http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/medshow/kidbedwetting.html
I have so many issues with this ad. It pulled at my heartstrings, probably because of a personal history I don't feel like mentioning here. Unlike many of the other Bonker's Institute ads, the concept behind the ad's meaning still seams so prevalent, although the diagnosis for bed wetting has changed. Perhaps ads like this matter because they helped instill in our society this view that a child is "bad" when a child wets the bed, a sign that the embarrassment they feel stems from something other than a small bladder.
First, I'd like to know who the "physically normal older child" pertains to. No age is specified, but the little boy in the ad seems to be about 8 or 10 years old. What is the correct age when you need to stop wetting the bed? And aside from the "alleviations of psychic tensions" this ad has to description of what effect the drug actually has, or the mechanisms the drug uses. Also, this ad states that Equanil has a 68% success rate, but gives no mention of the plethora of side effects!
Secondly, is my child's occasional bed wetting a justification for tranquilizing him? I feel not, especially with side effects like rash, itching, easy bruising, bloody nose, unusual bleeding, tiny purple-colored skin spots, sore throat, fever, difficulty breathing, slurred speech and pounding/irregular heartbeat. But that's just me. Perhaps I just need to understand that some people have less control of their bladders than others, and that tranquilizing my 8 year old is pretty drastic when he probably just needs to not have anything to drink before going to bed.
I think with most kid bed wetters there is a dry spell between toilet training and the onset of bed-wetting. I don't think I ever wet the bed until 7, and I was trained before 2.
ReplyDeleteThis hits home for me, too. If I had anxiety, it was ABOUT wetting. Sleepovers were just embarrassing. If it was a night with my father (he had weekend custody, but rarely exercised it) it was terror. Something about a foreign bed made me wet more, and every time I did it the (corporal) consequence was worse.
I was given a pill by a doctor to take before bed. I have no idea what it was. I doubt it was a psychopharmacutical. It could have been a placebo. It did nothing. I kept a calendar of days I wet and when I took it. Wow, that may have been my first experiment.
As for YOUR personal history or anyone elses - I am sure more people were wetters than weren't. For me, it was my parents that made it into something shameful. In actuality, it's just a part of growing up. (Which shouldn't be medicated!)
Wow. What an amazing concept, I had never pinned bed-wetting to psychic tension, but I guess that sounds better than what I'm about to say. A friend of mine(ha) used to have vivid dreams that he was getting up out of bed, walking down the hallway, lifting up the toilet seat, and urinating. When he began to urinate, he'd wake up, and shamefully figure it all out before his parents woke up. Is a case like this treatable with some tension reliever both "mental and muscular"? I don't think my friend had any psychic tension at all, maybe he just stupidly drank water up until he went to bed? This seems like another misdiagnosed sedative for children.
ReplyDeleteBut let's say it is the case that a child has mental tension from domestic abuse, masculinity complex or what have you, does this sedative carry into the following morning? What if the side-effects and physical restraints out-weigh the bed-wetting. It also seems like there would be adverse effects to giving a psycho downer to a child in the stages of development, though I understand it says the "physically normal older child," it's really not that specific.