9/26/2011 – Mr Almallah discusses adult bedwetting in Daily Mail health article

Mr Zaki Almallah, Consultant Urologist from the Birmingham Bladder Clinic talked today in an article in the Daily Mail newspaper heath section about adults who would wet the bed as children and never “grow out” of their problem. He also spoke about adults who have never previously suffered with the problem and start bedwetting during their adult lives, which could possibly indicate an underlying medical problem.
According to the Bladder and Bowel Foundation one in 500 adults will be affected by bedwetting at some stage in their adult lives, equating to about one in 500,000 people in the UK.

The medical term for bedwetting is known as nocturnal enuresis, and can be hereditary. In the article Mr Almallah hightlights how the condition is commonly caused by an immature pituitary gland, which aids the production of the antidiuretic hormone.

Mr Almallah was quoted in the article explaining the following:
“Normally, the glad produces more of this hormone at night and this reduces the amount of urine made, so we are not woken in the early hours of the morning by a need to use the toilet. Without an adequate amount of this hormone urine production continues as normal and so the risk of bedwetting increases”.

He continues to explain how this is the common reason that children wet the bed at night as their pituitary glands are not developed enough to produce the correct level of antidiurectic hormone, yet this can affect adults as well. Mr Almallah also explained how bedwetting can affect deep sleepers as they simply do not wake up from their deep sleep when they have a full bladder, and another cause can be an overactive bladder causing the bladder to spasm – causing bedwetting when it is only slightly full.

Adults who suddenly develop bedwetting should seek help from their GP as it could be a symptom of a more serious underlying medical problem, such as prostate problems, diabetes, heart failure, muscle problems and in rarer cases a malignant growth in either the prostate or bladder.

The article went on to explain the psychological impact of adults who suffer from bedwetting.

To read this article in full click here.

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