Can you give me any information on relapses and how to handle them? My 7-year-old daughter recently started wetting after being dry for three months and she is so very upset and feels that she will never be able to stay dry.
Answer
Relapses are very common, having been reported variously at 12 to 69 percent. Putting all the data together we can suppose that approximately one-third of bedwetters will have a relapse at some time during the 2.5 years after becoming dry. Fortunately, in the only study done on relapse rates and successful treatments, 62 percent of children relapsed only once, 25 percent relapsed two to three times and only 10 percent relapsed four or more times. The mean number of relapses was 1.7, meaning that almost all children will have one or two relapses. The good news is that 98 percent eventually remained dry permanently. The duration of the relapse was 4 to12 months.
The most effective ways of treating this turned out to be exactly the same as what was successful in the first place. The good news is that this means parents and children can rest assured that relapses are normal and that they will almost certainly be successful in remaining dry simply by continuing with their current strategies.
David L Fay, MD
Family Physician
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