catheter use to gain incontinence

[Guest]

I have been using a holey foley catheter for a little bit to cut down on cost of diapers and wondering how long it takes to become incontinent with using catheters?

[Rob110]

 It would probably take a while, since using a catheter will shrink your bladder size over time once hour bladder has srunk to its smallest size your retention time will be greatly reduced and you could experience pain if you try to hold your pee to long as the bladder trys to strech again. Also the prolonged use of a catheter can increase your chances of a UTI infection not to mention you could do some internal damage with the catheter that may create a possible retention issue and force you to self catheter every time you need to void. 

 

Check with your urologist for proper catheter care and insertion and ask about the risks, there is no quick way to force incontinence and are you sure you really one a lifetime of diapers and control  issues and the possibility of becoming dual incontinent as your body adapts to being diapered 24/7 once you loose bladder control. I have been in diapers for a bladder issue for 4 years and I am now experiencing unexpected bowel movments that are starting to happen more frequently as time goes on. 

 

 Incontinence is something you may feel you want but once you loose control theres no going back 

 

 

 

[incondl]

While I would not promote the use of a catheter it will tell you what being urinary incontinent is like. The only control you'll have is how to collect & manage it. After a couple of months you'll then be able to decide if this is something you want. Chances are it will otherwise you would have never taken the steps to find out. However be careful because chances are good that you get a UTI & if you've never had one be ready for pain & fever for which you will need medical attention quickly. When I became urinary incontinent I was talked to about different management styles. I elected to just use diapers and I'm glad I did. Being hooked to a hose & bag just was far too cumbersome for me. But it does work for those confined to a wheelchair or other mobility devices.

[Bettypooh]

I'd recommend reading this thread: Close-to-incontinence-with-a-catheter/ as there's quite a bit in there about every aspect of cathing on a regular basis including problem avoidance and best techniques of use to avoid that. It's a huge thread so plan to put some time aside to read it all 

Bettypooh

[Cruiser 03]

I am iC & a catheter user ,I have huge bladder and prostate that has been giving me grief for 25 years ,my combined bladder and prostate issues mean I can leak all the time as well as have non premium diaper level extiction events ,so my urologists goal is to shrink and atrophy the bladder with 4 X's a day intermittent cathing ,I have been at it for over 9 years and have only shrunk the bladder to less than half it's capacity between 5-600 ML ,my doctor says we can  "ease up " when my capacity is at 100 or below ,he wants my bladder to leak smaller volumes more frequently instead of large volumes "when it wants to " because my. Large incontinent episodes are only the surface of the problem ,my bladder only fully drains when I do it by catheter.Noah had an ark ,I don't have that luxury ,when my bladder dumps it's still holding  around 2-300 ML ,unless I Cath it and empty it that's alot of stale old urine hanging around considering most "normal" voids leave less than 100 ML behind. Your Foley use will still take years to shrink and atrophy your bladder 

My question is this ,if diapers expense is hurting now ,why on Earth do you want no control,diapers will go from optional participation to a required task as an "Activity of daily living " I own and use about 15,000 bucks worth of cloth (they are primary crew ,I only use disposables for travel and going out,my insurance pays north of 450 a month for 3 cases of Diapers and 1 case of chux (bed pads) and 2 boxes of gloves ,my "straws" (catheters) are the real expense 120 catheters and 2 drain bags are $1900 overall not counting doctor's visits just supplies and medication are about 5000 per month total , that's the "date" you are bringing home ,now multiply that out over 10 years ? It's your decision I am just giving you info ,you are going to need a damn good job being the attacks on healthcare will posibll make your loss of control a pre existing condition and not a covered expense if your not covered when it happens (and I have left out the expenses of the fun and games your doctor's will put you through to confirm an IC dignosis so health insurance will cover the cost of diapers when they are prescribed! No doctor to confirm there medically necessary after running you through the gaunlet of invasive uncomfortable embarrasingly expensive tests, you are on the hook for a lifetime of expenses.

