Physiotherapist for urinary frequency?

Is the recommendation to see a physiotherapist for urinary frequency in a child with ME helpful, if there is no infection/inflammatory markers?

 

Has the child been checked for urinary problems, e.g. quantity?

 

I'd also want to exclude the possibility of autonomic problems like POTS if not done so already, as that can have quite an impact on thirst & urinary frequency from several angles.

 

Has the child been checked for diabetes?

 

@Lidia, as you said 'physiotherapist' and not 'physical therapist' - are you from Germany? Friends of mine found help for their son in Hamburg at a department for pediatric urology.
There are so many more things to rule out than just infection!!!

 

Thank you for the suggestions, the GP just suggested a physiotherapist when two urine tests came back clear, she didn’t run any other tests.

We see the respiratory specialist tomorrow and I will raise with him. I guess that is why I asked really, so that I might have some idea of other things it could be, if not a muscle problem.

 

Hi @Lisa108, I am in Australia and we have physiotherapists, or “physios” as we call them. But usually they are for muscular and sports injuries, as far as I know. I have never heard of one for urinary frequency.

 

101 possible causes but just to give you the benefit of my experience: Increased urinary frequency is a well recognised symptom in POTS - if I am on my feet more I will pee more, especially towards the end of the day & in the night (despite not changing consumption of fluids).

It got a lot worse for me when I seemingly lost normal blood glucose control, my thirst/urination went mad, with 6-7L per day produced in 24hr collections. Thankfully back to ~3L a day once a very low carbohydrate diet resolved the blood glucose issues. No diabetes present so presumably autonomic/gastric dysmotility to blame.

I appreciate you haven't mentioned a POTS diagnosis but it is often missed and present in ~40% of ME/CFS patients, depending on which research you read.

 

I’m in Australia. Physiotherapists can help with bladder control issues. They help with exercises to improve pelvic floor muscles. Bladder control issues are common in older people, post certain surgeries and post pregnancy. Not sure about children.

I would be inclined to ask for more testing to rule out other conditions.

 

As Andypandy said, as a physiotherapist you'd be able to help with strengthening the pelvic floor and improving the sensory perception (which would be helpful in case of enuresis).

If enuresis is not the problem, but increased urinary frequency, this has to be checked further, as there are so many other possible causes (like Trish, MeSci, Ryan31337 and AndyPandy already said...).

Good luck to you to find the right specialist. I hope s/he will write a letter to inform your GP about this...

(Just an aside: do you know what the urine tests were able to detect? It's not always e.coli... Viruses, Candida, Schistosomiasis, etc...)