I lived off campus and shared an apartment but had my own room. I decided to wear diapers to keep the smell down and not have lots of laundry. If my roomate knew he never let on. I kept my diapers hidden in my closet and always threw the wet ones out right away in the morning. I cant offer any advise for dorm living.

Hi there, I cannot speak from personal experience as I was clearly nowhere near as talented as your son and so College/University rather passed me by! BUT there is a support group called:

http://www.dailystrength.org/groups/diapered-collegates

This may be of help to you and indeed especially him as you/he will find others in the same situation to share advice and experience.

I shared a house in my early working life and did much as MJinMN says.

Hope this helps. I am sure the group above will set him on his way to home run!

I reckon James Bond 007 learnt all his skills as a teen bedwetter.
It is a tougher school than most, involving camouflage, concealment,
risk-taking, endurance, humour etc - and plain courage, I empathise.

That said, schools today are well accustomed to mattress protection from spills of any kind, and usually waterproof at least one side. Access to trash & laundry facilities will vary.

Also Admissions often offer single accommodation on medical grounds, or sharing with another student with the same problem.
Camp facilities for "youth " are normally similarly alert.

I found the big decision was whether to be "open" or "closed" about it; I had to take the risk of discerning the best option at each place.

Go for it! - never let ANYthing destroy your dreams. Good luck.
Be sure there will be other bedwetters; & some REAL FRIENDS too.

I can offer some indirect advice.

I was a bedwetter as a child, and it returned as an adult, but not while I was in college (or at least, it happened so rarely as to not be an issue). I was also a college athlete.

In terms of recruiting camps, I would suggest diapers. I know that probably bucks the advice given by parents and doctors since his youth, but realistically this isn't a problem of motivation, and it is an adult way to handle a problem. He can put them on in the bathroom, and take them off and dispose of them in the morning. Even if it's a group bathroom, he can do it in a stall discretely. He needs to practice this ahead of time to become proficient, and learn to put the diapers on standing up. Also, forget store bought diapers. He's going to want the premium type diapers from an online vendor. Something of max absorbency from molicare or abena would do the job. They are much thicker than depends or their ilk, but once he learns to apply them properly, they pretty much guarantee no leaks.

As far as dorms, he should disclose his issue to housing, and/or request a single. It may cost him more, but he won't have to deal with a roommate, and he can use being a clean freak as an excuse. My university had vinyl coated mattresses, so they wouldn't have to worry about them being soiled. He should also invest in a good waterproof mattress cover.

The biggest difficultly will actually be team travel. Away games often mean bunking with multiple teammates in a hotel room. We usually got rooms with two queen beds, and slept 4 to a room, so that means that we shared beds. I'm not sure how well he can hide anything in those conditions. Overnight bus trips could also be a challenge. Again, i don't think there is any way to avoid diapers in this situation.

On a hopeful note, I had a teammate whom was a bedwetter. He didn't wet nightly, or even weekly, but often enough that we all knew. He once wet the hotel bed, on a road trip, with another guy in the bed next to him. He dumped a beer on himself, and tried to use that as cover, but eventually he was going out. As it turned out, it wasn't that big a deal. The other guys have him some good natured ribbing, he called us all dicks, and everyone got on with our lives. He actually told us that he'd wet his bed with his girlfriend in bed and panicked. She laughed at his reaction, and helped him clean up, and they went back to bed.

My point is, he shouldn't let this stop him. All of us fret about people finding out, but it's usually not as big a deal as we think.

Lisa,

I too faced a similar issue your son is facing heading into college. I was a nightly bedwetter who considering offers to play soccer in school.

As far as rooming at college, I was able to secure my own dorm room after speaking with Admissions and Housing services. They have single rooms set aside for those who are dealing with medical issues and confidentially/privacy is a concern. After providing them with background on my bedwetting issue and having my doctor provide them with a notice confirming it, I was given a single room and definitely was a huge relief. I still had to worry about hiding my supplies and whatnot, but not having to worry about explaining diapers, leaks, and wet sheets to a roommate was a huge relief.

The other issue was traveling. Now for soccer we only traveled a handful of times each season so it was only a few road trips to deal with it. But without getting into details, the Athletic Director, team doctor, and team manager were all made aware that I needed my own room. (IDK how much of it they knew about but they never specifically asked about it or referenced it so that was okay for me). I was given my own separate room for these trips too. Others on the team would occasionally get their own rooms too so it wasn't like I was the only one not sharing a room.

