Understanding Bedwetting: Causes, Overview, and Effective Treatment in Ayurveda

Bedwetting or nocturnal enuresis is accidental release of pee during sleep in children five years of age or older. Most children gradually stop wetting the bed on their own as they grow older. This usually happens between 4 and 6 years of age. A healthcare provider will see bedwetting as an issue if your child is over age 12 and continues to wet the bed two or more times a week for at least three months in a row. In India the prevalence of nocturnal enuresis ranges from approximately 7% to 12.6%. There is a strong genetic component to bedwetting. Gender also plays a role in bedwetting. Boys have also been found to have more severe bedwetting than girls.

Causes:

• A hormone imbalance
• Nerve impairment,A problem in the urinary tract or nervous system
• A small bladder
• No awareness of a full bladder
• Sleep apnea
• Constipation.

Symptoms:

Waking up with wet pajamas or sheets from pee is the main symptom of bedwetting. You likely won’t know that you wet the bed until it’s too late.
In addition to wetting the bed, your child has pain when passing urine, is often extra thirsty, has pink or red urine, has hard stools, or snores.

Treatment:

When treatment is used, therapy aimed at changing behavior is most often recommended. Behavior therapy is effective in more than 75% of patients and may include:

• Alarms: Using an alarm system that rings when the bed gets wet can help the child learn to respond to bladder sensations at night.
• Blader training: This technique uses regularly scheduled trips to the bathroom timed at increasing intervals to help the child become used to “holding” urine for longer periods. This also helps to stretch the size of the bladder, which is a muscle that responds to exercise.
• Medications may be used to decrease the amount of urine produced by the kidneys or to help increase the capacity of the bladder or. Drugs commonly used include desmopressin acetate (DDAVP), which affects the kidneys’ urine production, and imipramine (Tofranil), an antidepressant

Treatment in Ayurveda for Shayyamutra :

• Nasya: medhya drugs given as nasya improves hormonal synthesis and endocrine function,combination of Maricha and Bimbi can be used
• Shirodhara:Shirodhara is a purifying and rejuvenating therapy designed to eliminate toxins and mental exhaustion as well as relieve stress and any ill
  effects on the central nervous system
• Rasayana treatment such as medhya rasayana Kuchala, khadira, datura,Yashitimadu etc drugs can be used as single or compund formulations
• Sattvavajaya Chikitsa- (Counseling) and toilet training, beside medical management counseling and toilet training may play a vital role