Researchers attribute the cause of bed-wetting (nocturnal enuresis) to psychological and physiological factors, but at present, no study has been able to determine its exact cause. It remains a shame-causing problem for children and adults who suffer from it.
Some treatments for bed-wetting used today include drugs that help control it or an alarm that goes off when it detects moisture. However, these treatments are not completely effective and fail to address the root of the bed-wetting problem, New Scientist reports.
Researchers at the Assiut University Hospital in Egypt have come up with a treatment that reduces bed-wetting: magnetic stimulation of the lower back.
To determine the long-term effect of repetitive sacral root magnetic stimulation, the researchers conducted a study involving 44 patients suffering from bed-wetting. All patients had been taking the antidepressant drug imipramine for their bed-wetting problem, but have not found relief from it. They continued taking the medication throughout the study.
The patients were divided into two groups. One group received lower back magnetic stimulation while the other group received a "sham" stimulation in which the magnetic field was actually directed away from the back.
Both groups were given 10 treatment sessions within a period of two weeks, or five treatment sessions per week. At the end of two weeks, the group that received real lower back magnetic stimulation reduced bed-wetting from 5.7 to 0.3 cases per week, while the group that received the placebo treatment reduced bed-wetting from 6.5 to 1.8 cases per week.
One month later, the group that received the real treatment retained its improvement, while the group that was given the placebo treatment saw an increase in bed-wetting cases to 5.2 per week.
"It seems likely that rSMS produced some of its effect in the present patients by a direct effect on bladder control," said Eman M. Khedr, lead study author and Department of Neurology professor at the Assiut University Hospital. "In the present study, rSMS could have increased arousal or enhanced inhibition of neuronal re-uptake of noradrenaline and serotonin. We have previously reported that patients with nocturnal enuresis have pathologically increased excitability and reduced inhibitory processing in the motor cortex and it is possible that rSMS could affect these measures as well," he explained, according to Science Daily.
The treatment was also found to have improved the mental health scores, such as social functioning, of the patients who received real treatment.
The study was published in the Aug. 19 issue of the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.
