coder_01

North Shore accepts HSA payments when ordering directly from them. Together with their 5% discount on auto-shipping you can save a lot of money this way if needing to wear 24/7.

I think the failsafe is the insertion/removal too, but can't be certain. It sounds like the mechanical connection that allows it to be anchored/removed also allows urine to bypass.

I haven't found anything suggesting it has any kind of 'open-on-fail' feature. It likely doesn't need one given the way the catheter is inserted and removed. The device is opened/closed with the application of an external magnetic field, so there's no power on the catheter itself... and it does appear to be able to be trivially opened and left opened. About several months ago I posted about the urodev device here - In that same thread a similar product (a stent instead of a catheter) was mentioned. (https://www.reliefsrl.com/) It's also quite interesting, but certainly less convenient for most.

I inquired recently and they're still in limited testing/study. Public availability is expected in 2023.

Bambino's deserve recognition and respect for basically being the first AB-focused disposable diaper to market. They've largely been chasing other companies for the last few years though. Personally, I was disappointed they had neglected their Bianco line for so long when I was last ordering through them (several years ago now). There's really no design variation on their existing shell that would bring me back at this point. It would require something significantly different from them to grab my attention, like a superior take on what Super Dry Kids attempts to be in the form of a Bambino product, or one-upping Northshore Max on thickness/absorbency as the Trest line has done.

Yeah, that's sort of the key. I mentioned a different 'smart' catheter that can do precisely that... and this stent looks similar, only it's designed to not need regular replacement. Essentially, for both you use an externally applied magnetic field to open or close it. There doesn't appear to be a mechanical reason why you couldn't just leave it open though. It also seems like something that a medical professional would be far more likely to approve, given that it's wholly reversible.

@Ferix Have you considered trying to get approval for something like this: https://www.reliefsrl.com/ With the understanding that it would be left 'always open' as an alternative to or stepping stone toward achieving your end goal, given the resistance you've faced in pursuit of more permanent surgical methods?

I went a year and a half 'untraining' and never got to the point of being bladder incontinent. It became very easy to go, to the point where on a few occasions I started going before I realized I even needed to, but after a year and a half of constant diaper wearing and deliberate 'untraining' I was no less continent than before I had started. When I did abruptly stop wearing after that year and a half, I had to go to the bathroom a bit more frequently than before at first, but that was it - and even that faded back to 'normal' within a week or so.

Looking more at the mechanism in this one vs the 'connected catheter', it seems like a variation on a solenoid valve. The valve is normally shut, with a spring pushing a weight against the opening as the default closed position, and then an externally applied magnetic field pushing the weight against the spring and into the open position. If so, it explains how the valve would have a threshold for release - anytime the bladder pressure on the weight exceeds the force exerted by the spring it would leak. Unfortunately, it also implies that the state can't be toggled between open and closed so much as it defaults to closed and can be opened for the duration that an external magnetic field is applied. It does make one wonder what the likelihood is of the spring wearing out over time though. Edit: For the sake of contrast, the 'connected catheter' device is relying on the rotation of a tiny magnet when within a sufficiently strong external magnetic field to rotate an attached threaded Titanium shaft to open and close it's valve. The direction of the magnetic field controls how strongly it rotates in one direction or the other, so by reversing the current in an electromagnet with the 'open' and 'close' buttons of their tool they rotate the shaft to open or close the valve accordingly. Outside of a magnetic field there wouldn't be any rotation at all though, so the valve would remain in its current state (open or closed) until another magnetic field is introduced. It's not clear to me that they have any kind of overflow mechanism though.

Both the linked catheter and stent have the advantage of being able to be 'opened' or 'closed' by a wireless external device. Either could be left open and then be virtually identical to the more adventurous and less sanitary homemade stents people have talked about in these forums. Neither has to be left open of course, and they're not intended to be. The obvious advantage of the linked catheter over the linked stent is that it can be self inserted and removed. Also, the catheter is being presented as a common replacement for traditional catheters, with a selling point being only needing one per week instead of multiple per day. This should mean ready availability assuming the product passes its investigational phase successfully. Both wireless devices used to control opening/closing in these products are magnetic. The stent appears to simply open or close based on the flipping of magnetic poles. Presumably the catheter mechanism is similar in nature. Aside from the obvious possible use of a more powerful magnet to open/close the catheter from further away (and through a worn diaper), there's the real potential for something like a homemade programmable pocket electromagnet that could open and close the catheter periodically on it's own on semi-random, unpredictable intervals. Such a thing may sound very sci-fi to some, but it really wouldn't be that difficult to create.

I wasn't sure if this was better placed in 'Incontinence - Medial' or 'Incontinence - Desires', as I can see it belonging in both. In any case, I came across this today: https://www.healthcarepackaging.com/quick-hits/article/21307192/new-smart-catheter-helps-with-bladder-control by https://www.urodevmedical.com As the site points out, "The IntelliFlow™ System is currently an Investigational Device. Limited by Federal (United States) law to investigational use.". It's not publicly available yet, but looked potentially promising both for those dealing with bladder incontinence as well as those trying to emulate bladder incontinence.