On the other hand there's thousands of people here at DD that use diapers as recreational therapy without being IC ,trust me I am a DL as a coping mechanism long term IC is a pain in the neck ,it's more of a boring routine chore,to add dimension to it I decided I would wear every diaper on the market for at least a full day (the cheap ones are nothing but lame maxipads with an identity crisis. I have the benefit of a diaper failure during testing not being an issue (I drive a power wheelchair and the general public assumes everyone in a wheelchair uses diapers or should be? So most people are terrified to be an asshole ,and become very generous and accepting ,I have said it a thousand times and it's no less true now then the first time ,that diaper stigma people think is so huge becomes a non issue when you look like a broken Toy ! In the days of goin to the store to get diapers ,people would kill each other to help you find "your brand or your size ,I just had to be within the pharmacy area to have complete strangers pop out of the woodwork offering to help ,I broke alot of hearts with thank you but I am here for a tooth brush or deoderent etc ,people would be rather deflated they didn't get to help.

 

 

[Cruiser 03]

I am iC & a catheter user ,I have huge bladder and prostate that has been giving me grief for 25 years ,my combined bladder and prostate issues mean I can leak all the time as well as have non premium diaper level extiction events ,so my urologists goal is to shrink and atrophy the bladder with 4 X's a day intermittent cathing ,I have been at it for over 9 years and have only shrunk the bladder to less than half it's capacity between 5-600 ML ,my doctor says we can  "ease up " when my capacity is at 100 or below ,he wants my bladder to leak smaller volumes more frequently instead of large volumes "when it wants to " because my. Large incontinent episodes are only the surface of the problem ,my bladder only fully drains when I do it by catheter.Noah had an ark ,I don't have that luxury ,when my bladder dumps it's still holding  around 2-300 ML ,unless I Cath it and empty it that's alot of stale old urine hanging around considering most "normal" voids leave less than 100 ML behind. Your Foley use will still take years to shrink and atrophy your bladder 

My question is this ,if diapers expense is hurting now ,why on Earth do you want no control,diapers will go from optional participation to a required task as an "Activity of daily living " I own and use about 15,000 bucks worth of cloth (they are primary crew ,I only use disposables for travel and going out,my insurance pays north of 450 a month for 3 cases of Diapers and 1 case of chux (bed pads) and 2 boxes of gloves ,my "straws" (catheters) are the real expense 120 catheters and 2 drain bags are $1900 overall not counting doctor's visits just supplies and medication are about 5000 per month total , that's the "date" you are bringing home ,now multiply that out over 10 years ? It's your decision I am just giving you info ,you are going to need a damn good job being the attacks on healthcare will posibll make your loss of control a pre existing condition and not a covered expense if your not covered when it happens (and I have left out the expenses of the fun and games your doctor's will put you through to confirm an IC dignosis so health insurance will cover the cost of diapers when they are prescribed! No doctor to confirm there medically necessary after running you through the gaunlet of invasive uncomfortable embarrasingly expensive tests, you are on the hook for a lifetime of expenses.

On the other hand there's thousands of people here at DD that use diapers as recreational therapy without being IC ,trust me I am a DL as a coping mechanism long term IC is a pain in the neck ,it's more of a boring routine chore,to add dimension to it I decided I would wear every diaper on the market for at least a full day (the cheap ones are nothing but lame maxipads with an identity crisis. I have the benefit of a diaper failure during testing not being an issue (I drive a power wheelchair and the general public assumes everyone in a wheelchair uses diapers or should be? So most people are terrified to be an asshole ,and become very generous and accepting ,I have said it a thousand times and it's no less true now then the first time ,that diaper stigma people think is so huge becomes a non issue when you look like a broken Toy ! In the days of goin to the store to get diapers ,people would kill each other to help you find "your brand or your size ,I just had to be within the pharmacy area to have complete strangers pop out of the woodwork offering to help ,I broke alot of hearts with thank you but I am here for a tooth brush or deoderent etc ,people would be rather deflated they didn't get to help.

