Close To Incontinence With A Catheter

[Spargano]

@Loveable_guyi ordered the catheter you recommended and was pleasantly surprised to find they come in a ten pack. I ordered two and now I have twenty which is great because I want to really work on familiarity with catheters before/if I  move on to working on a stent.

 

for those who can remember, how long does it take for you to not constantly feel the catheter in your urethra and feeling uncomfortable? A week? A month? In other words, for your body to be used to the presence of the catheter and not treating it like a foreign invader?

[Loveable_guy]

When you first insert a cath it maybe a day or few days. A lot depends on you and how accepting your body is to the foreign object. Like most things the more you do it the easier it becomes. Good luck be sure to let us know how things go for you. 

[Old_PA]

Use plenty of sterile lube.

[Spargano]

Obviously I understand the allure of feeling the urine drain out of the bladder, but the feeling of the diaper getting warmer and fuller is a novel and fun experience. I just look forward to the time when every movement of the catheter doesn’t cause soreness. 
 

i also look forward to, I am not sure if it is the prostate or the bladder sphincter, where it doesn’t hurt as the catheter moves passed that point and urine flows out of the catheter.

i am drinking a lot and taking cranberry pills to keep the environment healthier. I plan on changing every so many hours and changing the catheter every 3-4 days. 
 

sleeping is where I am truly looking forward to seeing results.

edit 5 hours later.

well, I guess I won’t be following that plan of schedule. My bladder spasms got to be too painful, plus I noticed a pinkish tinge to my urine. I realize some bleeding due to urethral irritation is normal but I didn’t want to risk it. I also felt a lot of pinching in my prostate area as the catheter was removed. 
 

So I figure one of three things is happening:

1: 18 fr is too big and I need to go down several sizes.

2: even though my PSA numbers aren’t elevated I might have an enlarged prostate or a stricture that is narrowing that section so much that catheters or stents are an impossibility.

3: my fear/pain-threshold is too high/low and I am not giving it enough time.

 

 

[Loveable_guy]

If this was your first time the results are expected. The pink tinge is not necessary a good sign. You may have scratched the urethra lining some. No worries it will heal quickly. Suggest you lay low a few days before trying again. As for the discomfort I thinks its normal for the first few times. Careful when reducing the catheter size too much, For an adult a 14FR is normally the smallest, If you go smaller and a 12FR will work your urine will leak around the catheter, the cath will also move around a lot more.

[Spargano]

9 hours ago, Loveable_guy said:

If this was your first time the results are expected. The pink tinge is not necessary a good sign. You may have scratched the urethra lining some. No worries it will heal quickly. Suggest you lay low a few days before trying again. As for the discomfort I thinks its normal for the first few times. Careful when reducing the catheter size too much, For an adult a 14FR is normally the smallest, If you go smaller and a 12FR will work your urine will leak around the catheter, the cath will also move around a lot more.

I wish I understood the balance of size to know what is the right size versus too big or too small, especially if irritation is going to be going on regardless. I do think 18 is too big at the prostate. But as you said, too small and it will move around more and cause more irritation. 
 

the other question I have is moving around and activities. What is ok versus not ok. 

[Old_PA]

14Fr works best for me. Usually I have zero discomfort.  Activities may caus bleeding. See what works for you.

[Loveable_guy]

I started out using a 12FR first, then 14FR, 16 and now a days the 18FR fits nicely for me. I have some 20FR that I'll grown into soon I guess.  As for activities some folks seam to have no limits while others may have some issues. When I'm using my stent I'm normally laying around enjoying what is happening down there. I have gone out shopping or short runs to the store.

[Spargano]

@Old_PA @Loveable_guy thank you both! I hope to one day be able to go for runs despite the catheter. I had read on medical sites that that is possible provided it’s not pulling in the catheter. I noticed the pink hue after taking a long walk with my son and dog. I wasn’t walking briskly, relatively slowly in fact. It could be the walk irritated things, and it could also be the trauma of insertion being too tight.

 

i will order a box of 14fr and see if that makes a difference.

[Loveable_guy]

Spargano I hope you have better luck with the 14FR. I have been wearing my 18FR since 6AM today and its been great. I exercised this morning on my elliptical bike, no issues at all  No spasms and no discomfort at  all. Just a lot of uncontrollable dripping.  I was napping for an hour and half after lunch. before I had  change in to a fresh diaper. When I woke it was totally soaked front to back.

[Spargano]

So the 14fr came in and , oh my goodness, what a noticeable difference. It went in SO much easier and while there was still a pinch at the prostate and internal sphincter, it was not as severe. Most notably, no pink tinged initial urine coming out. While I am aware it is in, it doesn’t have that same overly full and pulling feel of the 18.

 

its only been in 30 minutes and it was 6 hours before the 18 became unbearable so I will update after that length of time to see if my body again decides it wants to expel the catheter through painful bladder spasms.

So the 14fr came in and , oh my goodness, what a noticeable difference. It went in SO much easier and while there was still a pinch at the prostate and internal sphincter, it was not as severe. Most notably, no pink tinged initial urine coming out. While I am aware it is in, it doesn’t have that same overly full and pulling feel of the 18.

