16th June 2004
Tofranil is imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant. it is very cheap. It is supposed to treat childhood bedwetting, but it never worked for me. I did use pamelor (nortriptyline) and it did not stop it totally but brought it down to manageable levels like twice a week. after a few months the effect wore off...and back to wetting almost every night. then i was changed to desmopressin. Desmopressin is also now available in pill form (when I was a kid, it only came as a nasty-tasting nasal spray.) as 0.1 and 0.2 mg. Desmopressin is more effective than the tricyclics as it is a synthetic of a natural pituitary hormone called vasopressin (sp?) which is our natural antidiuretic. as I said, I have had bedwetting and urinary issues all my life..and yes, i do have adult add. of course, this does not mean that every add will pee the bed or every kid who pees the bed has add.
You should really look in to the desmopressin - either the pills or the spray. Or another method of effective bedwetting control for the child. Even those small underwear-thin type diapers if you are opposed to medicating the child.
Let me tell you that when I was a kid, I could take the medicine and be okay to sleep over to my friends house or grandmas or cousins house and i didnt have to worry about peeing the bed. it can do a lot to a child's psyche when you still have urination problems in your teens. Having that medicine meant I could say yes to staying overnite at a friends or i would not pee myself on a plane ride across country if i fell asleep (oops!) ..and even allowed me to go to summer camp and i didnt have any accidents! how embarassing would that have been!?!
It may be that the problem actually is the bladder or kidneys themselves. The bladder could be underdeveloped and putting a strain on the kidneys. A urologist could help you determine that... it is very important to know if this is causing the bedwetting because that can usually be fixed.
mine was normal, so the doctors figured it was psychological..and crammed trazodone, haldol, and halcion down my throat when i was 10 years old... (yeah.. i got started early) I was depressed and scared to go outside because I thought I would pee myself. Hell, it happened at school on more than one occasion. If my mom tried to get me to stay at anyones house (family or friends) over night i would scream and cry.
on my own i am down to once every month or two having an accident at night.. I have only been that way for the past year. I am almost 27. It took me almost 30 years to outgrow this. Please, dont let any child go through this. please. Get them help.
I wanted to say that because I think it deffinatley interfered with my social-skills and also going through that all those years added to my depression and degraded my self-image even futher. (i was also very obese and often hid myself in closets and empty rooms for hours because i was scared of everyone..) I went through all my teenage and early adult years (i had reached an ideal weight when i was 19) scared to sleep in the same bed with anyone..for fear of how embarrased and disgusted i would feel if ihad an accident. at 18-21 you should be enjoying life and partying..not worried about having to go home all the time for fear you would wet if you drank too much beer. ugh.
chantel...sorry that you guys had such a bad experience with the medicine. it worked like a miracle for me. why did you not try the tablets? my mom tried everything too. she even tried coming in at like midnight to wake me up to go, or she would set my alarm for 2am or something. but 9 times out of 10 it was already too late. :( I am almost 27 now I used the spray from age 8 or 9 till age 25. good luck.
pz
You should really look in to the desmopressin - either the pills or the spray. Or another method of effective bedwetting control for the child. Even those small underwear-thin type diapers if you are opposed to medicating the child.
Let me tell you that when I was a kid, I could take the medicine and be okay to sleep over to my friends house or grandmas or cousins house and i didnt have to worry about peeing the bed. it can do a lot to a child's psyche when you still have urination problems in your teens. Having that medicine meant I could say yes to staying overnite at a friends or i would not pee myself on a plane ride across country if i fell asleep (oops!) ..and even allowed me to go to summer camp and i didnt have any accidents! how embarassing would that have been!?!
It may be that the problem actually is the bladder or kidneys themselves. The bladder could be underdeveloped and putting a strain on the kidneys. A urologist could help you determine that... it is very important to know if this is causing the bedwetting because that can usually be fixed.
mine was normal, so the doctors figured it was psychological..and crammed trazodone, haldol, and halcion down my throat when i was 10 years old... (yeah.. i got started early) I was depressed and scared to go outside because I thought I would pee myself. Hell, it happened at school on more than one occasion. If my mom tried to get me to stay at anyones house (family or friends) over night i would scream and cry.
on my own i am down to once every month or two having an accident at night.. I have only been that way for the past year. I am almost 27. It took me almost 30 years to outgrow this. Please, dont let any child go through this. please. Get them help.
I wanted to say that because I think it deffinatley interfered with my social-skills and also going through that all those years added to my depression and degraded my self-image even futher. (i was also very obese and often hid myself in closets and empty rooms for hours because i was scared of everyone..) I went through all my teenage and early adult years (i had reached an ideal weight when i was 19) scared to sleep in the same bed with anyone..for fear of how embarrased and disgusted i would feel if ihad an accident. at 18-21 you should be enjoying life and partying..not worried about having to go home all the time for fear you would wet if you drank too much beer. ugh.
chantel...sorry that you guys had such a bad experience with the medicine. it worked like a miracle for me. why did you not try the tablets? my mom tried everything too. she even tried coming in at like midnight to wake me up to go, or she would set my alarm for 2am or something. but 9 times out of 10 it was already too late. :( I am almost 27 now I used the spray from age 8 or 9 till age 25. good luck.
pz