FDA Warns Bed Wetting Drug May Cause Seizures

Chrissie Cole

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The FDA warns patients and physicians that desmopressin, a drug used to control bed-wetting in children, can increase the risk of seizures and death.

The FDA has received 61 reports of seizures - including two fatalities - amongst patients taking desmopressin.

Desmopressin is used to lower the amount of water eliminated in urine. In some cases the drug lowered the amount of sodium in the patient's blood to dangerously low levels creating an imbalance known as hyponatremia, which likely caused the seizures, according to the FDA.

It is unclear why the patients who suffered seizures were taking desmopressin, which is used to treat other various conditions in addition to bed-wetting.

Among the 25 patients younger than 17 who had seizures while taking desmopressin nasal spray (intranasal desmopressin), bed-wetting was the most common reason.

Children taking intranasal desmopressin to treat bed-wetting are "particularly susceptible to severe hyponatremia and seizures," states the FDA.