My experience with stents

[qwerty]

@Strangedude9990 It looks to me like the end that goes in your bladder is much too short. Try making it 2-2.5 cm longer and see if that improves things. 

[qwerty]

It's great to hear you've experienced your first significant success! Now it's just a matter of incrementally improving comfort and security until it can be worn as long as you like. 

Do keep us updated, and stay drippy!

[cathdiap]

It took me quite some time to get used to sleeping with a stent in. Maybe it was the excitement, but in the beginning I always woke up when I was wetting, and usually had a hard time falling back to sleep in a wet diaper. But over the years I got used to it. Nowadays I go to bed fall asleep easily and wake up rested but wet and most ot the times I really don't remember when it happened. 

Downside is that I now leak every three to four nights even when wearing plastic pants and the best diaper for the night.

But hey, who said incontinence was only fun? ?

[Loveable_guy]

On 8/5/2019 at 2:49 PM, cathdiap said:

Downside is that I now leak every three to four nights even when wearing plastic pants and the best diaper for the night.

But hey, who said incontinence was only fun? ?

Its been a while since I had the opportunity to sleep with my stent in place. I will agree with cathdiap when it comes to leaking while sleeping. During my stent playtime I will normally drink large amounts of fluids to keep flushing my bladder. What I learned the hard way was to cut back on the fluid intake a few hours before bed. Otherwise it was a 3AM wake up to a soaking wet bed. Good for some but not my thing. And the wife,,,, not impressed at all.

[dlnoir]

Well a stent can migrate it is as simple as that. In general the stent I use stays put nicely and for one reason or another it decides to migrate, it happens only once or twice per month. So far I couldn’t figure out why it happens, most of the time it is stable and if it does migrat it only happens at night while sleeping. As far as usage of a stent multiple factors come in play: how well does it work, how much hindrance does it give me, how easy is it to install, how easy is it to remove and if it does migrate how easy can the problem be resolved. Inward migration doesn’t hinder me a bit for a light tug on the retrieval line take care of it. For sure it would be better if it doesn’t migrate at all, but if the incidental migration is the only downside to all the positive factors that come into play I’ll take it. The incidental migration is not reason for me to look further and start experimenting again. I use my stent almost 24/7 as I like to feel incontinent. Especially waking up in a soaking wet diaper is heaven. Like Cathdaip already said incontinence is not only fun.

[cathdiap]

4 hours ago, dlnoir said:

In general the stent I use stays put nicely and for one reason or another it decides to migrate, it happens only once or twice per month. So far I couldn’t figure out why it happens

I found out that my stent tends to slip inside if I cross my legs and squeeze them together, just like girls do when they try to not pee in their pants. It makes sense because in that position the bottom end of the stent gets stuck between the thighs and will be pushed backwards/upwards driving it towards and sometimes beyond the outer sphincter. Now in bed you can create the same force on the stent if you lay (almost) on your side with one leg mostly stretched and the other leg pulled up to the waist. This tendency to migrate gets worse when the bladder is full. I found out that a full bladder tends to move a little upwards in the abdomen also pulling the stent a little further inside. 

I am still working on a stent that cannot migrate at all. Theoretically it should work but I am still thinking about a way to make it easy to insert and safe to retrieve.  If it works I will share the details with you guys. If I don't succeed... well no big deal.

[cathdiap]

On 7/30/2019 at 7:07 PM, Millerlite said:

I want to know if it hurts putting it in? I’ve never put anything in there before but would love to experience full incontinence

I have never experienced pain inserting the stent, but it is a very sensitive part of the body, so I can always feel it sliding in. I usually pee a little before I put the stent in. This helps a lot avoiding too much friction between the stent and the urethra. I can also feel the stent passing the outer sphincter. After that the stent will almost automatically slide in the right position and I can no longer detect it is there.

At the same time the pee starts coming out. I usually use this pee to rinse the stent and the urethra by clamping the tip of the penis while pressing a little. The urine then builds up in the urethra -also around the stent- flushing away germs that may have entered during insertion. After that I let the bladder empty itself in the toilet and put on a diaper.

