The theories on the cause and cure of enuresis are many and varied and I don't blame you for wanting more information before spending a large amount of money on a treatment that may or may not work. I looked at their web site and they are claiming it is caused by an oxygen deprived sleep which is sleep apnea. If I were you I would talk to your son's doctor about the center and possible have a sleep study done on your son. If it is sleep apnea, it will show in the study.

I haven't personally dealt with this company myself but have talked with several others who have. In short, I don't think they will be worth your money. The whole line about how it should be worth any amount of money to cure your son of this horrible problem is simply psychological manipulation on their part to justify charging outrageously high prices for their programs. They will claim a ridiculously high cure rate (sometimes as high as 95% or 97%) but the way they arrive at this is by tossing out the results of anyone who is not "cured" as supposedly "noncompliant" with the program. (Which is also, of course, the excuse they will give for not refunding your money!)

Basically what you will get for the thousands of dollars they charge is a glorified alarm treatment program -- using the same sort of alarm you can purchase elsewhere for around $100. (See http://bedwettingstore.com for details on that.) Alarms, like any other "treatment" for bedwetting, will work for some children and not others -- it just depends on the underlying cause. Reputable medical studies that have been done on alarm treatment show cure rates of no more than 40-50% if the alarm is PERFECTLY used -- and much less than that if the instructions are not followed to the letter. The program you mentioned will claim to provide "counseling" that will help to make sure you are using the alarm correctly; however, you can also find similar advice online for little to no cost.

Robert's suggestion to see a sleep specialist is well taken also, and will likewise cost you much less than this program. It's up to you -- if you want to bet that much money on at most a 40-50% chance of curing him, you may decide that it is worth it to try. In truth a 40-50% chance of a cure (even though much less than what they will claim) is not insubstantial... although bear in mind that the "cure rate" of DOING NOTHING for kids who wet the bed is still about 15% per year. But, by doing a little wise shopping around the internet you can probably find the materials and advice to achieve that same 40-50% chance at a small fraction of the cost.

I hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any more questions!

Thanks to both of you for your replies!

I have to admit, the first time I read the (97%) "cure" rate I was quite skeptical. I have seen way too many scams in all forms to believe that. What I especially dislike is that there is nothing on the site regarding those who have not done well with the program. It's all good stuff. Well, that doesn't give one quite the whole picture, does it?

I am desperate to help my son. I know he feels terrible at times, despite me telling him all the time that it's not his fault. Family says things, his own father says things (thankfully he is not at his father's enough to endure the daily verbal onslaughts), etc. I don't think any amount of positive and non-judgmental encouragement can erase all shreds of pain from hearing such things as "you're lazy", "You must like wearing a diaper cause you're a freak", "you're a baby", and other hurtful comments.

The amount of money they ask for in this particular program REALLY set me back. Of course I would do most anything to get the money if I knew it had a chance at working. But like you said, it's basically the same stuff you can get elsewhere for little or no cost.

My son is 9 1/2, and he's never had a dry night. Well, maybe once or twice. But those were few and far between. He has so many other symptoms at night that concern me, but which his doctors don't seem to care. I am waiting for one more appointment with that office, and if I can't get some testing done I will be changing doctors. My son has daily abdominal pain, always at night. He used to have quite severe GERD, but the way he describes the pain is totally different. He is always thirsty and hungry at night, regardless of how much protein or food he ate for dinner or evening snack. I have thought he could have a slew of different issues going on, but of course, when you talk to most doctors they pretty much blow you off. They seem to believe no mere non-physician could have any idea of what's going on with their own child.

I have a telephone consultation with these people tomorrow, and I'm interested to hear what kind of wonderful things they can "promise". While I know my son has always been quite the deep sleeper, he awakens just fine in the morning and is never tired, especially now that he is homeschooled and doesn't have to wake up at 6am for the drive to school.

I sure wish they had some solid answers for enuresis. It causes a whole lot of suffering for people.

Thank you both for your replies. :)

I think I would seek a second opinion. Chronic pain and gerd is in no way normal for a child that age. His problems may very well be physical.

I am definitely seeking a second opinion.

He has suffered from constipation on and off for years. But the tummy/abdominal pain is newer. Been a couple months with no answers. It happens every night, no matter what I feed him. I've tried giving him no dairy, no wheat, no gluten, etc. Nothing helps.

The GERD has gotten better, it is nearly gone and the specialist for that has said I can stop the prevacid at any time. I am contemplating it. It did help in the beginning, but now Tums help more than anything. I hate for someone to have to take pills for no reason, if that makes sense. But I want some answers. He denies having any stress, he's not upset, not mad/upset/angry/sad, etc. I believe he would tell me.

There's nothing else going on in his life on a daily basis that would stress him out, at least from my view. He is much happier being home-schooled, despite more work for him in school work. He smiles again.

I am waiting for his doc appt this week, again. I feel like I live there in that office. I know if I am frustrated my son must be more frustrated. I just wish there were some answers.

Thanks for the help.

I had to smile at "I believe he would tell me" if he were stressed - I don't mean this in a bad way at all, but I think everyone who is a good parent believes that their kid would come to them if anything was wrong. The fact is that they often do but not always. There could be some form of stress that he just does not feel comfortable telling anyone about, in spite of your best intentions as a parent. Just wanted to reassure you about that reality - it's not anything you're doing wrong, and stress almost certainly is NOT the primary cause of his bedwetting anyway. But it is worth keeping your eyes open for things that might be going on that he might not be saying out loud. For one, I guarantee you his bedwetting is VERY stressful for him whether his outward actions seem to indicate this or not. That's almost universally true of this condition.

It is definitely worth looking into the source of this abdominal pain you describe. While it's likewise not likely to be the primary cause of his bedwetting, it could very easily be a number of things (a food allergy or sensitivity or some other metabolic issue) that could be hindering his body's ability to learn to stay dry at night. I would suggest putting the bedwetting on the back burner for now (and making clear to your son that it is on the back burner for now!) until this issue is addressed - there will be plenty of time in which the wetting can be addressed later.

I would definitely address the food allergy/sensitivity angle for hos abdominal pain more thoroughly, if you haven't already. It might not be that at all, but his symptoms sound like those of several acquaintances of mine who wound up being tremendously helped by making simple modifications to their diet (e.g., no dairy, no wheat products - those are two of the most common, but there could be many other things too). When you've modified his diet to remove dairy, gluten. etc. have you kept up the modifications for at least a week or two at a time? Chances are you would notice improvement within a couple of weeks or so if there was going to be improvement, but it might take several days before all traces of the offending material are out of his system. Also, if you are making dietary changes make only one change at a time so that if there is improvement, you know exactly which change is the most likely cause.

(And for what it's worth, if you're going to give him any "pills" on a regular basis, Tums are about as inert as anything! All they are is calcium carbonate, which after it neutralizes stomach acid is simply washed out of the body. There's almost no side effect they can cause unless you use them so much that his stomach no longer has enough acid to digest food properly - but that seems pretty unlikely in your case.)

A bit off topic from bedwetting, but definitely an issue that needs to be looked into! After you have some answers for the stomach pain, if the bedwetting disappears, fantastic - but if not, there will be plenty of time then to resume looking for answers to that. Good luck to you!