 

its only been in 30 minutes and it was 6 hours before the 18 became unbearable so I will update after that length of time to see if my body again decides it wants to expel the catheter through painful bladder spasms.

 

One question I have since there is a snaking tube in the diaper. What’s the best way to position the penis and cord? Is the penis pointing down with the cord looping up and down into the front of the diaper ok? I can see why stents are preferable since you don’t have to deal with the extra material.

[Loveable_guy]

On 7/17/2024 at 2:15 PM, Spargano said:

One question I have since there is a snaking tube in the diaper. What’s the best way to position the penis and cord? Is the penis pointing down with the cord looping up and down into the front of the diaper ok? I can see why stents are preferable since you don’t have to deal with the extra material.

 

There should be nothing in your diaper other the O Ring that slides over your penis. The pusher tube that you use to place the stent is removed after the stent is placed. Generally I will give the pusher tube an easy twist to dislodge it from the stent. Then slid the pusher tube out and diaper up.  This way the track to your bladder is constantly flowing out,  flushing or preventing any of those nasty germs that may grow in a warm wet environment from getting upstream.

Yes generally pointing down and towards the rear works out best for me. This way when sleeping on my back I get to fill up the rear of the diaper too. Its a great feeling of accomplishment when totally soaking front to back. Not a dry spot anywhere.  I hate to waste things.... :~)

 

[Hannah YMS]

On 7/13/2024 at 8:19 PM, Spargano said:

for those who can remember, how long does it take for you to not constantly feel the catheter in your urethra and feeling uncomfortable? A week? A month? In other words, for your body to be used to the presence of the catheter and not treating it like a foreign invader?

In my 16+ years of catheter/stent play, I have never had an experience where I was 100% comfortable with a catheter or stent.

On 7/14/2024 at 4:08 PM, Spargano said:

i am drinking a lot and taking cranberry pills to keep the environment healthier.

My experience is with pure cranberry pills, you'd have to be taking way more than what is recommended on the bottle to simulate any cranberry juice-like effects.

I've actually found that drinking 100% pure cranberry juice (about a 16 oz glass, daily) is more than enough to blow cranberry pills out the water. And it does a good job at helping urinary health, at least from my perspective.

[Spargano]

Realizing that I will never get a stent through my prostate, I am trying a method I saw in a video once. I am inserting the 14fr catheter, filling it with water and then, once my penis has become flacid enough, pushing the penis down to expose the catheter before clamping it with medical clamp. I then inserted into the fill tube a one inch rod as @Loveable_guy suggested for his stent, sewed a retrieval line with fishing line and then threaded that through a cap with a hole in it before releasing the clamp and pushing the modified catheter back into the urethra.

 

i am going to look for two issue.

one, is the rod insufficient to stop the bubble from leaking out and thus the catheter will slip out.

 

and two, did I cut the catheter too long so that the catheter slips out during shrinkage.

edit: issue 1 transpired. The balloon deflated and worked its way out of the bladder. I will need to figure out an alternative method to plug the hole, but still allow for deflation when I want to remove it. I wonder if quick drying glue applied to the hole would seal it or a hot glue gun.

 

edit 2: rereading the thread I see glue is a bad idea, but I did see an method from @InD to use trimmer line. I will give that a try next time.

 

 

[Loveable_guy]

Spargano; A section of line from a lawn and garden trimmer is a good idea. You can cut a short section then using a drill to spin the line taper the OD to fit the ID of the fill line. Beware the line is tough and it takes while to reduce the OD size.

For my stent making the idea length is 5.5" stem to stern.  Luckily I have no issues pushing a stent in place with the pusher tube. The pusher is then removed once the stent enters the bladder.

What scares me now,,, is how much I enjoy the loss of control.

[Spargano]

So i had both issues and fixed them with the trimmer line. Now my only issue that I have discovered are….

running irritated the bladder and caused trace bleeding, now I have to find out if this means I can not run with the modified cath or if it just needs time to get used to it.

 

that being said, the string is probably the most uncomfortable thing. I hope that it will eventually fade away. I can’t feel the catheter really once it was swallowed by the urethra. I took some advil with the hope it will decrease the discomfort.

 

plus side, is I am dribbling slowly but steadily.

[Loveable_guy]

Its a learning process. For me being bothered by the retrieval has slowly gone away. The line I'm using is a 10LB test braided fishing line. Found it a wall-mart in the hunting and fishing isle. Its about the size of a thread that you would sew a button on with but much stronger. I have used this stuff to sew a patch on a window screen. Holds up to the sun and the weather too. Hey, now I can sun myself,,LOL.

[Spargano]

42 minutes ago, Loveable_guy said:

Its a learning process. For me being bothered by the retrieval has slowly gone away. The line I'm using is a 10LB test braided fishing line. Found it a wall-mart in the hunting and fishing isle. Its about the size of a thread that you would sew a button on with but much stronger. I have used this stuff to sew a patch on a window screen. Holds up to the sun and the weather too. Hey, now I can sun myself,,LOL.

That’s what I am using. You’re right. It is incredible strong and slender. It’s irritating in every movement though and stings. I am trying to figure out the least annoying spot of the 1 inch ring to rest so that it stops tugging on the line when I walk or sit. 

