Bedwetting—also called nocturnal enuresis —is a chronic condition that is often hidden behind closed doors. Talking about urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, and bedwetting is stigmatised for being embarrassing, smelly or unclean.
Kids stuck in a cycle of bedwetting may have feelings of shame and low self-worth. This puts them at greater risk of developing social and learning problems. Parents and caregivers can feel overwhelmed with concern, frustration, and sleep deprivation.
Nightly laundry and never-ending hygiene chores take their toll on everyone. Family budgets buckle under the pressure to cover the costs of supporting the bedwetting child. It all adds up—disposable, absorbent pants and bedding, medical appointments, prescriptions, devices and other suggested treatments.
Deciding on the best approach for your child presents yet another challenge and dilemma. You want to be sure that treatments are gentle and effective and that they work.
If you, or someone you know, is caring for a child that wets the bed talk to your pharmacist. Help is at hand.
Understanding childhood bedwetting
Bedwetting is a urinary problem that is relatively common, affecting about 1 in 5 children starting primary school.
The urinary bladder is a hollow organ comprising a complex network of smooth muscle, nerves, veins and connective tissue. As babies and toddlers, we have no control over when our bladder empties. At this stage, a reflex between the bladder and spinal cord signals when there is enough pressure for the bladder to void. Weeing is completely involuntary.
But by the time a young child is about four or five, the neural pathway that connects their brain and bladder has been established and the child is in control of when they need to wee. They can recognise the urge and usually make it to the potty or toilet without any accidents—firstly during the day and, ultimately, while they are asleep at night.
For some kids, their brain’s signalling and communication pathways may take longer to develop and they will continue to wet the bed at night. It could be just the occasional accident or a frequent and chronic bedwetting condition.
The causes of bedwetting can be difficult to pin-point, but several factors are known to influence urinary problems in children. These include stress, diet, sleep and physical activity. Sleep and circadian rhythms can also interfere with a child’s ability to recognise the full bladder feeling and certain hormones can affect excessive night-time urine production.
Bedwetting can cause a child to suffer psychological harm. The child may feel ashamed, embarrassed, and even a burden to their families. They may start wanting to skip important social events like camps and sleepovers with friends because they fear the consequences of wetting the bed. Quality of life and wellbeing is reduced, and this can lead to low self-worth, anxiety and childhood depression. The situation spirals, especially if the condition causes them to be punished by parents or bullied by siblings.
Parents and caregivers can experience mental health problems and despair related to losing confidence in their parenting skills.
What can be done to reduce bedwetting
Many of the common strategies for reducing bedwetting, like no drinks at night and waking a sleeping child to go to the toilet or potty, are not proven to promote long-term night-time dryness. And showing your displeasure or punishing children will not help the problem whatsoever.
Using disposable absorbent pants and mattress protectors is, of course, a first line management strategy for keeping the sheets dry and reducing laundry.
While there is no gold standard in treating bedwetting, some children may benefit from working with behavioural or educational therapists to retrain the bladder to better control when and where they do a wee.
In a very small number of cases, your GP or specialist may recommend using a medical device like a bladder alarm or they may prescribe medication. Often these treatments are not adequately effective, and they can have unwanted side-effects—both physically and psychologically.
But now there is an advanced herbal formulation that offers your child a safe and effective dietary supplement to reduce bedwetting.
Herbal supplement signals new hope for bedwetting kids
Introducing Urox® Junior—a major advancement in the treatment of children’s bedwetting.
Urox® Junior is a clinically-researched and patented herbal formula that effectively reduces day and night-time wetting in children. It contains Urox®, a proprietary blend of Cratevox™ (Crateva nurvala), Equisetum arvense, and Lindera aggregata.
Published research (Schloss et al, 2021), conducted by one of Australia’s leading universities, shows that Urox® Junior improves occasional bedwetting.
The double-blind, placebo-control trial shows 62% of participants aged between 6 and 14, experienced significant improvements in bedwetting symptoms after 2 months of use.
Urox® Junior is also shown to significantly improve quality of life indicators for children and their parents. Children are happier and more confident when they don’t wet the bed.
Urox® Junior works to support the network of muscles and tissues that are make up your child’s bladder. Sprinkle one capsule morning and night on top of food or into water or juice. As your child grows, their bladder’s storage and signalling capacity will naturally improve.
Soon, you can rest easy because your child will be able to stay dry at night.
Reference:
]]>A recent animal study1 found that a proprietary blend of herbal extracts called Urox, manufactured by the Siepel Group (Bisbane, Australia), helped reduce symptoms of overactive bladder. In the mechanism of action study conducted by urology researchers at the Medical University of Warsaw, 60 rats were divided into four groups: 1) control, 2) received retinyl acetate (RA) to induce bladder overactivity, 3) received Urox (840 mg per day for 14 days), and 4) combination of RA and Urox.
