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APPENDIX E.
THE TREATMENT OF ENURESIS
Margaret S. White, M.B., Ch.B., D.R.C.O.G., J.P.
Introduction
The effect of enuresis on the family unit is greater than would be
expected from such a minor defect. In these families there is an increase
in work caused by laundering sheets and pyjamas daily. This, though the
most obvious effect, is probably the least serious for the family. There
is the problem of visiting relations or friends and taking a holiday in a
hotel or boarding house. The families of most enuretics are forced to take
their holidays in caravans or rented houses. This means that the mother
does not have a holiday, merely a change of sink.
At about eight years a proportion of boys go camping, e.g. with the
cubs. Enuretic boys either do not join such organisations or in many cases
stop attending after a time because they do not wish to explain why they
are not going camping. A still more serious effect is upon the parents'
marriage. For an ill assorted couple, arguments over the severity of the
punishment which should be meted out to the bed-wetter cause still more
dissension in the home, and greater anxiety and distress in the child.
If the effects on the family can be serious, the effects on the child
can be disastrous. There are few things so deleterious to normal emotional
development as repeated and persistent failure. All psychologically
normal children want to be dry. They often have the added humiliation of
a younger sibling who does not wet the bed. Enuretics try very hard to
control their bladders, but as with a child who stutters, the more they
worry about their difficulty, the less they succeed in over-coming it.
Present Series
In 1954 a clinic was started in Croydon for the treatment of those children
for whom no treatment was available in the local hospitals, and who
were not suitable for referral to the local child guidance clinic. The treatment
had of necessity to be simple as the use of drugs apart from vitamin
supplements is considered to be the province of the family doctor and not
the local authority.
Clinics are held weekly in the main clinic, fortnightly at New Addington
and at Purley.
There are two types of enuresis, primary and onset enuresis.