Teen enuresis and adult bedwetting?

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I'm new here and have only posted one new topic re: Tamsulosin and Bedwetting. This has led to asking others here about whether there is - or may be - a link between former teen bedwetting and new instances of that in adulthood. Bear with me...

After over 50 years of being dry at night I began to wet the bed again after starting Tamsulosin for an enlarged prostate that may or may not be cancerous. (Biopsy scheduled for 8/23/17 to determine the Gleason Score and TNM Staging level, if any.)

I broke down a bit yesterday when talking about this with a friend who understands and has been very supportive. She knows about my teen bedwetting past and suggested that there may be a correlation between that history (bedwetting to age 18)and my current situation. Her theory is that this long experience is being "relived" and that somehow I have subconsciously reverted to that earlier stage when I had no control over my nightly wetting. I don't think I agree with this theory and am more inclined to believe that my renewed bedwetting is simply an all new medical condition - not a psychological or emotional one - that has been exacerbated by the medication I am on.

Obviously, this theory having just been proposed to me by a friend who is not a professional counselor for such matters, I will likely bring this up when I do speak with someone more qualified. But that being said I would like to know if anyone here has ever heard of such a theory and/or had any personal experience with this particular situation; i.e., former teen bedwetting and now current adult bedwetting. Is there a link?

EDIT: I should have added this. My friend's theory is that when I was a bedwetter as a kid I was devastated, emotionally, by a feeling that I had no control over my wetting and, by extension, over my life. That much is true I guess; I did feel like that. Now in my present situation I have, for the first time in my adult life, found myself in a situation over which I also feel I have no control. Also true, but I find it hard to believe that I would start wetting the bed again because of this rather than because of my medical and medication situation.

 

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I don't believe you are reliving your past intentionally. It is just a repeat of a condition that you once endured. Like falling and skinning your knees. It happened in the past and can happen again.
There is evidence that youthful bed wetters will have more prevalence of sexual disorders and bladder issues in older age. This seems natural to me, as we may have had physical developmental issues, with certain areas of our body.
I myself wet the bed as a child and throughout my life have had to go much more frequently than others,perhaps just an inherent weakness. Now have night time problems at an older age.Almost expected if you look at research. But once again it might not be true for all. Take precautions as you have in the past and get the BEST treatment for your prostate condition.

 

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Like Bobby said, I have seen some data showing that those of us that were late bedwetters as kids or teens have a much higher likelihood of being bedwetters as adults than those who were dry at night at a typical age. However, I don't think this necessarily has anything to do with psychological stuff. It could just be that the same physical factors that contributed to your wetting as a kid/teen simply have been managed in the years since then, but they continue to exist. For example, maybe you learned how to manage fluid intake so that your bladder could handle a full night, etc. (Not saying that these are the reasons for you in particular), but the underlying physical issues that caused the wetting (maybe deep sleep? relatively smaller bladder? ADH production?) are still present. And with a medical situation and the stress that comes with it, perhaps temporarily your learned management skills are somewhat overwhelmed such that you're wetting again. Temporarily.

BUT, I think it is just as likely that the bedwetting now is related to your BPH (prostate enlargement can lead to bedwetting), the meds you are taking, or even the stress of your current condition, regardless of whether you were a bedwetter as a kid. I think those of us that were bedwetters as kids have both and advantage and a disadvantage if we experience bedwetting as adults. The advantage is that we have been through this before and know many ways to deal with it or manage it. The disadvantage being, especially for those that were humiliated, shamed, or punished for bedwetting, that all of those negative memories, emotions, and thoughts can come flooding back.

There is NOTHING to be ashamed of. You are experiencing something outside of your control and it is medical. LOTS and LOTS of us experience similar things. And it doesn't mean that you've lost any progress you made as a kid to conquer your bedwetting. I agree with Bobby. Get the best medical care you can. And good luck!!

 

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@Bobby103 @jaredc3

Thanks, Bobby and Jared. Bedwetting was something I did feel deeply ashamed of as a kid, especially as I got into my teens and was teased for it by others, so the advice my friend gave me did make some sense to me though I wasn't convinced she was right. I'm going to go with your advice that it was only the negative memories, emotions and low-esteem thoughts that came back to me but the bedwetting itself seems to have a pretty clear medical causation - hopefully temporary!

In any event, despite my age (68) and this freaking prostate issue, I have pretty much stayed in shape since I left the military and unlike when I was a kid I'm pretty sure I can whup anyone who tries to make me feel bad about myself because I wet the bed.

 

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Theories aside, I'm convinced wetting is physical not physcological.

~Mel

 

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@melanie

I'm sure that my own bedwetting as a kid, and certainly what is happening now, had physical/medical causes but that being said, from what I've read about it, some bedwetting does have psychological causes.

I was fortunate in being able to work through and overcome PTSD pretty quickly after returning from Vietnam and it never resulted in my wetting the bed while I was dealing with that issue. But PTSD is not only combat related and not everyone who has suffered PTSD is as fortunate as I was getting past it.

I came to this site after following some links that deal with cancer issues and because I had started wetting after taking Tamsulosin for BHP, but I have also been on a number of sites that deal with PTSD not only as a veterans' issue but in general. I have seen posts on those sites and have read some literature about Secondary Enuresis and there are a lot of people - especially kids - who were never bedwetters before but only started after some horrific event in their lives. Some had experienced sexual abuse or rape, some had been exposed to violence or were victims of it, etc. There was a spike in bedwetting in older kids who were in New York during the 9/11 attacks, especially if they knew someone - or had a family member - who died in that attack.

Anyway, I am not being argumentative with you and I fully agree that I, like the majority of folks here, have experienced incontinence solely for the reason you state in your post. But there are others who have to deal with wetting because of psychological trauma and for those folks - young or old - I feel a great deal of empathy and sympathy. While much has improved, our society still often looks down on people who suffer psychological injuries - which may express as bedwetting for some - and sometimes even blames them for something that those of us who can point to a clearly physical/medical cause get a "pass" for.

Although I was able to get through my own PTSD fairly quickly, I do stay in touch on a forum for those who haven't and some of them have experienced wetting problems because of their psychological trauma. Here's a link to that site if anyone is interested in that issue:

clickable text

 

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Apologies pek1134. My statements about physical causes of incontinence were based on the posts on this site. A clear majority of people here describe physical causes if the cause is known.

I had not considered psychological causes of incontinence. Likely psychological causes are as difficult to cure as physical causes.

I wish you the best in sorting it out.

~Mel