9 and accidents

[Jodi]

Ryan will be 10 in June, and he STILL urinates in his undies. He doesn't full on empty his bladder, but he does wet enough to show through his shorts. If we make him go in every 20 minutes, he will stay dry but even then sometimes he will spot.

The other night while we were reading in his room, I saw him look like he was concentrating on peeing. Sure enough, he was wet. What the heck???

We've been to the pediatrician, seen a pediatric urologist, had xrays and sonograms. They all say it's behavior.

Ryan completely changes himself when he is wet, so its not like we are catering to him.

Anyone else experience something like this? Any thoughts

Jodi

[twosomy21]

if he is holding the urge to have a bm till he reaches a bathroom then you know he understands that concept, and since you have seen all the md's i do not know what to say exept keep working on it. i initially thought urine infection. kyle does have a accident at times and changes himself but i still need to remind him to go to the bathroom

[Chris too]

I wonder what he's thinking of, 'cause it sounds like he is fully aware of what he's doing ("concentrating on peeing") & he's certain that this is the thing to do. How is his communication? Finding out why would help in some ways, but the real issue is that you've learned from the docs that it's behavioral, so put consequences in place beyond changing himself (he must not mind changing). You know his currency; this sounds like an occation for using it.

To answer your question on experiencing something like this, yes, but not with Stevie. My 2nd daughter did something like this: she'd find things that she'd use for make-shift potties - anything with a depression would do. She really thought it was the right thing to do no matter how I explained to her that it wasn't. I found out with her that she was not capable of holding her bladder well enough to get to the real potty, and not wanting to wet her pants, she resorted to finding "potties" nearby. For her the problem was hypotonia, and a few OT trunk-strengthening sessions later, she was "accident" free. She also started digesting better, so she gained weight (she was all belly & bone before that), and was able to open doors & draw with a crayon. It was all trunk strength - or the lack of it, that gave her these problems. I don't know that this will help Ryan - how is his trunk strength? The doctor may not think about hypotonia causing a problem like this, but an OT or PT would - well, a good one would. Could you request an eval of just trunk strength?

Hope this helps & best wishes!
Chris too

[Jodi]

Thanks gals - we shall overcome... someday

[CC]

Jodi ~ we have never had to deal with this issue, but I was thinking, Hmmm could it be that when he does go he just does not empty his bladder all the way when he does use the bathroom?

Just a thought but maybe cut down on the liquids as long as he is getting enough, the extra might be the problem.

BEST of Luck

CC ~

[carolyn]

Hi
John is just turned 9 and every once in a while he will have a small amount of pee leak out a little bit after he has just gone. Enough to show wet on his jeans, but not really wet, more like damp.

Here is what I think is happening... I think he holds it for so long that when he finally goes the muscles involved have trouble "snapping back". He has always been one to only need to go to the bathroom every 3-4 hours, (which I still have remind him to go to this day) so if I don't remind, he holds it for hours. He has not had this problem at school since he kind of just uses the restroom on a schedule- it is more likely on the weekend, when our habits are more lazy. I suspect your guy is just not emptying his bladder fully, not in the habit of holding his urine for hours and then fully emptying. It's all in the muscle, which is probably low tone. I always say thing to john like" ahhhh, doesn't that feel better, to let all that out?" or something about how it feels to have that full of pee feeling? I don't think he really tunes into the way it "feels" to have that pressure- so we try to make him more aware of his physical comfort/discomfort. By the way, whenever I ask "Doesn't that feel better? " he always smiles and says "no."
I hope this was helpful.
Carolyn

[mommygwen]

Good answers here already. Greg had the same trouble.

The ped urologist said he needed help fine tuning his muscles. The little bladder spasms that alert us to go were too strong for the sphincter muscle. The Dr. prescribed ditropan. I think Greg was about 10. He took the med for a couple of years, and then I stopped in summer (easier laundry) to see how well he did without it.
He hated to go tho the bathroom and didn't seem to care about the discomfort of a full bladder; just didn't seem to notice.. I had to insist that he go and always made sure to do it before something good (snack, meals, play, etc.).
He no longer needed the ditropan by age 12. I still had to remind him to go to the bathroom, and he was wearing an overnight diaper. At school he was fine. I guess the routine schedule helped there. The summer of his 13 birthday I quit the overnight diaper. He handled it great.
He is 15 and still tries to skip going to the bathroom. Like last night. He put on Pj's and must not have gone to the bathroom. A little later he had a little damp spot at his crotch. I saw him glance down while brushing his teeth and checked as subtly as possible after he was done brushing, then just sent him back for dry Pj's.

[Connie]

Jodi,

Collin is 7 (will be 8 tomorrow..sniff, sniff) and we still have this problem with him. There are days that he will "DAMPEN" himself 4-5 times at school and after he does it he always goes to the bathroom and pee's like a race horse. But, then he'll go weeks without any accident. Sometimes I see this more when he's getting sick but then others times there's no rhyme or reason to it.

If, you figure it out...please let me know. It drives me crazy!!

Connie