Almost all parents are faced with the problem of childhood enuresis. Someone immediately panics, others are very indifferent, waiting for the child to outgrow. But few people know that a relaxed bladder in a child who is older than five years of age is a sign of the disease.
Enuresis Definition
Enuresis is an involuntary urination during baby sleep, which does not depend on the time of day or the desire of the child. Sometimes, along with enuresis in children, sleep hygiene disorders and abnormal motor activity are noted.
Why does the bladder malfunction?
Usually at the age of 3 years, the child is able to direct the entire process of urination. Even in a sleeping state, the body feels an overflow of the bladder, sending signals to the brain to awaken.
But external environmental factors can adversely affect the natural development of the child's body. There can be many reasons: improper upbringing, mental trauma, experienced stress, a state of strong responsibility, and so on. They can inhibit physiological functions, causing bouts of enuresis. The psychosomatics of enuresis in children (treatment, the reasons are discussed in the article) is a reflection of psychological problems through body symptoms.
Child's attitude to his problem
As a rule, children are shy of their nightly oversights and try to hide them to the last. In families with a more rigorous upbringing, the child may be afraid of punishment for wet sheets, increasing the already great chance of a repetition of the situation. For a student, this is generally a tragedy that can make him a target for ridicule of parents and peers.
Therefore, the moral component depends on the attitude of parents to this problem. If they run into a child, scolding and trying to shame that such a big boy (or girl) accidentally wet the bed, this can only worsen the situation. To confirm the psychosomatics of nocturnal enuresis, it is enough to observe the child a little while he is sleeping: he starts, mumbles, speaks in a dream, moves violently and often.
As a rule, even after wetting, the child does not feel this, continuing to sleep on a wet bed. If he regularly experiences worrying situations, he can urinate several times during the course of one night. Along with this, the child begins to complain of headaches, lack of strength and general malaise. An examination of the body will reveal the presence of a neurogenic bladder.
Opinion Komarovsky E.O.
Famous pediatrician Komarovsky E.O. has his own opinion about the psychosomatics of childhood enuresis and treatment of the causes of this phenomenon. He believes that periodic enuresis is not the result of serious disturbances in the body, so proper therapy will quickly eliminate the disturbing deviation.
An important role in the treatment of the child belongs to his parents. The balanced work of all body systems depends on the central nervous system, which connects them to the brain, conducting or blocking the corresponding impulses. Therefore, enuresis is not so much a physiological as an almost completely psychological problem. The attitude of the closest people to the children's problem can both speed up and slow down the treatment process.
Family problems can become provocative factors: quarrels, divorce of spouses, the appearance of a brother or sister, children's fears. Therefore, together with treatment, parents are encouraged to create the most favorable family environment, reducing the level of children's experiences.
Types of Enuresis
Emotionally sensitive children are prone to the appearance of enuresis. This category also includes children with an injured psyche who experienced severe stress or regular neurosis at the time of the age crisis (from 3 to 7 years).
As a rule, they can urinate only at night, but this happens irregularly. Their sleep is superficial, with frequent nightmares. Waking up and discovering such a nuisance, the child experiences and closes in himself, fearing ridicule. But a favorable family environment gradually eliminates this problem.
Sometimes the psychosomatics of childhood enuresis is too strict upbringing. One incidental episode provoked by reasons beyond the control of the child becomes an object of excessive attention of parents who shout, beat or punish the offender. He obsesses with this, starting in a dream to scroll through the situation over and over again, causing a recurrence of reactive enuresis.
Beautiful girls, prone to excessive emotionality, are sometimes prone to hysteroid enuresis. It is a subconscious protest of a troubled female personality against disturbing factors in the family and parenting.
Why does the development of the disease begin
In newborn babies, the psychosomatics of nocturnal enuresis, characteristic of older children, has not yet been observed. Their nerve endings are at the beginning of their development, so they do not know how to control the corresponding muscles. For them, frequent urination is a very common occurrence, which can occur almost several dozen times in one day. The child grows up, and his nerves develop along with him, accustoming the young organism to recognize the desire to go to the potty.
The reflex is finally fixed by the age of 4, but under the influence of physiological characteristics or personality characteristics, it can settle down a little earlier or later, before the fifth anniversary. When this does not happen in 6, 7 and further on the age scale, it is necessary to sound the alarm. Among the causes of enuresis in children can be found:
- manifestation of allergies;
- severe maternal pregnancy or a problem that occurred during childbirth. One of these factors provoked a shortage of air that damaged the children's nervous system;
- the presence of childhood diabetes of various degrees of severity;
- genetic predisposition. Occurs if one of the parents was prone to periodic manifestations of enuresis;
- a disease hidden in the area of the brain or back;
- urinary tract infection or other urological pathology;
- a small volume of the bladder;
- experienced stress, mental trauma or general adverse environment.
The psychological problem of enuresis cannot be underestimated. The children's nervous system is still unstable, so any family problem can turn into periodic diseases for him.
In some cases, enuresis causes several simultaneous causes. For example, today he was provoked by an overly sound sleep, tomorrow - a lot of liquid or cold food taken at night, which caused overcooling of the child's body. Any manifestations of enuresis require a careful approach in order to find out the true causes of the pathological phenomenon.
