I used to wet the bed.
It tapered off as I got older, but I was still wetting the bed now and then by the time I was 10-years-old.
As much as I've complained about my parents making me feel inferior about other things, usually school grades, I have to give them full credit for never once making me feel bad during all my years of bed-wetting.
My youngest brother was also a bed-wetter, beyond the age of ten, into his junior high school years, I think. I had already moved out of my parents' house by the time he was 11-years-old. It was during that time my parents bought a device with an alarm to try to help my brother. The alarm would go off when the sensors, placed underneath the bed sheets, would get wet.
I don't think it ended up helping my brother, but bed-wetting wasn't too much of a problem for him, either. He managed to keep dry all night whenever spending the night at a friend's house or when he went away to church camp.
I like to consume vast amounts of liquid. It hydrates the skin, it helps digestion, and it curbs appetite. Ideally, I'll have two cups of water when I first wake up, to chase down my multi-vitamin. Then I'll have a serving of milk, half regular and half chocolate soy. Then I'll have my morning coffee to wake up. That's six cups of liquid before my day even starts.
That's only on days off, though, when I can stay close to a bathroom. I've had to cut down to four cups of liquid in the morning since I've started working full time. I'll have water or milk, but not both, before having coffee. My scooter ride into work takes about thirty-five minutes. I've learned the hard way that I can last for that half hour or so on four cups but not six.
I'll drink water and tea after dinner, and before bedtime, too. I will get up two or three times in the middle of the night, usually. How long will I have that ability, though? How many years do I have left before I have to either decrease my liquid intake or start wearing Depends? Or both?
My scooter is in the shop this week, waiting for a new tire to be delivered so it can replace the flat. It takes ninety minutes or more for me to get to work by bus and train. That's not including the walking time to the bus stop and from the train station. I wait until I get to my desk to start pounding H2O and coffee.
While my scooter has been in the shop, I have not been drinking any liquid at home in the four hours between waking up and arriving at work.
No way am I taking any chances!
5 comments:
I'm so glad to know that my son Ben isn't alone. He's six and still can't stay dry at night.
He sleeps in pull-ups, though, so he doesn't wet the bed. Now I'm wondering if that's the right strategy. Maybe he should have to sleep in underpants so he can feel it if he wets the bed?
Your liquid regimen is frighteningly detailed. Frightening.
LC, I wish we'd had those growing up!
PG, "Milk, milk, lemonade, turn the corner fudge is made."
it's usually a deep sleep reflex, and children often won't realise they have to wee until it's too late.
my cousin did it until she hit puberty..
i remember michael landon did a film about it, as he was a late bedwetter.
me? i go all night and all day, and i drink copious amounts of liquid, making me very happy there is a loo on the ferry and in the terminals.
when preggers, i remember facing a storekeeper, asking to use his toilet, as i had a baby doing the cha cha on my bladder... he snidely told me "we do not have a public restroom"
i rested my arm on my huge belly and said, "fine, i'll pee standing here"
amazing how quickly he found his had turned from private to public.
I never wet the bed but I do however kick, screamed and talk in my sleep.
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