When we think of people urinating in bed we usually think of small children learning to use the bathroom or much older people who are unable to control themselves. There are, however, a good number of otherwise healthy adults who suffer with this condition.
Adults who wet the bed while asleep sometimes have dangerous underlying conditions which could be cured or treated if they spoke with a doctor. By delaying treatment many of their conditions will only worsen overtime.
Adult bed wetting, or adult nocturnal enuresis, is a condition which affects many men and women of all ages and from all walks of life. Strictly speaking adult bed wetting occurs when a mature person cannot control his or her bladder overnight and ends up urinating in the bed. This loss of bladder control in bed may or may not actually wake the person from sleep.
There are two distinct kinds of adult bed wetters. They are loosely broken into people who have wet their beds all their lives and people who have only begun wetting their beds after a long period of dryness.
PNE (primary nocturnal enuresis) sufferers are people who have had bed wetting issues throughout most of their adult life. These periods of bed wetting may vary from frequent to infrequent but have plagued the person over a number of years beyond early childhood. PNE often, but not always, leads the individual to suffer from psychological and self-esteem issues if not treated by a medical specialist. Sometimes physical maladies are the root cause for bed wetting in adults who have been suffering from it all their lives.
SNE (secondary nocturnal enuresis) is defined as bed wetting which begins as teen or adult often years of not having any such bed wetting problems. Secondary nocturnal enuresis is sometimes referred to as adult onset enuresis.
There are many different causes of adult bed wetting, and a qualified medical professional can properly diagnose your condition. Certain drugs, internal injuries, emotional stress and even bladder cancer can all cause an otherwise healthy adult to wet the bed.
Talking to your doctor about your bed wetting issues is one way ensure your health. Treatment could be as simple as a few behavioral changes, or you could undergo tests for a more serious condition.
Some reports estimate that 2% – 3% of all adults suffer from nocturnal enuresis at some point. The good news is that there is lots of help for adults who wet the bed and visiting a doctor is a good first step.