Waking up only to discover you had been
swimming in a pool of your own urine for the
better part of your night can mean different
things. For my neighbor’s 2 year old son, it
means he had a good night’s rest. He doesn’t
hesitate to yell at me: “Aunty Anu, I sleep well!”
from the balcony while I walk past and wave at
his mom – who is once again saddled with
doing some ‘urinic’ laundry.
For my 11 year old self, it meant several things.
Firstly, I had made it ‘rain’ on my poor
bunkmate below who was definitely going to
visit my face with a couple of dirty slaps. It also
meant I was going to do the early morning walk
of shame down the dormitory corridor with my
dripping mattress (which by the way had my
name boldly written on it with a permanent
marker that stood the test of numerous
bedwetting episodes) clasped under my right
armpit and out to the garden behind the
dormitory known to be the showroom of
bedwetters masterpieces (shout out to my
colleagues in the bedwetting business from way
back!) To a woman, thrown out of her
matrimonial home, it probably isn’t funny. The
shame and stigma is unbearable, as our society
has many explanations as to why a grown woman
wets the bed. No amount of mattress flipping or
iron-drying or blanket heaping (is it obvious
how experienced I was?) on the “crime scene”
can save the day. It is out in the open, she is a
chronic and unrepentant bedwetter or even a
witch who has to jump naked, legs wide apart
over flames of fire to make the evil stop so suitors
won’t reject her.
Just to get you acquainted, these are some of the
reasons I was falsely told (by grandaunts who told
many tortoise infested stories) about bed
wetting. I never fit into any of these as I later
discovered my own unique challenge.
1: If you killed a wall gecko or played too hard
before you slept you were sure to ‘make it rain’.
2: If you were rude to an old man or woman using
a walking stick, they could curse you with bed
wetting for life.
3: Perhaps an enemy of your family is trying to
get back at your parents making you an
embarrassment to them.
Enough of the ridiculous reasons biko! I
discovered that my love for midnight snacking
and laziness to report to the Ladies when nature
called got in the way of my greatness and I made
up my mind to end it (Thanks also to the prayers
and constant support of my late mom. RIP
sweetie!) I remember having those dreams in
which one is pressed and voila…one finds
oneself before the white porcelain monster.
Anyway, the reason I have forcibly taken you guys
through my experience arises from some story I
heard over the weekend about how a woman was
thrown out of her matrimonial home just 6
months after marriage because her husband
couldn’t cope with the daily ordeal. His mother
had helped in throwing her things out – calling
her a disgrace to womanhood and a baggage her
parents knowingly burdened her son with.
I wondered if the displaced wife ever
mentioned it to her now-estranged husband
before marriage; but the odds are that she kept it
a secret from him or he wouldn’t have married
her (in the words of my grand aunt). While I
think thrashing one’s six month old wife based
on bedwetting might be unnecessary, I would
like to ask why everything must become a stigma
in our society. Many people do not know this but
what we call adult bedwetting is more often
than not a medical condition called ENURESIS
(please let me blame this one on the devil) and is
more common in adult men than women
(SHOCKER!!!). It is an involuntary voiding of
urine i.e loss of bladder control. It can happen
during the day or at night and is a very
embarrassing situation that always comes in the
way of personal relationships, academics, work
and affects ones self-esteem.
Anyway, whether man or woman, these are the
causes of adult bedwetting according to my fuel-
searching weekend -long research
Emotional Factors
Fear, stress and anxiety contribute to adult
bedwetting. Fear of what? Well, sadly, some
adults still nurse the fear of the being alone in
the darkness or silence that accompanies night
time. this can be as a result of a lingering bad
experience like rape, armed robbery attacks,
fire outbreaks and the likes. Stress from or
anxiety over work, family or a frustrating
situation can also cause the involuntary loss of
ones control over the bladder. This is one of the
reasons one has to constantly be in control of what
one allows to occupy one’s mind.
Genetic Factor
My people, this is another one I discovered o!
One can actually inherit bedwetting genes or at
least thats what science says. I don’t even know
what to think of this (Please feel free to educate
us on this in the comments section) Now moving
on!
Diseases
Adult bedwetting can also be an indicator that
one has some other disease. Diseases such as:
Type I Diabetes, Urinary Tract Infections,
bladder stones, bladder and prostrate cancers are
more popular in this regard but other cases
might include: spinal cord injury in which a
person is totally paralysed, post-natal vaginal
flatulence (when the muscles of the birth canal
have not got their strength back), side effects of
some drugs and suprisingly caffeine overdose.
Yes o! Coffee lovers especially. One of the things
an overdose of caffeine can do to you is cause
uncontrollable muscle movements and your
bladder muscles are not spared.
While my list might not be exhaustive, it should
at least educate the other women who clap over
that woman’s head calling her Atole; the husband
or boyfriend who simply doesn’t understand how
or why a grown woman should wet the bed or even
the young lady that ran for her dear life when she
discovered that her crush for years wets his
pants.
For you who finds yourself in this embarrasing
predicament, my advise to you would be to seek
medical help. Surgery has succeeded in
correcting a good number of cases of enuresis and
some other temporary options like alarms, adult
diapers or plastic pants have also helped.
It can’t be easy going through this, so counselling
will go a long way in helping you stay sane
through the storm. If you believe in prayers then
seek God’s ever-available help concerning this
matter. Also, no one knows you like you, so if you
have habits, (like late night snacking, excessive
drinking e,t,c) addictions or other lifestyle
patterns that might be contributory to this
problem, you might want to call it quits.
Finally, dear public, please be nice enough to
help someone through enuresis a.k.a bedwetting
instead of stigmatizing or ostracising him or
her.
0 comments:
Post a Comment