'Mimi' can get help for bedwetting problem

Dear Annie: Your column is so informative and useful, I hope you can help with my problem. A person close to me wets the bed. This has been going on since childhood. "Mimi" is 21 years old, and the bedwetting has become a serious cause for concern.
She has gone to see more than one doctor, and they all say there is nothing wrong with her physically, and that it is likely more of a psychological thing. I understand bedwetting can happen out of fear or a painful memory.
Is there some way I can advise her? Any medication that you know about? Mimi's Friend
Dear Friend: Adult enuresis (bedwetting) is often a deep-sleep disorder. If Mimi's doctor has ruled out physical causes such as bladder infections, diabetes or sleep apnea, she may benefit from other treatments.
Many bedwetters rely on moisture alarm therapy in which an alarm is connected to the mattress and wakes the sleeper when there is wetness, training the person to wake up when the bladder is full. Other therapies include exercises to increase bladder capacity and strengthen the muscles that control urine flow. Mimi can ask her doctor to refer her to a urologist, or she can contact the National Kidney Foundation (kidney.org) at (888) WAKE-DRY ([888] 925-3379) for information on bedwetting.
Dear Annie: I read the letter from "Alabama," who worked hard all day and wanted to come home to a clean house and a home-cooked meal. His wife should be ashamed of herself.
I am the mother of two small children, and my husband works 12-hour shifts. I make time to wash at least four loads of laundry, vacuum my carpets, feed my kids and make dinner for the family when my husband gets home. And I wash the dishes after. To suggest that this husband try to find some cleaning help is absurd. He should not have to. His wife is a disgrace to stay-at-home mothers. She needs to manage her time better, or wake up before the kids and do her chores then. Good Wife
Dear Good: Many readers felt we were too easy on the wife, but any man who says he can't find a clean shirt and therefore has to "buy new ones" really gets our goat. The washing machine is an equal-opportunity employer. However, we agree that no stay-at-home spouse should be sitting on her behind all day, if that, indeed, is what's going on. Here are a few other comments from our readers:
From New York: I am a professor at the College of New Rochelle. If this couple came to me for counseling, the first thing I would do would be to assess his wife for possible depression.
Wisconsin: I was married to one of those "woe is me" wives. I'd come home after 12-hour days and see her wearing the same stained nightgown she had on when I left, our child in a dirty diaper, nothing picked up or put away, stacks of dishes and loads of laundry. Supper? Forget it. For six years I did all the cleaning, cooking and washing. Then she found something she had time for -- a boyfriend. When she ran off with him, she did me the best favor in the world.
California: I am a stay-at-home dad with two sons, two dogs and a wife who refuses to clean or cook. I have a part-time job at night to help supplement our income. I cook all the meals we eat. Today's women are not taught the basics of housecleaning from their parents.
Gainesville, Ga.: That poor lady is overwhelmed! Two children in two years? If she has access to the Internet, suggest that she look up www.FlyLady.net to help get her house in order and love herself in the process.
E-mail your questions to anniesmailbox@com-cast.net, or write to: Annie's Mailbox™, P.O. Box 118190, Chicago, IL 60611.
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.