ADD, ADHD, & Bedwetting

Over the years at BTC, we’ve spoken with thousands of parents who have expressed their concern over their child’s symptoms of ADD or ADHD. We’ve found there to be a direct correlation between their child’s poor quality sleep, and how they’re able to function during the day.

Perhaps your child has been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD when actually the underlying problem is an oxygen-deprived, deep-sleep disorder, says Lyle Danuloff, Ph.D, our consulting staff psychologist.

Bedwetting is caused by an inherited deep-sleep disorder, causing the bedwetter to spend most of the night in Stage 4 sleep, which is an oxygen-deprived sleep by nature. Thus, when a person is in this stage of sleep for extended periods of time such as with bedwetters–effecting the brain, bloodstream, muscles, and all other organs–the resulting symptoms can be identical to those of ADD/ADHD.

We have discovered that, in most cases, once the sleep disorder has been corrected and the bedwetting stops, the symptoms associated with ADD/ADHD abate. In some cases where there is a legitimate ADD/ADHD disability, the symptoms improve enough that medications can most likely be discontinued.

Bedwetting Is Linked With Intellectual Decline

By Jill Stein

HONG KONG (Reuters Health) – Children who regularly wet the bed at night score worse on multiple measures of cognitive performance than do non-bedwetting children, researchers reported here at the International Children’s Continence Society (ICCS) meeting.

Dr. Chung Kwong Yeung, chairman of pediatric surgery and pediatric urology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and colleagues tracked changes in cognitive function in 95 bedwetting children. (Cognitive function refers to abilities such as intelligence, short-term memory, and attention).

Read Complete Article

Bedwetting & Bowel Problems Seen In Children With ADHD

Children with ADHD may also tend to struggle with bedwetting and other bowel and urinary tract problems, a UC Irvine College of Medicine study has found. The study, believed to be the first to investigate urinary and bowel problems in children with ADHD, was presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Boston.

Dr. Barry Duel, assistant professor of urology and a specialist in childhood urological diseases at UCI Medical Center’s University Children’s Hospital, found that children with ADHD scored three times higher than non-ADHD children on a questionnaire that surveyed the delicate issues of pre-adolescent bedwetting, improper bowel control, and other challenges.

Read Complete Article