Bedwetting Causes

Secondary bedwetting causes: When a child starts to wet the bed again after being dry for months or sometimes even years, there’s often an underlying medical or emotional problem.

The child with secondary bedwetting is much more likely to have other symptoms, such as daytime wetting.

Bedwetting causes include urinary tract infections, metabolic disorders (e.g. various types of diabetes), external pressure on the bladder (e.g. extreme constipation by a large rectal stool mass), as well as neurologic disorders of the spinal cord.

Common secondary bedwetting causes include the following:

1. Diabetes: People with diabetes have a high level of sugar in the their blood. The body increases urine output to try to get rid of the sugar. Having to urinate frequently is a common symptom of diabetes.
2. Structural or anatomical abnormality: An abnormality in the organs, muscles, or nerves involved in urination can cause incontinence or other urinary problems that could show up as bedwetting.
3. Emotional problems: A stressful home life, as in a home where the parents are in conflict, sometimes causes children to wet the bed. Major changes, such as starting school, a new baby, or moving to a new home, are other stresses that can also cause bedwetting. Children who are being physically or sexually abused sometimes begin bedwetting.
4. Urinary tract infection: The resulting bladder irritation can cause pain or irritation with urination (dysuria), a stronger urge to urinate (urgency), and frequent urination (frequency). Urinary tract infection in children often indicates another problem, such as an anatomical abnormality.
5. Neurological problems: Abnormalities in the nervous system, or injury or disease of the nervous system, can upset the delicate neurological balance that controls urination.

Causes of Adult Bedwetting:

Bedwetting (enuresis) is common in young children and some older adults. Bedwetting that starts in adulthood (secondary enuresis) is rare and requires medical evaluation. It's often a sign of an underlying bedwetting causes, such as:

• Urinary tract stones
• Diabetes
• Urinary tract infections

Rarely, secondary bedwetting causes are:

• Bladder cancer
• Prostate enlargement
• A neurologic disorder that involves the spinal cord such as a tumor or multiple sclerosis

Rarely, acute anxiety disorders or other emotional disorders are also adult bedwetting causes.