Allergies, cell anemia, and sleep disorders are also causes for adult bed wetting. Researchers dealing with this problem have also found psychological factors to be involved, such as stress and trauma. In some cases, age is the culprit as the muscles of the bladder start to lose their elasticity causing adult bed-wetting. Enuresis alarms work just as well for adults as they do for children and teenagers. These alarms wake you up out of your sleep at the first sign of moisture so that you do have time to get to the bathroom instead of wetting the bed.
There are medications that have proven effective in controlling adult bed wetting. One of these is DDAVP, which helps to reduce the amount of urine that the body makes at night. Adults who drink a lot of liquids may have to use the bathroom more at night and if they take medication for insomnia, then they might find it hard to wake up when they need to. This medication helps to treat the symptoms of adult bed-wetting, which means that you will not urinate as often during the night. However, this is not a cure for adult bedwetting. It is mainly a measure to control it. Once you stop taking the medication, bedwetting will start again.
You do not necessarily need to take DDAVP every day in order for it to control adult bed wetting. You can either take this as pill or a spray, but a cold or a stuffy nose is likely to interfere with the action of the medication taken in spray form. You do have to take the medication at night and it does have side effects, which some adults are unable to handle. The common side effects of this adult bedwetting medication include headache, nausea, sinus problems and nosebleeds. When you are taking this medication you are not allowed to drink any water after taking it.
For adults, Imipramine is an anti-depressant drug that has been found effective in treating adult bed wetting. Like DDAVP, this reduces the amount of urine the body produces during the night. However, most doctors do not like to prescribe this medication because of its many side effects. In fact prescribing medication for adult bedwetting is usually the last resort. Doctors prefer to try methods of behavior modification first and if the adult is comfortable, disposable diapers keep the bed sheets dry at night. Adult bed wetting is a problem that doctors are well used to dealing with, so there is no need for embarrassment when deciding to talk to a doctor about your problem.