Today is ‘World Bedwetting Day’!
No, don’t laugh; the event is initiated and supported by the World Bedwetting Day Steering Committee, which consists of the International Children’s Continence Society (ICCS) and the European Society for Paediatric Urology (ESPU) along with professional groups across the globe (see website for details).
A good day to remember that the British Chiropractic Association once sued my friend Simon Singh because he had disclosed that they were happily claiming that chiropractic was an effective therapy for bedwetting (and a few other childhood problems). An equally good day to remind ourselves that most alternative therapies are highly effective for this condition. At least this is what practitioners will tell you. For instance:
- homeopaths say that they can effectively treat bedwetting (~35 000 websites)
- chiropractors claim they can help (~84 000 websites)
- naturopaths insist they can treat it (~ 12 000 websites)
- Reiki is promoted for bedwetting (~ 12 000 websites)
- herbal medicine is said to be good for it ( (~37 000 websites)
- etc., etc.
“Stop, stop! This blog is about evidence!!!” I hear you shout impatiently.
Alright, here is a full and unabbreviated list of all alternative therapies that have been scientifically proven to work for bedwetting:
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HAPPY BEDWETTING DAY EVERYBODY!
13 Responses to 30 May = World Bedwetting Day
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I know nothing of this problem, but imagine it can be very serious for some children and their families.
Full credit to the organisers for getting a conference together, and for devising a ‘Day’ to focus on the issue.
A great pity that they decided to accept sponsorship from Feering Pharmaceuticals (who reviewed the content), and and that the website is not ‘intended’ for the US’!
IMHO organisers of scientific conferences should open sponsorship to all who wish to contribute, should not permit ‘review’ by any sponsor, and should comply with whatever regulations necessary for the conference website to be ‘intended’ for the US (pointing out if this involves censorship or other restriction).
Otherwise, the ‘conference’ (and any associated ‘Day’), is a disguise for imaginative marketing – which is fine as long as we recognise it for what it is.
At least the Steering Committee can ensure that it squirts in the right direction.
Ever so sorry.
Isn’t bed wetting often associated with underlying problems and anxieties?
Are these alternative cults claiming psychological expertise as well?
did you not know?
all cults are omnipotent.
“Are these alternative cults claiming psychological expertise as well?”
Of course they are! They are holistic after all. They cure body, mind AND spirit all in one great big bang for your buck!
The placebo effect can do that too, or seem to do so.
You don’t think… nah, couldn’t be. Could it?
By the way- in what sense in the Image Verification test is the top right image not a car? ( the black one with its tail-lights on).
@Barrie Lee etc…
I honestly thought you had eaten a fummy mushroom or smoked some heavy herbs!
Your rant about a car, its taillights and an image Verification test made no sense until I made a small contribution to the proceedings from a Window$ machine at work and was put to the silly pictogram test that never appears on my MacBook. I guess the robot that controls the Professor’s blog trusts my computer better than yours 😀
I can promise you no Jazz Woodbines were smoked in the making of my rant.
That’ll be the pic to show you what a car looks like in case you didn’t know. I’m not sure whether the Google RECAPTCHA is language aware, but some may think that’s an auto, not a car…
It took me ages to realise that, but I thank them for their concern.However, since I have lived my whole life among such items ( as opposed to, say, tapirs), I find thisto be unnecessary..
I’m currently experiencing difficulty with the ‘hats’ one, since the pictures are so small and anyway I getbimpatient before I get to ‘hats’, and preidict it’s going to say ‘clothes’, so I end up pressing the whole lot. At which point the whole system thinks it’s a monkey pressing the keys and gives up.
Anyway, on a technicality, I would say that a support pole is not really a ‘street sign’.
Obviously the commentators so far (similar to those standing on the side of a football field) have not endured the distress of chronic bed-wetting… acupuncture in combination with cognitive behavioural therapy helped both my children to overcome this problem… a cost I was happy to pay instead of pumping them full of drugs. Side effect-free satisfactory results coupled with two great kids that are now far more in tune with who they are and how their bodies work (physically, mentally and spiritually).
In what way did acupuncture help?
Good evidence for effectiveness of either of these therapies for this condition is lacking. Poor evidence is not. Anecdotal evidence is at the bottom of the pile.
@Frank Dad
Bedwetting (if not caused by identifiable medical problems e.g. bladder abnormalities or diabetes) is almost always a self-limiting problem needing no specific medical treatment. It is very related to stress and psychological disturbances so cognitive behavioral therapy and other measures directed at improving the child’s psycho-social wellbeing is likely to help. Identifying and removing aggravating factors such as sexual abuse or bullying is important. Very few cases last into the teens and even then it usually disappears without intervention.
It is neither likely, plausible nor proven that the addition of sticking your children with needles did anything to help them.
We appreciate your enthusiasm and your honest relief that your children improved, but you have been misled and your children abused (probably in good but misguided faith) by subjecting them to an unproven, unnecessary, often painful and potentially harmful theatrical placebo.