The same goes for the camps that they are asking for him to attend. I would speak with the management or people in charge of providing rooms and just explain that your son would require a single bed room. You can say its due to a medical condition and perhaps for an additional fee they can accommodate that. Having traveled while younger for soccer/baseball, I know that for the additional cost, I was able to get my own room at summer camps so you should check with these camps before he rules them out completely. YOu can always come up with some bogus excuse as to why he's rooming alone (sick, troubled sleeper, etc).

All of us who have dealt with bedwetting know that not all "friends" are as real as they pretend to be. You really learn a lot about hte person with how they handle "finding out". Hopefully he hasn't gotten your son too upset or outed his problem to others. But I like to remember a saying in cases like this "Those who matter, don't care; Those who care, don't matter"!

Best of Luck!

Lisa,

I can fully empathize with you and your son. I turned down a full "free-ride" mathematics scholarship when I was a senior in high school because I would have to live in their dormitory and I still wet the bed. However, I was drafted (during the Viet Nam era) and spent almost three weeks at basic training before they sent me home. THAT was a horrible experience: there was no privacy and everyone there knew I wet the bed. Back then, we were expected to endure until we grew out of it. Diapers and plastic panties, and other things, were a form of punishment and humiliation for me then. I was never allowed to simply "hide it" from anyone.

You seem supportive of your son. Hopefully, he will find the courage to follow his dreams and get a higher education. Bedwetting is possibly more understood and is easier to "hide" now than it was during my early adult life. Also, I hope he can find the inner strength and self-confidence to realize that wetting the bed is only a condition beyond his (or your) control. After all, if he had vision problems (another condition), he would need to wear glasses.

Who knows? Maybe some day he will be playing MLB baseball!

Good Luck to both of you.

It's an issue hard to deal with. I'm 31 and in college, the only way to deal with this is loads of patience.

I am in the same boat !! I would ask the nurse at the school. Some schools have single rooms so you dont stick out....is this an option??? if it's medical then your shouldn't have to pay the "increase" in that tier. Has he tried any of the medicines that help???

I do not think my son would ever be comfortable with either himself or I talking to the school nurse about this issue. He is very private about his bedwetting and probably would be angry at me for going on this site. He has tried DDVAP and ditropran. Both of these were not effective for him. Right now he does not wear protection every night however he does so when things get too much. I wish you and your son luck in finding a solution! Hopefully they will both get through it :) @sunnydays22

Thanks everyone for the helpful experiences and advice! I am comforted by the fact that many of you have experienced college life while juggling this sensitive problem. Thanks again and I wish you all the best! xx

I was nervous about starting college as well. I have always been a bedwetter and I have to use diapers at night because drugs didn't work. I had a roommate when I first started and we eventually became good friends and I told him about my bed wetting. But honestly college students aren't looking for people wearing diapers so I just hid them in my closet and at bed time I would wrap them up in my pjs and take a shower and put them on in the shower and in the miring I whould take a shower a bring a zip block bag in my shower caddy and put the used diaper in the trash when I got back. If he's not comfortable with that he could request a roommate who has the same problem. I think it's fairly easy to manage bed wetting in college discretely and most people are much more mature and understanding.

I am 23 and wet the bed from time to time. Its okay (=

Bedwetting is a complicated issue, the person suffers from it but at the same time is unable to share the same. I too had a friend (sorry, cant say his name) in the high school who suffered from this problem and was very reserved. Today he has successfully overcome this problem with dedicated and support from bedwetting experts. From my experience, the most urgent need of your son is support. There is nothing wrong with having a bedwetting problem as it can happen with any person. However, leaving it untreated or taking no initiative for its cure is a crime. My friend got his bedwetting treatment from Enuresis Treatment Center.

Does anyone have any ideas for the best odor proof laundry bags?? I'm sending my son off to college this fall. Other comments here have been helpful but curious how college kids handled their soiled laundry. My son is overwhelmed and so very frustrated that he hasn't been able to put bedwetting behind him. It's so sad and frustrating for me as well. I am so proud of all of you that have to deal with this terrible condition but refuse to let it define you or hold you back! You give me strength and hope.

Wet bags, for cloth diapering. They make them from PUL (polyurethane laminate) material. They are polyester (or some such on the outside, and coated with a waterproof material on the inside.

The large ones they make for diaper pails look like laundry bags, but are water tight.