 

 

[Elbs]

Prolonged catheter use can sometimes give you the opposite of what you want and make it that you have trouble peeing if not cathed. So be careful.

[Cruiser 03]

2 hours ago, Elbs said:

Prolonged catheter use can sometimes give you the opposite of what you want and make it that you have trouble peeing if not cathed. So be careful.

There are some among us that had to Cath for medical reasons and developed strictures in the urethra ,laser surgery failed to correct the problem and now there urethra is useless ,they had to have additional surgery to create  an abdominal entry to there bladder and the catheter goes in thru it .

There are risks and consequences to every medical and non theraputic medical intervention that we know.

The human body is a complex marvel  of engineering that we can not fully understand ( to give you an idea ,in the last 2 or so years they discovered a new organ ,that does something in our digestive process) how long have we had X-rays and various MRI scanners to look inside the body and it's organs ? And yet we are still finding new organs?

Catheters and seemingly benign things can bite us in the ass,so be careful in your pursuits and pleasures,as with much in the non existent owner's manual for our bodies " know the risks & use moderation "

[Cruiser 03]

Its been proven the worst thing in the world is a catheter in your bladder in a hospital ,98% of all hospital aquired infections are from catheters .

They use a sterile technique.

I Cath 4s a day for over 9years using simple clean your paws ,put on vinyl gloves and have at it ,the only UTI's in that time have been from being in the hospital, despite the clean appearance and attempts to keep it clean ,bacteria consider most ICU rooms to be social clubs (humans go to bars ,bacteria goes to hospitals)

If you use a clean technique at home you have much less risk of UTI than in the hospital ,even before sterile disposable catheters ,when I would use it and then boil it for it's next use ,was safer and cleaner then hospital .

Matter of fact I generally don't let them even intermittent Cath me in the hospital ,my bladder can keep it's quart of stale urine until I am  discharged ,they can change my diapers and sheets all they want (if you have ever worn a hospital diaper you know the bed will be soaked in 2 hours when they come back ,on there schedule ) I personally worry more about micro abrasions and cuts then I do about UTI 

My Urologist has always had an open door if you suspect UTI.drop a sample they will check it and call you in an hour,only time I have had to use it was getting out of the hospital.

So UTI is a risk ,but a small one that can be mitagated with thourgh hand washing and personal hygiene ,play safe stay safe ,and if your ussure ask someone here .

 

 

[MISSY1959]

well i started with a cath 8 months ago and am incontinent now. i cant go without the cath or a diaper.  if i wear a cath with a urinary bag in my panties it starts to hurt if i say cross my legs. i have no capacity at all.  i have started taking the cathater out using diapers more often.  every few minutes i have to go not so much a dribble but i suspect that as well.  any sort of need or movement triggers it.  if your going to do it use a foley silastic cath they can stay in a month at a time.  i do find myself wetting the bed now

 

[babykeiff]

There are many topics and threads on this forum and all over the internet on the dangers of catheters, so suffice to say, I personally would not recommend same.

In relation to gaining bladder incontinence, there are mixed results. If the bladder sphincters are always open, one will weep urine as soon as it is produced. This will atrophy the bladder (it is a muscle) and shrink same to approx 80-100ml size. This is the gain. However, the sphincters also atrophy. A catheter stretches a closed sphincter, as a result, without the catheter inserted and a atrophied sphincter, one has no way to empty ones bladder. The autonomic / reflex action as exibited by a baby of emptying ones bladder as soon as it is full will fail since one cannot relax an atrophied sphincter.

In my humble opinion, the use of a catheter to reduce ones bladder is a good move, but one has to spend one day in five, without the catheter inserted to ensure ones sphincters still operate. This has the catch of excercising ones bladder again, which defeats the reason (to atrophy the bladder) of using the catheter in the first place.

