ARMAND TROUSSEAU ON THE TREATMENT OF ENURESIS (c1850)

Abstract

Armand Trousseau (1801-1867), in his time considered the foremost clinician of the Hôtel-Dieu (the oldest hospital in Paris), made many significant advances in the treatment of diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, and rickets. In one of his clinical lectures at the Hôpital des Enfants-Malades, Trousseau gave the following suggestions for the treatment of enuresis. This infirmity [enuresis] I consider a neuralgia or névrose, and it is much more common than is generally believed. It has been thought nearly incurable, but with belladonna, is one of the most easily cured of all diseases. Those children who are troubled in the daytime are not cured by belladonna. A child going to bed with an empty bladder will pass his water during the first two hours, sometimes during the first hour; placed in bed at 9 o'clock, the bladder will throw off its contents at 10 o'clock, and then retain them until 8 o'clock the following morning, being full at that time. The accident generally happens once only during the night, but sometimes twice. During the first hours of sleep, you generally find in young men and children an erection. The question may be asked, whether something of the same kind may not take place in the bladder. This complaint is most common among young girls, and is generally cured spontaneously at the age of puberty; but when this is not the case, do what chance has shown to be efficacious. Treatment—The first precaution is to break up the bad habit of the organs. Wake the child at the end of an hour, and make him pass his water; after several days, make him at the end of an hour and a half. This is only accessory.