October 5, 2000
Behavior
Question from New Jersey, USA:
My 14 year old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes approximately one year ago. I was just deep cleaning his room while he was away at diabetes camp, and discovered some dried urine-soiled bed clothes and sheets he had hidden away. He has obviously been wetting the bed and hiding this from everyone. I don’t know how long this may have been going on, but my guess is for at least the past few weeks to the past few months. He did not have a prior history of bedwetting. I don’t know if there have been any incidences while at camp because we have no contact with him. It could have been devastating to him if this happened. He will be home in two days, and I want to know a good way to handle the situation and get him some help. He has had months of very high blood sugars (his last HbA1c was 9.3%), but also has seemed depressed to me (although not to others). Is bedwetting a common problem when blood sugars are high? How can I best approach this without embarrassing him? I can’t find any information on this in any of the books I’ve found.
My plan is to discuss this very openly, yet privately with my son and then to discuss it with his endocrinologist, when I hopefully have more history from my son. It’s just a very sensitive situation, and I don’t want to do the wrong thing.
Answer:
I totally agree with your approach. It is an important issue that you need to know about. I would be very open and frank with your son. Many children and adolescents with diabetes struggle with this problem and your physician has many resources available that can assist with bedwetting.
MSB