Which doctors need help
Undoubtedly, it is worth starting with a visit to the pediatrician. It is he who will determine the exact number of narrow-profile specialists needed in a particular case. Their consultations will give a more complete picture of the existing pathology.
You may need:
- consultation of a urologist. If necessary, he will prescribe an ultrasound examination of the kidneys, bladder, direct urine for a general analysis and, according to the results, prescribe the appropriate treatment;
- examination by a neurologist. He will send the patient to electroencephalography, which will give a complete picture of the state of the central nervous system and identify the presence of pathologies;
- conversation with a psychologist. The specialist will hold a confidential conversation with the child, find out all the stresses he has experienced, his environment and recommend to his family how to help his child.
Drug treatment
No matter how strange it may sound, there is as yet no specific medication designed to treat enuresis. Actively studied by specialists of psychosomatics of enuresis in children. Liz Burbo, E.O. Komarovsky and other experts advise individually approaching the issues of each child.
After all the consultations and medical diagnostics, with the help of which they find out the general condition of the bladder and the level of hormones responsible for regulating the fluid in it, some of the most popular drugs can be prescribed:
- Minirin consists of hormones responsible for controlling urine in the bladder. It is produced in the form of nasal drops, which are instilled before going to bed.
- "Driptan" reduces the tone of the bladder.
- "Nootropil", vitamins of group B, "Persen" are prescribed in the case when enuresis is caused by frequent neurosis.
- The combination of "Minirin" with "Proserin" increases the muscle tone of the bladder.
Alternative medicine
After all medical research and identifying the causes of enuresis in children, whose psychosomatics are often caused by the state of the inner world, the doctor prescribes the appropriate medications, strictly recommending that you follow all instructions. If the available results do not prompt the doctor to the idea of how to help the child, then the patient will be sent to a homeopath who uses the following:
- Sepia helps with urinary incontinence while the baby is awake.
- Pulsatilla eliminates enuresis, which is the result of an infectious disease.
- Medicines that contain Phosphorus help children who need plenty of water.
- Gelsemium - if experienced stress became the cause of enuresis, it will help increase the tone of the bladder.
Drug-free therapy
When the cause of enuresis lies in psychosomatics, then even all the drugs will not have the long-awaited effect. In this case, procedures that stabilize the bladder can help:
- Enter the daily mode. Such a banal habit will regulate the work of internal organs, accustoming to a peculiar discipline (eating by the hour, walking at a specific time, daytime sleep, going to bed at certain periods). Gradually, enuresis disappears.
- Sports bladder training. With the help of an adult, a child can learn to control the corresponding muscles, which will positively affect the cure for enuresis.
- Psychological help. The specialist will teach the child self-hypnosis. With the help of such exercises, the connection between the nerves and the muscles surrounding the bladder is gradually restored. If enuresis is complicated by a neurosis, the psychologist will work on childhood depression and talk with parents who are required to create a favorable family environment.
- Physiotherapy - electrophoresis, magnetotherapy, acupuncture, circular douche and appropriate gymnastics favorably affect the functioning of the brain and central nervous system.
- Entering motivation. This is one of the psychological techniques aimed at children prone to enuresis. They resort to it when other methods did not help. In general terms, this is a way of carrot and stick, that is, for a dry night, the child receives an encouragement, which he immediately loses at the moment of another urination in bed. The method of promotion is chosen by parents. As practice shows, this method will affect 70% of children.
Help traditional medicine
Traditional medicine can be a great help in the treatment of enuresis in children. Psychosomatics (causes of a psychological nature) of this disease is caused by feelings, fear and stress. Provoking factors gradually recede under the influence of the natural strength of medicinal herbs, on the basis of which many recipes have been created:
- 1 tablespoon of dill brew in 250 ml of fresh boiling water. Insist for 60 minutes. Take at least 125 ml of the drink every morning on an empty stomach.
- Cook fresh cranberry compote, but in the process of cooking add 2 tablespoons of rosehip. Insist and give the child a drink several times a day.
- Grind the grass collection (blackberry, knotweed, St. John's wort, yarrow in equal proportions) as finely as possible. Brew 10 grams of powder in 300 ml of fresh boiling water and insist for 120 minutes. Take on an empty stomach no more than 5 times for knocking.
- Make a similar herbal mixture: mint, chamomile, St. John's wort, birch. 50 grams of powder is brewed in a liter of fresh boiling water and infused for 40 minutes. It is recommended to add honey to taste. You can drink 100 ml at a time. Take before meals for 3 months, followed by a break of 14 days. After it, the course can be repeated.
- Brew 2 tablespoons of wild rose in a liter of fresh boiling water and leave for 60 minutes. Drink during the day instead of tea.
- Bring berries and lingonberry leaves to a boil in 500 ml of water. Leave to infuse for 30 minutes, strain and take as you wish.
- 30 grams of powder, consisting of dry leaves of plantain, brewed in 350 ml of fresh boiling water and insist for 60 minutes. You can take no more than 10 ml of the drink at a time. The number of receptions - 4 times a day.