Seeking Advice ..

okay honey, first of all its okay to get a second or third opinion. if you aren't happy about what this doctor is telling you, go to another one. there is only one person who knows your daughter, and that is you. and yes laxatives are hard on the body, and aren't very good for it on a regular basis. my mother in law wt the bed till she was 14, and my husband wet the bed till he was 12, and my son is now 5 and he is going through the same. if you can really tell its messing with her self esteem, take her to a consoler, they can help her. its a common problem now days and shouldn't be something she is ashamed of. but i would be worried about the laxatives, that just doesn't sound right to me. i would get another opinion.

Hi C.
Your poor daughter. I can relate, well, sort of. My husband was a bed wetter until he was 14. It was so difficult for him and he still doesn't talk about it. It wasn't until very recently that we found chiropractic has an AMAZING track record for children that wet the bed. I know this may seem crazy, but here is a link that will provide you with more information:
http://www.icpa4kids.org/research/chiropractic.htm
Just click on "bed wetting"

Please let me know if you need a referral in your area.
Have a great day!
J.

My daughter has been seeing Dr. J. Patrick Murphy, Pediatric Urologist, most of her life. She is now 10. He has been great with her. She also still has "accidents" and has always worn a pull up to bed. She had kidney reflux, (caused frequent kidney infections) which he finally surgically repaired, but she still has some daytime accidents. What she has now is the inability to feel the urge to urinate, and medicine (ditropan) has helped with that. He works out of Children's Mercy South. He's great with kids!

Laxitives don't sound right to me either for a urination problem...it sounds like the doctor is treating her for constipation. I would get another opinion and soon. Good luck!

Hi C.!

My heart goes out to you and your daughter. That is a problem that is a really sensitive issue. Especially with her starting puberity.
I would encourage you to seek out a Pediatric Urologist. I saw another response about a medication called Ditropan. That sounds good. Laxitives are certainly not the answer in my opinion. I can't imagine why that doctor would say that.
I have responded to other Moms about medical problems.
My daughter too, suffers from many Endocrinology problems.

You may need to see an Endocrinologist and Urology too. That is what we have to do.

I will tell you that I have really learned to be PROACTIVE about my daughter. She has had 13 surgeries, and she is 9. Otherwise, they just want to poke and prod and do all sorts of things. I gained a voice that I never knew I had when all of that began to happen.

I will pray that you get your answer!

Take Care,
F.

My son who is almost 6, has only 1 good kidney, the other one is soooo very small and either never developed or his kidney reflux that he has destroyed it. He see a urologist every 6months to a year, Dr Kropp, out of Oklahoma City(he comes to Tulsa though for appt also)he is the best dr. He has done alot for my son!! Contact me if you would like to get his number! Best of luck to your daughter

I was put on ditropan (Spelling might be off) when I was 13 due to nightly bedwetting (undersized bladder). It was a once a day pill I took in the mornings. After one week of it, I had half as many accidents, and after three weeks, I was fully able to make it through the night. I believe it's some sort of antidepressant, but the side effects caused better bladder control.

I don't have any advice, really, but wanted to reassure you about the kidney thing. My neighbor also has one "small but functioning" kidney, and one normal kidney. The only reason she even knows this is that a few years ago she was in the hospital for extreme abdominal pain, and they were running all kinds of tests to find the reason. (they never did find a reason, but she's fine now) She's never had trouble with her kidneys, but now she teases her twin brother saying he probably has one really huge kidney and it's just like him to be greedy.

The only other thing I thought of was to help her learn how to do kegels and increase the strength of her pelvic floor muscles. There are even physical therapists who specialize in pelvic floor muscles. (I went to one after my hysterectomy, which was due to a prolapse.) It won't solve the small bladder problem, but it might help put her more in control of her situation.

I hope you find some answers.