 I work clean, but not sterile. I wash my hands, my private parts and the stent with antibacterial soap and rinse them very well before insertion. This whole procedure takes me less than 5 minutes.

Off course it is key that the stent is completely soft and smooth on the outside. And it is as important that the stent fits the urethra perfectly. Usually that's the hard part of stent play. But once I was there it has been nothing but fun and excitement.

[boyhood]

Hey you incontinent desiring tykes,

All of this new discussion has been making me want to live this dream again for the first time in 8 months. Thanks!

During the day, I often think of new engineering ideas for this and already have a couple new concepts in mind but will save the other one for another time.

As for now, I wanted to share that I came across this nifty long hollow ribbed sound that in several listings has a 5mm OD size-- putting it at about a 15Fr. The pictures don't show this smaller size but I'm assuming it is the same length as the 6mm one shown below (30cm):

Here's a good closeup of the end:

The main thing I was looking for was to eliminate the number of pieces, and actually shoot for a uni-body solution...

So something that: 1) is all one piece and 2) can keep itself in the bladder and 3) provide enough traction against the external sphincter to keep it from migrating upward.

I noticed only two adjustments would have to be made on the original sound to likely fulfill this criteria: 1) cut the length to the proper size and 2) cut the handle off about half way, right before the bend, ensuring that cut is smooth on the end.

That way it might - in theory - be able to be inserted backwards if the half-handle's silicone is able to bend either up or down for insertion or removal. I'm crossing my fingers that the handle's silicone is soft enough to bend comfortably but more importantly stable enough to not break off. I also have some 4mm ID end caps I could squeeze on if the cut at the base is too rough.

Below is a mockup of what I'm thinking. Using the info provided in the listing, I sized it up to a ruler next to one of my foley's I used a while back for measuring myself. The marker on the foley was added later... the first mark on the left signifies the start of the balloon, the 2nd mark is where I theorized my external sphincter to be, the 3rd mark shows where I put a couple holes in it for the cath trick discussed in the other thread, and the 4th mark is where my flaccid tip rests. The anatomy on the left is a good scientific illustration and an actual cadaver on the right with bladder & external sphincter highlighted. Put it all together and I should be able to make a decent mockup!:

Let me know your thoughts! I just ordered 2!

[cathdiap]

Hi Boyhood,

Don't you think that the advantage of a material that provides enough traction to prevent migration will at the same time be likely to cause irritation when using it for extended periods of time?

 

 

[boyhood]

7 minutes ago, cathdiap said:

Hi Boyhood,

Don't you think that the advantage of a material that provides enough traction to prevent migration will at the same time be likely to cause irritation when using it for extended periods of time?

Good question cathdiap. I guess that's hard to say without yet knowing the amount of irritation it would cause. An argument could be made that the most comfortable stent is one that doesn't move at all. Out of the 7 stent models I've already created, none have stayed in place during the most basic of activities like lying on my back or hunching over-- I think if the movement is minimal, it might not be as overly irritating as it would appear on the first glance.

[dlnoir]

12 hours ago, boyhood said:

Let me know your thoughts! I just ordered 2!

I have seen some pictures of these stents before it is an interesting concept although I am not willing to try it. Pretty much like a regular catheter it will leave an open line to the bladder which might increase the possibility of a UTI. On the other hand if you intent to use it for a limited time and work hygienically it looks rather safe if you worry about migration.

[boyhood]

19 minutes ago, dlnoir said:

I have seen some pictures of these stents before it is an interesting concept although I am not willing to try it. Pretty much like a regular catheter it will leave an open line to the bladder which might increase the possibility of a UTI. On the other hand if you intent to use it for a limited time and work hygienically it looks rather safe if you worry about migration.

Not sure if the animated GIF describing the concept worked for you. Here are the 2 frames:

Since the sound would be cut off at about 10cm from the bladder, there should be no direct line or greater risk for UTI.

[dlnoir]

1 hour ago, boyhood said:

Since the sound would be cut off at about 10cm from the bladder, there should be no direct line or greater risk for UTI.

