Don Incognito

"Fold on top of the bead"? How does that work?

How do you get it in? I've tried with a similar catheter and couldn't get it in at all.

Yes, and yes. I had tied off the end with a zip tie (cut off just past the inflator, with the tied-off end left to hang out) - he balloon was the same size when it slipped out as when I put it in. And when I was putting it in, I could feel the balloon getting past the bladder neck as I was getting it in (which took some coaxing) before urine came out, and afterwards I could feel some resistance as I very gently tugged on the catheter. If all else fails, one option I was considering was to stick it in and inflate the balloon like a normal Foley catheter, then tie it off and cut off the inflator. The part that's hanging out shouldn't be too much worse than a retrieval line and O-ring, and if I'm traveling I could bring along a set of toenail clippers to cut off the zip tie and remove the thing if need be.

What's this about ccs? I had inflated the balloon to 10mm in diameter and I did in fact get it in all the way (with some difficulty). My problem is that 10mm appears to be the largest size I can get in, but it's not enough to ensure that it stays in.

The idea with the Foley catheters was to ultimately make one of these: ...which requires that the balloon be inflated before insertion.

Sure feels that way. I had tried inflating the balloon of a 18fr Foley catheter to 10mm (trying to do something like what you quoted from DlNord78 on page 1), and it immediately slipped out. I tried again inflating the balloon to 12mm, and it wouldn't go in. I tried again with a 14fr catheter inflating the balloon to 10mm, and it stayed in for a while, but also slipped out. I've obtained some 18fr silicone Malecot catheters and tried putting one in, but it was too painful to be usable (even with all the lube I could put on it). Any ideas on what else I could try? Thank you.

Well, the article also mentioned NorthShore.

That and the idea of Depends making something absorbent enough to last 12 hours. Though in my experience, there is kind of a valid point here - quite often I've been to county fairs and carnivals with porta-potties with either only hand sanitizer to wash your hands, or nothing. There's one place where wearing a diaper would be an advantage, at least as long as you don't have to do #2.

By my estimate of how far I can get the thing in, I'm pretty sure it's stopping at the bladder neck. That sounds like it may be the issue, and it's always been quite a challenge for me. Any advice there?

I suppose one might casually suggest looking online to see if there exist higher quality diapers than what one can buy at the local pharmacy (as is the case for so many other consumer goods).

I tried that as best I could, but it wouldn't go in.

No, at least up to 18fr. And I am using lube. Do you think getting comfortable with larger catheters could help here? I've also tried inflating a Foley catheter balloon to 10mm, and that went in all right, but it just slipped back out. What would one do about that? My pusher is a length of silicone airline tube with the end folded in. I have folded in the ends, and I'm using 15lb fishing line for retrieval.

I tried making a stent based on UsuallyDiapered's design, with the spacing based on having measured myself with a catheter. It wouldn't go in properly, even with a pusher and lube. I also tried the design exhibited earlier with the 9mm silicone beads and airline tube, and that wouldn't go in either. Any idea what might be causing that problem? Thank you.

How do you insert it? I made one similar to yours, but I can't seem to get it in all the way.

How did you get the beads in? And what sort of tubing is that? Thank you.

What would one do about that?

I think I got my (C-frame) stent nearly right - last time I put it in, it worked properly for a while (plus I didn't feel much of anything), then slipped out (just enough to stop the flow). Is this just a function of the angle of the top bend, or could it also be the length?

"Lower bend is hitting the urethra wall"? What would one do about that? Does that involve the length of the bottom bend or the angle?

The problem here is that relatively little has been written about this topic, so ChatGPT wouldn't have much to work with. From what I've heard on Fetlife, you actually need about a 26-30fr catheter to stretch your sphincters to the point of true incontinence.

What if you were to get PVC tubing that just fits over the stent tubing, cut off a short piece, and smooth off the corners with a flame/soldering iron? That sounds like it might be easier than drilling a hole in a spherical object only 2mm smaller than the thing you're drilling. Or, how about silicone O-rings? Seems like you could stack a few of them together and glue them in place. Think that would work?

Well, that or find the doctor who's doing this in India for even less.

I don't suppose the lack of any rigid parts would give you more leeway with the length? Also, even a small tube of aquarium glue should be good for more than just one stent. Wouldn't you need a roughly 6mm tube to start with, to fit securely in the urethra? At any rate, if the bead diameter is only 2mm bigger than the tube, you're going to have a tough time drilling it properly (plus you may as well just sew on an O-ring).

Seems like it'd be a simple matter to thread some fishing line through the holes in the bottom mushroom head and tie it off. And I've also been thinking that it could be possible to take two mushroom head catheters of equal size, and join them using a length of silicone tube that just fits either inside or outside.

I just received the mushroom head catheters I had ordered (which look very similar to that), and it seems they won't collapse enough to safely insert (even sticking a stiff plastic rod through one). It seems I'll have to go with the 4-wing version (referred to as "malecot"), which appear to be even harder to find in the proper size.

I just ordered some from a company called Medical Mega, but they're in the US: https://medicalmega.com/ Edit: Looks like there's another company called Serfinity Medical which may have some: https://serfinitymedical.com/ The big challenge for me was sifting through companies which require a prescription to find ones that I could actually order from (and had the proper size in stock). It appears silicone ones exist, but most of the listings I see are crazy expensive. And do you think there would be any special considerations with attaching a retrieval line to a latex catheter? I was thinking about tying the line to a length of spray bottle tubing as usual, but tying off and capping the end of the catheter and putting a hole in the side (like the "holey Foley" thing). Also, using an O-ring to prevent inward migration. What do you think of that?