Results showed that subjects in group four saw a decrease in basal pressure and detrusor overactivity index, as well as increases in threshold pressure, voided volume, intercontraction interval, and bladder compliance, compared to group two. While group two experience significant elevations in c-Fos expression in the neuronal voiding centers, expression of c-Fos in group four was normalized. Similarly, group two experienced elevations in biomarkers found in bladder urothelium (CGRP, ATP, malondialdehyde, 3-nitrotyrosine, TRPV1, and OCT-3) urine (BDNF and NGF), and bladder detrusor muscle (VAChT and Rho kinase), as well as a decrease in permeability markers. In group four, it appears that administration of Urox normalized the abnormally elevated biomarkers induced by RA in group two.
“This independent Mechanism of Action (MOA) study confirms what I expected when designing the Urox ingredient formula,” said Tracy Seipel, founder and CEO of the Seipel Group, in a statement responding to the study. “As a practitioner and formulator, I developed Urox with a holistic approach, taking into consideration the multiple contributing factors for healthy bladder function including the bladder detrusor muscle, pelvic floor muscles, bladder lining, collagen strength, bladder nerve function and normal effects of aging on the bladder. I selected and researched the herbal extracts based on traditional use and my clinical experience, and refined the formula with substantive research, so it’s no surprise that this research verifies my understanding of how Urox works. What is surprising, is that with limited European distribution we had no idea that the Medical University of Warsaw was studying our material. The results could not be more encouraging for the future of Urox.”
Reference
The new research was done on the product Urox, manufactured by Australian company the Seipel Group. The product is a combination of extracts of Crataeva nurvala stem bark, Equisetum arvense stem and Lindera aggregata root.
The company’s initial research into the product was strong enough to have garnered a NutraIngredients-USA Research Project of the Year in 2018. The present study was not sponsored by the company, however.
It was the work of a team of researchers associated with hospitals, universities and research institutes in Poland. It was published in the journal Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences .
The researchers noted that drugs to treat Overactive Bladder (OAB) do exist. But the side effects, which can include sleep disturbances, are severe enough that a large percentage of patients who start on the medications are not using them a year later.
So the search for natural alternatives is a pressing one, they said. To test the effect of Urox the researchers used a rat model of OAB first revealed in 2015 by another team of Polish researchers that included one of the authors of the present study, Andrzej Wróbel, PhD.
The model uses an instillation of retinyl acetate into the bladder of Wistar rats to induce OAB. The present study was divided into four arms: a saline control group, a group that received 840 mg of Urox a day by gavage, one group that received the retinyl acetate instillation, and one group that received both Urox and RA.
After 14 days, during which the urine voiding frequency was measured via surgically implanted catheters, the authors concluded that Urox significantly reduced the OAB symptoms.
“In conclusion, phytomedicine extracts (Urox) were found to be potent to reverse RA-induced changes in both several cystometric and biochemical parameters that are determinants of OAB. We observed no effects on basic cardiovascular parameters and daily urine output, which may promote the initiation of the analysis of its safety in humans,” the researchers wrote.
Dr Tracey Seipel, founder of the Seipel Group, said she was pleasantly surprised that her company’s product was being studied by the group of Polish researchers, which includes some heavy hitters in the field of urinary incontinence research. But she said she wasn’t surprised by what they found.
“This independent Mechanism of Action (MOA) study confirms what I expected when designing the Urox ingredient formula,” Dr. Seipel states. “As a practitioner and formulator, I developed Urox with a holistic approach, taking into consideration the multiple contributing factors for healthy bladder function including the bladder detrusor muscle, pelvic floor muscles, bladder lining, collagen strength, bladder nerve function and normal effects of aging on the bladder. I selected and researched the herbal extracts based on traditional use and my clinical experience, and refined the formula with substantive research, so it’s no surprise that this research verifies my understanding of how Urox works,” Seipel told NutraIngredients-USA .
Source: Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.896624
New Kid on the Block: The Ecacy of Phytomedicine Extract Uroxin Reducing Overactive Bladder Symptoms in Rats
Authors: Zapala L, et al.
Click here to view the full article
]]>Dr. Tracey Seipel, of the Seipel Group, developed Urox, a urinary health supplement that earned the NutraIngredients Botanical of The Year award this year. The product was tested in over 10 clinical trials in men and women. The research found it significantly reduces symptoms of occasional urinary incontinence, urgency, frequency, overactive bladder, bladder oversensitivity, nocturia, and improves quality of life in 90% of users.
“I think it's time. I think we've been discussing bladder health and trying to increase bladder awareness and I think part of it is the aging population. The Baby Boomers aren't prepared to put up with poor bladder control any longer,” explained Seipel.
Bladder issues aren’t limited to the aging population. Another common problem is urinary tract infections. Seipel Group recently initiated a clinical research trial as follow up to a successful year-long pilot study conducted on women exploring the benefits of Urox for recurrent UTI’s and chronic cystitis. So far, the research suggests that Urox reduced frequency, duration, and severity of infection.
