When teenager Seb Cheer started university this year there was one extra thing he had to plan for without medication he risks wetting the bed.
Mr Cheer, 18, from Cardiff took medication until last year to control his overactive bladder and still takes it when he's not at home. His condition means his bladder muscle contracts spontaneously and without his control leading to a sudden urge to go to the toilet. Although the problem is manageable at home and he is beginning to cope without medicine, Mr Cheer says finding the toilet is the first thing he has to do when he goes somewhere new. He has suffered from an overactive bladder for his whole life, wearing nappies until he was seven, but says he is confident at dealing with it and was not bullied as a child. Mr Cheer, a student at Leeds University, is sharing his story in the hope other young people with the condition will be encouraged to be open about it.
Mr Cheer, 18, from Cardiff took medication until last year to control his overactive bladder and still takes it when he's not at home. His condition means his bladder muscle contracts spontaneously and without his control leading to a sudden urge to go to the toilet. Although the problem is manageable at home and he is beginning to cope without medicine, Mr Cheer says finding the toilet is the first thing he has to do when he goes somewhere new. He has suffered from an overactive bladder for his whole life, wearing nappies until he was seven, but says he is confident at dealing with it and was not bullied as a child. Mr Cheer, a student at Leeds University, is sharing his story in the hope other young people with the condition will be encouraged to be open about it.
Mr Cheer's case is not unique an estimated one in 10 school-aged children wet the bed and, according to Bladder Health UK, one in six adults have symptoms of it. 'Without my tablets, I'm taking a risk that I'll wet the bed,' the first year Leeds University student says. 'I can take that risk at home because my bed is fitted with special absorbent sheets. I can't take that risk if I'm staying with friends or if I'm camping.' And even with the medication Mr Cheer has to navigate the dosage, which means he cannot drink for an hour before taking it or eight hours after timing which doesn't always work well with university social life. But Mr Cheer's overactive bladder does not just affect him during the night. The journalism student also has to avoid wetting himself during the day something he says was harder at school than it is at the university. At university, there are fewer classes and he doesn't have to ask permission to go to the toilet like he did at school at Bishop of Llandaff High in Cardiff. But he still needs to know where the nearest toilet is at all times. Mr Cheer's mother, Brenda, agrees: 'Wetting isn't seen by society as a medical condition, it's just something everyone does as a toddler and then they grow out of it. 'But for many, it's a symptom of a bladder or bowel condition which needs treating.' A Parliamentary report It Happens To Me Too published in March this year, confirms what Brenda says, showing one in four people believe that bladder and bowel problems only affect the elderly. Mr Cheer's sister Alice, 20, is doing a charity skydive on July 7 to raise money for ERIC but says it is not an easy condition to raise money for because of the stigma. To donate to Alice's fundraising visit her Just Giving page.