Poll #12 (February) Results



Question:  What things do you think make bedwetting worse?

    92 people voted.  Their ages ranged from 6 to 48.  16 people were 
        age 21 or over, 17 were age 16-20, 36 were age 11-15, 9 were 
       age 6-10, and 13 did not give their age.

  Votes were as follows:

     50 votes for: "Being overly tired" 

     19 votes for: "Drinking drinks that contain Nutrasweet"  

      8 votes for: "Eating a lot of salty foods"

     28 votes for: "Sleeping in a cold bedroom" 

     9 votes for: "Sleeping in a hot bedroom"

      4 votes for: "Good weather (clear nights)"

     14 votes for: "Bad weather (stormy nights)"

     53 votes for: "Stress in life"

     14 votes for: "Being constipated"

      4 votes for: "Snoring"

     17 votes for: "Nothing makes bedwetting worse... it is always the 
                     same.
"

     14 had other ideas, such as:

Age 15: "Always being teased about it."

Age 15 "too much to drink at nite."

Age 32: "Bedwetting is a problem for my son. I plan on getting him started back in diapers this weekend. That way he can get a nights rest. That's most important."

Age 16: "Drinking certain stuff before bed sometimes makes me pee the bed like sodas. or alot of stuff in the evening."

Age 13: "drinking soda or warm milk before bed time maks me wet like thirs no tomarrow"

Age 22: "Drinking too much"

Age 11: "caffine drinks"

Age 23: "I think that one of the worst things for someone with bedwetting problem is something not on the list, caffeine. I started having dry nights at aroung age 12 but for many years after that if I had anything with caffeine in it at night I would almost always wet the bed. I've read that caffeine (like Nutrasweet) irritates the bladder lining as well as causing the body to produce more urine, both of which would cause bedwetting to get worse. It certainly did in my case!"

Age 12: "Drinking water, milk, etc."

Age 10: "When you don't do anything about it."

Age 12: "WHEN IT IS COLD I DONT LIKE GETTING UP SO I LAY THERE AMD PEE THEN GO BACK TO SLEEP."

Age 22: "Caffinated drinks, coke, coffee, etc."

Age 11: "sometimes i wake up and dont feel like getting up so i just pee my bed and go back to sleep."

More than 1 out of every 2 people voting believe that getting overly tired makes bedwetting worse and 1 out of 2 people also believe stress makes bedwetting worse.  This is probably because when kids are overly tired they sleep more deeply.  They therefore are not able to resist bladder spasms in their sleep or wake up.  Stress makes them more tired.  Kids, including teenagers, need at least 9 hours of sleep a night or they become overly tired.

It is interesting that 1 out of 3 people voting said that sleeping in a cold bedroom makes bedwetting worse.  A 12 year old girl said that she doesn't like to get up if its cold so she lays there and wets, and then goes back to sleep.  But also cold makes the blood vessels in the skin constrict (tighten up) which forces fluid into your blood stream.  The kidneys get rid of this extra fluid, and more urine (pee) is the result.  You thus pee more when you are cold.  It is therefore important to always sleep in a warm bedroom.

Bad (stormy) weather may increase bedwetting because the barometric pressure is lower, and this may cause the kidney to make more urine.

Nutrasweet irritates the bladder, and causes bladder spasms, so that night time (and also daytime) wetting can result.

Constipation can cause bedwetting because the lower belly gets full of backed-up hard stool and there is simply no room for the bladder to fill up.  Five out of every 100 kids ages 5 to 15 are constipated.  1 out of every 3 kids who are constipated wet the bed.  Doctors can give medicine to clean out the backed-up stool, which cures the constipation and also cures the bedwetting. 

Caffeine causes the kidney to make more urine (pee) and make it faster. Tea, coffee, and cola drinks (Coke, Pepsi, RC) and Mountain Dew contain caffeine and therefore make bedwetting worse, and perhaps make daytime wetting worse as well.