uni were very hard as I wasn't used to being away from home. Incidentally, I left uni after 6 weeks because my choice of course was wrong, but I look forward to going back next year. The one thing I wish people could understand is that it is normal and it shouldn't be anything to be ashamed of. I always felt so stupid and embarrassed; my moods have always been reflected by how my bedwetting has gone. Nothing beats the despair of going 2 weeks without wetting the bed, then one night waking up with wet sheets. You always think that this time will be the last time you do it - it is eventually but it is a long, tricky road. One day I hope that people will realise it is as normal if more uncommon to wet the bed as it is to wear glasses. I was and still am a normal teenager. I achieved 4 As at A-level but until 8 months ago wet the bed.
James, 13
I have been wetting up to 5 times a week on average since I was a baby. Once, when I was 11, my problem just suddenly stopped for a whole 2 months straight. I thought I'd beaten it, but then it started again and hasn't stopped. I have tried the buzzer, but I sleep too deeply for it to wake me up. I have tried setting my alarm clock for the early hours of the morning, but still I sleep through it. My parents tried lifting, but it just made me dependent on them, so if they didn't do it I would wet. I have also tried numerous drugs and tablets, been scanned for bladder disorders and deprived myself of liquids throughout the day, but nothing seems to work. I had nearly lost all hope, until one day, while surfing the net I discovered that there was an incontinence specialist in a hospital near me. I go to her now on a regular basis. She told me to increase my intake of liquids during the day to 1 and a 1/2 litres a day so my bladder capacity would get bigger, and only to drink water, and it seems to be working! I think i will beat this thing before my 14th birthday - or at least I hope I do!
Teenage bedwetting is hell
Bedwetting is hell at this age, especially when friends invite you to stay at their houses, or when they come up to your room after a wet night and start asking what the smell is. And when you're in school, you are concerned that someone will guess by looking at you. Sometimes I am afraid that it won't stop and that I'll go on wetting until I die and I might even cry. I wish I was dry so much!