To gain bladder incontinence takes time. You need to convince your subcontious to leave the bladder sphincter relaxed. Methods include convincing yourself that, despite what you are doing and where you go, the diaper that you are wearing is well capable of keeping you comfortable, and let nature take its course. (see 12 month diaper program)

 

 

[MISSY1959]

well as a follow up i started here and other places to see on this.  why we choose i cant say i did as a child when i hit puberty and choose to again asi got older now 59.  im a cd tg with a bilateral surgery so produce not testostrone as such i take minimal shots so im not that big. 

this will make you incontinenant about 6-8 months of full time wear. i have no doubt you can get it back as during this time i did remove it for dr visits at the va where it might be seen.  over time that became more painful need to pee so a diaper was a must. i was able to pass that off as i have a gi issue at least at the time.

this week i took the cath out a little irritation i will speak of latter.  i was not able to go minutes without the greatest need to pee and it did it on its own sitting standing walking.  last night without a diaper in my panties and nightgown while on the computer i found myself dribbling.  satin panties are not very forgiving to a little dribble and got wet quick. i was able to see it sort of dribble out did not feel it. so with out a diaper i would now get wet and be foreced to wet the bed as well.  i went with a diaper for a couple days and found i was wetting the diaper all day and night.  i use a panty girdle to keep up a northshore supreme makeing sure i pee up you can feel it more as well.

i mostly wear a cath with a urinary bag in the croch in my panties.  i drain it a couple times a day.

1 use clean mostly sterile absorbant pads

2 use silastic with a small balloon 5cc no more than that in it. the idea is to shrink it so if  you go bigger then you stretch it.  silastic vs silicone as it is heavy wont break and wont colapse is reusable.

3 bleech and antiseptic soap for cleaning take it out once a week or you get crystaline structures on it which iritate you and then make you need to take it out for a couple days.  2 weeks max but is good for a month before a new one. you will see it degrade to a rough surfuce on the baloon over that month. 

4 rinse everything with alchol then water, especialy the bag every time you disconnect it poor alchol in the portion that plugs in. thats where you can get an infection with it.

5 if you want to drian into a diaper then get a urniary bag take the valve cut it out and put it on the end so nothing goes back up the tube.

how long will you be incontinant i cant say. i have mine back in after 2 days mostly going through diapers 3 times a day fully loaded without trying mind you.   but i can say after 8 months without a strong and painful effort i cant go back without a cath or a diaper.  that need to pee after the big super size soda at the movie and you have to run to the bathroom after the movie or find a rest stop on a road trip.   the need is greater than that once it shrinks down .  even a minor pinching of the hose now makes me feel it. 

just remember clean up every day can be a pain thats why i use the cath most of the time but i will start using the diapers more to feel it more. 

how you keep up a wet diaper well thats up to you to figure out. being a cd as well as back problems a body girdle or panty girdle helps a lot for that.  not so much at night its tight.  but a full supreme or even half a diaper sags.  so think it through.

im prone due to auto immune issues to bacteria so i always have bactrim on hand but have not had the need to use it.  even with that i find it hard to get an infection. 

a tanning bed, or uv light which is a tanning bed kills bacteria on the surfuce and in the skin.  thats why as a kid during the summer you had no acne sun and pool water.  if you wear diapers a lot an occosianal tan of 5  minutes -8 minutes where you would not get a tan can kill most any bacteria on your skin or near the skin.  that was per baylor.

hope that helps

[stevewet]

On 11/29/2018 at 12:08 PM, incondl said:

While I would not promote the use of a catheter it will tell you what being urinary incontinent is like. The only control you'll have is how to collect & manage it. After a couple of months you'll then be able to decide if this is something you want. Chances are it will otherwise you would have never taken the steps to find out. However be careful because chances are good that you get a UTI & if you've never had one be ready for pain & fever for which you will need medical attention quickly. When I became urinary incontinent I was talked to about different management styles. I elected to just use diapers and I'm glad I did. Being hooked to a hose & bag just was far too cumbersome for me. But it does work for those confined to a wheelchair or other mobility devices.

When I became incontinent he urology lot wanted me to be catheterised and wear a bag. The continence nurse in the end agreed it was probably safer for me just to wear nappies.