The nurse in a pediatric clinic is preparing to educate the parents of a 12-year-old child with complaints of bedwetting. Many measures have been attempted to assist the child, but the bedwetting continues. The doctor has prescribed a tricyclic medication to help decrease the incidence of bedwetting. The nurse knows the most common tricyclic used to treat bedwetting (enuresis) is which one of the following?
Explanation
• A child with bedwetting (enuresis) often has increased anxiety at bedtime and may have altered self-image related to the bedwetting.
• These children are treated with alternative therapies first, using measures like wetness alarms and withholding of fluids in the evenings before bed.
• When other therapies are ineffective, imipramine (Tofranil) may be used because it is anticholinergic and can help control enuresis.