Another group that Seipel is focused on is children. Seipel’s bedwetting study was recently published in Phytomedicine. In a placebo-controlled trial with potty-trained children who still wet the bed, Urox showed statistically significant improvement for occasional bedwetting.
Seipel said the research continues. “We've got more research with UTIs coming out and a few little surprises. I can't quite share it with you yet, but I'll let you know in the future,” hinted Seipel.
]]>Nocturnal enuresis or ‘bedwetting’ is a form of nighttime urinary incontinence occurring in younger children. Researchers point to several causes, from reduced bladder capacity, and/or an overactive bladder to genetics and even obstructive sleep apnea.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, 10% of children wet the bed. In an effort to help stop children from extended bedwetting and assist families through a successful potty-training period, Seipel Group took their Urox formulation and created a dose for children. The children’s version, called Bedtime Buddy, was the subject of a study recently published Phytomedicine. This year, Urox won NutraIngredients' Botanical of The Year award.
The randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of Urox (Bedtime Buddy) against placebo for the treatment of nocturnal enuresis in children aged 6–14 years old over an eight week period. Forty one children completed the trial with an attrition rate of 16%. There were more males (64%) compared to females (35%) and the mean age was 8.6 years.
The participants were randomized via computerised random-number generation at study enrollment to receive one or two oral capsules in the morning of either Urox (Bedtime Buddy) or placebo. Each capsule contains 420 mg of a proprietary blend of Cratevox (Crataeva nurvala L.; Capparidaceae; Varuna) stem bark extract standardized for 1.5% lupeol: non-standardized Equisetum arvense L. (Equisetaceae; Horsetail) stem
]]>“One of the leading Australian women's magazines looked at the top five health concerns for Australians. You knew it would be heart disease, osteoporosis, weight control, but in number three was urinary incontinence. And that was the first time I really became aware of what an issue it was for many women,” explained Dr. Tracey Seipel, an award winning natural product formulator, naturopathic doctor, medical herbalist, and clinical nutritionist.
As a formulator in Australia for nutraceutical companies in Australia, Siepel took that health concern in the third spot and developed Urox.
“I must have pitched the bladder control incontinence formula to four different companies and contract manufacturers and nobody was interested. Nobody really wanted to talk about it. They thought it was embarrassing and it just affected older women and nobody really wanted to discuss it," explained Seipel.
Knowing she had something special, Seipel took the situation into her own hands.
“I thought well, how can this be? I'd always been quite an entrepreneur. I'll just do it myself, you know, start a company, research and development company, and launch the formula, which I actually did in Australia in 1999.”
Today, Urox is available in 13 different countries, the US being her biggest market.
“But really in hindsight that's part and parcel of being first to market, having a very new idea, I think by the time you do get to market, you've had to overcome a lot of obstacles in the process.”
Seipel said that initially she was focused on women. However, over time she realized it’s a problem that affects just about everyone.
“It's not just women, it's women post-pregnancy, it's women after menopause, but it's men as well, like with prostate health, or with lower urinary tract symptoms. So there's this whole paradigm shift that really needs to happen with men as well.”
]]>The Seipel Group Pty Ltd., Brisbane, Australia, has been granted U.S. Patent No. 9,452,191 for Herbal compositions for the prevention or treatment of urinary incontinence and overactive bladder.
Seipel Group has registered the U.S. trademark Urox® for the formula, a proprietary blend of Lindera aggregata, Equisetum arvense and Cratevox (Crateva nurvala), which is sold by several U.S. supplement companies under their own brands.
Developed by Tracey Seipel, N.D., a Naturopathic clinician and herbalist who has been combining traditional and scientific theories to develop treatment strategies and formulations since 1987, the Urox® formula was developed through years of research into the prevalence and impact of bladder control issues for both men and women, which affects up to 50 million Americans.
One of the studies on the formula was the subject of a poster presentation at the 17th International Conference of the Functional Food Center in the Functional and medical foods with bioactive compounds for the management of chronic diseases session: The effect of Urox® (Crateva, Horsetail and Lindera herbal combination) in the treatment of overactive bladder and urinary incontinence: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in men and women.The investigation clearly demonstrated both statistical significance and clinical relevance in relation to Urox® reducing bladder symptoms such as urinary frequency, urinary urgency, nocturia and urinary incontinence in as little as two weeks.
The Queensland, Australia State Government saw that Seipel’s work could potentially change the face of aging given that urinary incontinence is one of the leading causes for the elderly being admitted to nursing care. They funded a 120-participant randomized controlled trial on Seipel’s earlier formula in 2004-2006. The research was conducted in the U.S. at Sphera Research Institute, headed up by Dr. Gene Spiller. Seipel has since revised the formula to show benefits in a shorter time period, which is the patented formula.
Nutraceuticals World, November 2, 2016.
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