Evidently I missed that one. It would be interesting to know how it all works out in the end as far as insertion, retrieval comfort and hindrance goes

[dlnoir]

On 8/7/2019 at 1:36 PM, cathdiap said:

I found out that my stent tends to slip inside if I cross my legs and squeeze them together, just like girls do when they try to not pee in their pants. It makes sense because in that position the bottom end of the stent gets stuck between the thighs and will be pushed backwards/upwards driving it towards and sometimes beyond the outer sphincter. Now in bed you can create the same force on the stent if you lay (almost) on your side with one leg mostly stretched and the other leg pulled up to the waist. This tendency to migrate gets worse when the bladder is full. I found out that a full bladder tends to move a little upwards in the abdomen also pulling the stent a little further inside. 

Thanks for reply and input, food for thoughts. Like I said it only happens every so now and then, for the rest it is pretty much stable. I do have to say I am a side sleeper and the position you described is among one of my favorite sleeping positions. One of my previous designs didn’t migrate at all and even used it without a retrieval line for a certain poriod. It had another downside it caused more irritation in comparison to the one I use and wear nowadays. So for me it is choosing between comfort and no irritation or the incidental migration that may occur. So far I’ve gone for the last option. Maybe it is time to go back to the drawing board and attempt to mix up the best of both worlds. Over time I have learned that even the slightest variations in length or diameter will make a world of difference, even variations as little as 1/16^th of an inch can mean the difference between failure or success.

[cathdiap]

2 hours ago, Strangedude9990 said:

Of course there’s always room for improvement but I think I hit the jackpot with this third design. 

Taking giant steps in progress, congrats! Like you I have also done crazy stuff to check out the stents reliability. Sounds like you're almost there, not bad for a 22 yo. ?

[Loveable_guy]

21 hours ago, Strangedude9990 said:

@cathdiap it is pretty surreal. I now have a garbage bag full of completely soaked diapers in my closet. Not sure how I’ll get rid of those without family noticing, but will figure that out.

I use to load the trash in the car and find a open dumpster behind a store somewhere.  Sometimes the trash got fairly heavy. Now that the kids are gone and its just the wife and I its curb side pick up. Sometimes in two cans due to the weight.

[cathdiap]

On 8/8/2019 at 9:05 PM, dlnoir said:

Over time I have learned that even the slightest variations in length or diameter will make a world of difference, even variations as little as 1/16^th of an inch can mean the difference between failure or success.

So true, that's why I took a picture of my current stent on checkered paper so I can reproduce it in the same dimensions with the same angles. So far the most comfortable stent I have had. Only one thing left to improve: no retrieval line. How I wish I had not thrown away the stent I used in my video. Not as comfortable as the current one, but it didn't migrate at all, so I removed the retrieval line. Very exciting to not be able to remove the stent outside my house if I left the crochet hook there. 

On 8/9/2019 at 2:55 AM, Strangedude9990 said:

Helped unload a truck full of wood for a fence, went for a 10 minute walk, decorated the house for a birthday celebration and had a bath, stent didn’t budge

I like being active as well when stented and diapered.Today I worked out in my small gym in the attic. In just a diaper and a boxer short. I like the sight of me lifting weights and then the diaper bulge in my underwear. Such a ridiculous contrast. 

[cathdiap]

On 8/10/2019 at 12:36 AM, Loveable_guy said:

I use to load the trash in the car and find a open dumpster behind a store somewhere.  Sometimes the trash got fairly heavy. Now that the kids are gone and its just the wife and I its curb side pick up. Sometimes in two cans due to the weight.

A wet diaper weighs about 2-3 pounds, so in case of total incontinence after a week you will have about 7 * 5 * 2 = 70 pounds of diaper waste. 

In a year that would be about 3,640 pounds of waste. Mindboggling. 

[Loveable_guy]

Cathdiap, you raise a good point and it clearly elevates our awareness disposables diapers have when it comes to landfill usage. We should all understand our planet is not disposable.

[qwerty]

That's one of the reasons I like cloth diapers for those trying to go 24/7. When washed with a modern high efficiency washing machine, the ecological impact is a fraction of a disposable's, not to mention the cost savings. It's also convenient to not have to worry about how to manage disposal

[Catheterslave]

Does cloth diapers absorb as much as diapers do ?

im drips 24/7 and go through a lot of diapers. 

