11 year old suddenly wetting the bed

[MrsKCastle]

Please help me to calm my anxiety, I have a tendency to overreact about health issues.

My daughter is 11 and had two mornings last week where she woke up wet, completely out of the blue. Definitely urine not sweat, and she had no idea until she woke.

Google suggests diabetes as a possibility, she has been quite tired recently but doesn't seem particularly thirsty and doesn't seem to be needing the toilet a lot in the daytime. I got her blood sugar checked using a friend's machine and it was 5.1 before eating which I believe is okay? I did weigh her though and she is a kg lighter than she was a year ago. She has always been a very skinny child. She eats a lot but doesn't ever seem to put weight on.

I don't know if it could be related, but she has also had three episodes of some kind of random 24 hour sickness in the last few months. Her elder sister has coeliac disease, but she has been tested for that in the past and doesn't seem to be suffering with stomach pain etc.

Any insights would be appreciated!

The most obvious thing would be a urinary tract infection, but the weight loss as well is concerning and both should be investigated.

I think you need a GP appointment Monday or if you have any out of hours services available, take a urine sample to them.

Even if you can't get an appointment early on Monday I would try and talk to the receptionist and see if they have something they can offer that day - not necessarily GP but other health professionals can dip urine and offer help.

Has your daughter just started Secondary School? Is she getting adequate access to toilets? Has she settled okay? These may be areas to explore once you've got medical help.

Thanks for the reply. I'll try to get a sample tested on Monday to check for UTIs. You're right about her starting secondary school, so I can't completely rule out stress - she's fairly happy but has had a couple of panicky moments about homework. I don't think she has problems accessing toilets at school.

Stress, anxiety and trauma can all cause sudden bedwetting

UTI
Staying awake on screens until exhausted and falling into very deep sleep
Diabetes
Stress
Threadworms
Constipation
Hormonal surges

No point guessing. Speak to the GP.

Has she started her periods ?

Really you're asking about quite a lot of potentially complex issues from random people on the internet, knowing you are already predisposed to health anxiety.

You've already looked at blood sugar levels using other people's equipment and have googled stuff? I'm assuming you've been to your gp at least? Why would you consider random, non specialist advice preferable?

Thanks everyone.

CandyLeBonBon I'm asking random people on the Internet because I don't want to waste the GP's time if I don't need to. It's a nightmare trying to get a doctor's appointment, so I want to take advice as to whether it's necessary.

KangarooKenny, no, she hasn't started periods or really shown any signs of puberty yet.

Absolutely get a gp appt. As a parent of a child who suffered from chronic constipation wet beds can be a symptom of this and many other things

Emails to my GP work very well. OH emailed Wednesday night the phone rang at 8.30 yesterday morning and he had an appointment at 10.30.

Your daughters case is worth investigating

Definitely GP. Lots of good ideas here. Hope you can find out what's going on.

There’s lots going on. Are you aware that coeliac and t1 diabetes run together in families? Wish I had known as I would have picked up ds’ t1 way earlier (my dh has coeliac).
ds has the symptoms you mention - tired, weight loss and then very thirsty, culminating in bed wetting to the point he was an emergency admission for diabetes.

we had a few trips to the dr with stomach pains before dx but it didn’t show on tests so has obviously been rumbling.
I hope it’s not, but don’t rule it out either as it will need urgent support.
does her breath smell acidic / pear drops?

My dd who is almost 9 has started doing the same recently. It's completely out of character for her. Been through a few GP appointments, tests and antibiotics for UTI, tested for diabetes etc. GP basically exhausted the list of things they can explore so we've been referred to paediatrics. No idea when the appointment will come through but it's been a couple of weeks now (and it's been happening a few weeks before the referral too!). Sorry I don't have any advice but just wanted to say I hope you manage to get to the bottom of it, as it's not nice for them

Thanks again for all the responses.

@Bimblesalong Thanks for your reply. I have heard that Coeliac and T1 diabetes are linked, but I thought that tended to be an individual having both, rather than in the same family. Thanks for the heads up. I have once or twice thought that her breath smelt a bit funny, but I couldn't really describe how. It sounds like your DS was feeling 'off' for a little while before he got really ill - do you think the random sickness earlier this year could be related?

A blood sugar reading of 5.1 before eating is in the normal range but you should be testing 2 hours after eating, when the level should be within normal limits.
You do need a GP appointment for a proper diagnosis.

My ds was wobbling on and off for about six months. I don’t know if earlier illnesses were related, just glad we caught it when we finally did.
I hope there’s an easier explanation for your little one.

If you have difficulty getting an appointment does your gp have an e consult service, where you fill in an online form with all relevant details and the gp gives you a call back? If so use it.
Don’t worry about wasting their time.

I would deworm just to make sure it's not that. And do UTI test. And go to GP.

I have a 11 year old boy who has never been dry at nights! No diabetes, no anxiety… we’re on medication and pull ups… anyone out there happy to put their hand up if they too share the same experience… share their success stories perhaps?