Nocturnal enuresis can lead to mental disorder among children: Physicians

KABUL (Pajhwok): Physicians have urged parents to refrain from violent behavior with children suffering from bedwetting and advised some methods through which this problem could be treated.

They linked genetic history, bladder weakness and violent behavior of parents with bedwetting habit among children and warned this could lead to mental disorder if not timely treated.

Dr. Abdul Haq Qadirzada, an internal diseases specialist of children in the Kart-i-Naw locality of the capital Kabul, told Pajhwok Afghan News some children could not control their urine due to bladder problems.

He said family bedwetting history, not training children to urinate before going to bed, disorder of some hormones in the body and violent behavior of parents were some of the main causes of nocturnal enuresis among children.

He urged families not to humiliate their children suffering from bedwetting and advised them to take steps regarding their treatment.

Referring to some initial methods for the treatment of bedwetting, he said: “To solve this problem, the first step is to train the child to go to the bathroom before going to sleep and wake up once or twice during the night to go to the bathroom.”

Dr. Abdul Haq also asked parents not to humiliate and violently behave their children because one of the causes of bedwetting is violent behavior.

He advised that children should refrain from eating drinks and citrus fruits at night because it could also cause bedwetting. During the day children should drink more water because at night they would not face dehydration.

He said if a child still suffered from nocturnal enuresis besides the implementation of the above advice then it should be referred to a specialist doctor to address this issue through medication.

Dr. Abdul Rashid Mansour, a children specialist at the Aryana Complex Hospital in the capital Kabul, said, Genetic or hereditary factors, filling of the bladder during sleep, obstruction of the urinary tract, constipation and violent treatment of parents with the child are among the factors that cause bedwetting in children.

He said: “If nocturnal urine is present in a child before the age of six, it does not require treatment, but if the child has nocturnal enuresis after the age of six, medically, it requires treatment.”

He also advised parents to have cordial behavior with children adding that violent behavior could cause some problems, including bedwetting, among children.

Referring to the treatment of bedwetting he said: “There are two ways to treat this problem, one is medication and the other is related to the family which is cooperation with the child, If the child does not wet his bed at night, the family members should further encourage the kid and if the kid wets the bed, family members should not behave badly.”

He advised to refrain from drinking soft drinks during nights and if these methods did not produce results the patient should be referred to the doctor.

Families:

Khalid Ahmad, a resident of Kabul City’s 8th Municipality District, said his daughter suffered from bedwetting for the past year and doctors advised him not to violently behave with her.

He said currently his daughter received treatment and she had improved.

Zakya, a resident of Kabul City’s Qala-i-Zaman Khan, locality, said her daughter suffered from this problem for the past eight years but after getting some advice from the doctor and its implementation her daughter is now rehabilitated.

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