[qwerty]

If you compare real absorbency (rather than the very misleading "ISO absorbency" that disposables like to advertise), cloth is about 20% less absorbent than disposables, for a given thickness level, if you take the thickness of a full disposable. Basically, disposables get bulkier as they get wet, while cloth stays the same. If you compare a full cloth diaper vs a full disposable of the same size, the difference is about 20% less for cloth. With my standard daytime cloth diaper, I change every 2-4 hours, but I wet wayyyy more than a normal person, so I'd say it's closer to 4 hours for a normal urine output level.

Either way, changing often is only a mild inconvenience to me, since the cost of changing is negligible. So it doesn't matter that I'm using more diapers.

[cathdiap]

Over here where I live in the Netherlands they have found a way to recycle diapers. I can even put them in the garbage containers for garden waste and left overs from food. So I am not feeling burdened by the fact I am using disposable diapers. It was only the thought of the total weight of all my wet diapers getting close to what my car weighs that was mind boggling to me.

?

[qwerty]

Stent 3.1 update:

tl;dr : 3 days straight, so far, including nights. Almost no discernible irritation. Much, much more comfortable at night. 

So it turns out the exact angle and radius of the two bends in my stent design matter a lot. The bend near the front (urine exiting part) of the stent was not tight enough. As a result, i didn't actually get the retaining quality of the design. Stent 3.1 is basically the exact same as 3.0 except with a longer bend in the front. So far, ZERO movement. I've even tried pushing it in to the bladder; refuses to go in. This is fantastic since, in theory, I can ditch the retrieval line. I dont see a real reason to risk it at this time though.

The real benefit of this is when sleeping. When sleeping, I found that the previous stent designs would slip backwards a little bit, and whenever I clamp down my external sphincter, the end of the stent is halfway in, halfway out of the sphincter. This causes significant discomfort, and a lot of irritation over the course of the night. Of course, this isn't something I can control since the sphincter naturally wants to stay closed. But now, the problem doesn't exist at all. Much more comfortable to sleep. I think the sleep irritation was the major limiting factor in how long i could keep previous stents in. 

Stent 3.1 has been in and out for the past week or so. I had to get each bend angle and radius just right. Fortunately, the adjustments were small enough to do just by hand bending the stent, and didn't require building a new one. (good thing too since I'm almost out of the catheter size I use for stents.) So after working the stent till it just about melds with my urethra's natural curves, I've arrived at the completed version 3.1 

Man, what a difference a well fitted stent makes. For the past few days, I've been the most comfortably stented I've ever been. Before, the standard for me was "tolerable while moving, comfortable when still", but I've been routinely forgetting that I have a stent in at all... until of course I feel a trickle of pee start. Which then turn into a stream, and I instinctively try to stop it, only to find that I can't control it at all.

With the previous stents, I think about a week was the limit before it became a little too uncomfortable to sleep and stuff, and I would end up taking it out to be able to get to sleep for the night. Another thing I've really noticed is that stent irritation is significantly worse when you're dehydrated. Seriously, it felt like the urethra was being rubbed raw by every movement. This quickly went away once I drank enough water. Anyone else notice this? Well either way, I'm not about to complain about an excuse to stay well hydrated, and therefore more leaky  I've been doing some heavy exercise in some pretty brutal heat yesterday, and the stent felt just fine though. So I think I'm definitely making progress.

I had never imagined a stent could be so comfortable I would not notice it was in unless it was causing me to leak at that moment. To think that I believed I'd reached the limit of stent comfort with v2! Had I stopped there, I would never have been able to stay incontinent for more than a week, and there would always have been some discomfort with it. Just goes to show we should never stop trying to make things better. I'm hoping for the best with v 3.1 though. So I hope this case inspires you all to keep working on stents! 

[hometool]

1. i am a long time stent expermenter each time in the past has ben an epic fail 2 times i have had to go to doctors to have stents removed. the last time i needed help removing it had ben in for 5 months was wking ok but i could not get it out no retriveal string. no i am using a retrival string and ben in for 3 days no real discomfort. when i am seated and cough i feel a small gush of pee wonderng if outhers feel that