[Old_PA]

Maybe it is not the retrieval line that is annoying you but some irritation along the urethra from the stent that is 'referred' to the tip. 

[cathdiap]

6 minutes ago, Old_PA said:

Maybe it is not the retrieval line that is annoying you but some irritation along the urethra from the stent that is 'referred' to the tip. 

I think so too. If the end of the catheter rests in the urethra past the bulbous area than it may cause irritation that feels like it is in the tip of the penis. 

That is another reason why I started making my own stents that end in the bulbous part. 

[Loveable_guy]

13 hours ago, Spargano said:

That’s what I am using. You’re right. It is incredible strong and slender. It’s irritating in every movement though and stings. I am trying to figure out the least annoying spot of the 1 inch ring to rest so that it stops tugging on the line when I walk or sit. 

When you are soft the line should have a few inches of slack, or enough to accommodate and erection without pulling on the stent. You can let the O Ring hang but I flip in over the head of my penis so its out of the way. If you saw me getting out of the shower you would not know I had anything there as the ring is thin enough to hide in fore skin.

If it really bothers you try some Oral-Jell that is used for tooth pain.

[Spargano]

8 hours ago, cathdiap said:

I think so too. If the end of the catheter rests in the urethra past the bulbous area than it may cause irritation that feels like it is in the tip of the penis. 

That is another reason why I started making my own stents that end in the bulbous part. 

If that’s the case, I might be stuck. I can barely get the 14fr into the bladder unfilled. The only way I can is by slowly pushing the catheter and by virtue of the entire length as one unit pushing behind it, it gradually clears the gates. There’s no way I can pre-inflate the catheter prior to insertion like @Loveable_guy and without any filling the catheter/stent will just slip out…

[Spargano]

On 7/27/2024 at 12:43 AM, cathdiap said:

I think so too. If the end of the catheter rests in the urethra past the bulbous area than it may cause irritation that feels like it is in the tip of the penis. 

That is another reason why I started making my own stents that end in the bulbous part. 

If that’s the case, I might be stuck. I can barely get the 14fr into the bladder unfilled. The only way I can is by slowly pushing the catheter and by virtue of the entire length as one unit pushing behind it, it gradually clears the gates. There’s no way I can pre-inflate the catheter prior to insertion like @Loveable_guy and without any filling the catheter/stent will just slip out…

 

UPDATE:

So I finally, FINALLY got a stent in. I ordered plastics pipes in 3mm. - 5mm and slipped it into a 5.5 inch catheter. I tried using a pushing tube but it wasn’t working

i ended up getting in place by feeling it by hand and pushing from the outside. It finally cleared the prostate but I wasn’t sure if it was in place until urine sputtered out. Now it’s in place. I can’t say it’s terribly comfortable but not a bad feeling. Urine is coming out in gushes. It could be there is a kink in the plastic tube that is causing the gushes as opposed to stead drip.

 

still as a first attempt I am relatively pleased. The key was getting the materials slender enough for my anatomy.

So I finally, FINALLY got a stent in. I ordered plastics pipes in 3mm. - 5mm and slipped it into a 5.5 inch catheter. I tried using a pushing tube but it wasn’t working

i ended up getting in place by feeling it by hand and pushing from the outside. It finally cleared the prostate but I wasn’t sure if it was in place until urine sputtered out. Now it’s in place. I can’t say it’s terribly comfortable but not a bad feeling. Urine is coming out in gushes. It could be there is a kink in the plastic tube that is causing the gushes as opposed to stead drip.

 

still as a first attempt I am relatively pleased. The key was getting the materials slender enough for my anatomy. The next attempts will likely be trying firmer materials in the same sizes. I assume @cathdiap the reason you use tubing instead of the shell of a catheter is it is less material in the actual bladder, leading to a more comfortable fit.

[Loveable_guy]

Quote

Congrads, welcome to the wet set. Enjoy !!

 

[Spargano]

update 3: I tried @Loveable_guy’s model, but I failed as the balloon deflated and it drifted out. But, even so, it lasted a good 5 hours and worked as intended.
 

How do you insert the lube in the catheter balloon? Whenever I try, the balloon is filled but deflates as soon  as the catheter is cut due to it not actually being lube filling the balloon but air pushed into the chamber.

 

Original post: Because it was pinching whenever I would sit, I think my first model was too long, causing it to poke the the urethra instead of sitting properly. I am going to try a shorter section this time.

Update 1: the plastic pipes are too brittle and lose their shape. The sharp bend on the retrieval side flattened out. I will say, once properly inserted it felt great. To the point that I wondered if it was there. But without that bend, I am sure it will migrate. I am going to leave it in as long as possible. It has the retrieval line so I am not too worried.

this is just another world though compared to the catheter. No pain, and barely any pressure to say that it’s there. I can see why this is addictive when done safely.

 

update2: well it drifted. I felt my bladder fill and urinate a large stream. I was worried it drifted into the bladder, but no, it slid down the urethra and my urination went around the catheter. I could have reset it, but it will likely just do it again, so I removed it. Back to the drawing board.