What is Pollakiuria Anyway?

My daughter has lost her mind.

Seriously, this is not a joke.  I have the doctor's visit to prove it.

A few days ago, Caelyn started feeling the need to go to the bathroom an incredible amount of times a day.  Many of these trips produced little or no results.  As we have taught her to wash her hands after going to the bathroom, she has been washing her hands much more than usual. 

This has led to her obsessing about whether or not they are dirty and washing her hands for no apparent reason.  In addition, she has become more punchy and volatile than usual.  The slightest thing can suddenly set her off into hysterics.

As she has always been a bit volatile, it was the frequent bathroom trips that started to worry us.  Over the weekend she would sometimes go to the bathroom three or four times in an hour or spend fifteen minutes on the toilet trying to "get the pee to come out."

We thought there might be an infection of some kind.  Monday morning I called the doctor and set up an appointment.  Caelyn and I explained to him what was going on.  After an examination, it was determined that there is very little chance anything is physically wrong.  A urinalysis was ordered just to make sure but the diagnosis was Pollakiuria (where do they get these names?) or Frequent Daytime Urination Syndrome.  I'd never heard of it either.

It's cause is emotional stress.  Hence, our daughter has lost her mind.  I have no doubt she will get it back. This condition though, can last anywhere from a week to several months.  It is going to be one bumpy ride.

While it is hard to know the trigger for certain, it is our belief that this has been a direct result of the end of preschool.  Caelyn is a tough kid.  She can take a hit as well as any larger child but she is also emotional.  She was very attached to her teachers and her classmates.  Suddenly, that has been removed.  It has been tough on her.  Her doctor also believes that this would be more than enough to bring on this condition.

Every parent has heard the dreaded, "I have to go to the bathroom" coming from their child.  It is usually followed by the parent asking if the child can hold it or why didn't they go before they left.  When this condition first started to express itself, Kerry and I handled it with the usual amount of exasperation one would expect when your child repeatedly says they have to go and then doesn't.

This, it turns out, was the exact wrong thing to do.  It only makes Caelyn more conscious of the condition. This adds to her stress level which causes the condition to worsen.  It's a cycle that has to be broken if we don't want to spend the next few months visiting every toilet in the tri-state area.

The primary way to lessen and end the condition is to find ways to calm and relax your child.  The most important thing we can do is remain calm and not draw any special to these frequent bathroom trips.  No matter how time consuming or annoying, if we make her self conscious of it, it will make it worse.

Basically, if we act as if nothing is wrong and reassure her that everything is OK, she will begin to believe it and the problem will go away.

Here's hoping it will go away quickly.

(On a side note, we have friends who are really struggling with issues in their families.  They make me feel like a wimp for even writing the above.  Even if we are dealing with this in it's worst case scenario, we are still extremely blessed.)