On the Recovery end of a UTI

[Wheels]

Some background... As a spinal cord injured person, we tend to be more prone toward UTIs. Some years back I started wearing Foley catheters more often, and it turned out I was quite lucky in that my bladder and urethra seem to handle it quite well. I only had one symptomatic UTI over a three-year period. I still wear diapers mainly because I love them, but functionally they catch any seepage going on down there, so there's my justification! ?

On 11/17 I had a flu shot. Usually not a big deal, but that night I felt a little feverish and went to bed early. I went to work on Thursday and Friday, and felt quite lousy on both days. Something upset my abdominal area, and feeling fatigued. Went to bed Friday night and fell asleep relatively early, but at 4 AM Saturday morning my bladder was nonstop contracting and in a lot of pain. I remove the Foley, and eventually drifted to sleep with my diaper doing its job. Sunday was still very uncomfortable, and I was beginning to realize it might've been more of an infection setting in as early as Thursday, but the timing of the shot led me to dismiss symptoms being related to that. I barely slept Sunday night, and thankfully my doctor got me in on Monday to be seen. They got me started on antibiotics after confirming that my urine was loaded with bad stuff, they even suggested leaving the catheter out for another few days as the antibiotic kicked in, but I pushed for the new catheter because I had to get to work the next day and there's no way I could be peeing in a diaper with infected smelling urine and no option to change until I left work. 

TMI warning...

The crazy thing on this infection was the amount of discharge. Thankfully no pain in the urethra, but my diaper was catching a lot of this whitish-brown goop that kept seeping out of me all day long. At first I thought about calling the doctor back, but being that there was no pain specific to that area I wanted to give it another day to see if it would start to subside. Thankfully it has, and the time of this writing it's about 20% of what it was several days ago, and unless brown. 

I think a contributing factor to this particular infection was that I had recently started using a longer tube going to my leg bag that I wear when I go to work. I think this is kept more urine stagnant in the bladder, which proved to be a bad idea. I plan to go back to the normal length of tubing for more frequent drainage. My doctor also prescribed more supplies so I can irrigate more often, but I'm going to see how it goes with the shorter tubing first because if my urine stays clear longer, no need potentially re-introduce bacteria through irrigation.

Anyway, just sharing/venting.

[Little Sherri]

Wow, I hope you feel better soon, that does not sound very comfortable. It's interesting that you almost got a "prescription" to wear diapers out of it, in that doing so would potentially be less irritating to the area, although I understand that from a practical perspective, it might have been hard to manage using a diaper at work. I wear diapers to work but I don't have any mobility issues and I don't, so far as I know, have a UTI, thankfully.

I have read some studies that suggest that diapers present less likelihood for developing UTI's than catheterization does, however healthcare providers and institutions all have their own preferences, because catheters are easier to deal with from a nursing perspective, and some people find them preferable, from a social perspective, to wearing a diaper. 

[~Brian~]

2 hours ago, Wheels said:

Some background... As a spinal cord injured person, we tend to be more prone toward UTIs. Some years back I started wearing Foley catheters more often, and it turned out I was quite lucky in that my bladder and urethra seem to handle it quite well. I only had one symptomatic UTI over a three-year period. I still wear diapers mainly because I love them, but functionally they catch any seepage going on down there, so there's my justification! ?

On 11/17 I had a flu shot. Usually not a big deal, but that night I felt a little feverish and went to bed early. I went to work on Thursday and Friday, and felt quite lousy on both days. Something upset my abdominal area, and feeling fatigued. Went to bed Friday night and fell asleep relatively early, but at 4 AM Saturday morning my bladder was nonstop contracting and in a lot of pain. I remove the Foley, and eventually drifted to sleep with my diaper doing its job. Sunday was still very uncomfortable, and I was beginning to realize it might've been more of an infection setting in as early as Thursday, but the timing of the shot led me to dismiss symptoms being related to that. I barely slept Sunday night, and thankfully my doctor got me in on Monday to be seen. They got me started on antibiotics after confirming that my urine was loaded with bad stuff, they even suggested leaving the catheter out for another few days as the antibiotic kicked in, but I pushed for the new catheter because I had to get to work the next day and there's no way I could be peeing in a diaper with infected smelling urine and no option to change until I left work. 

TMI warning...

The crazy thing on this infection was the amount of discharge. Thankfully no pain in the urethra, but my diaper was catching a lot of this whitish-brown goop that kept seeping out of me all day long. At first I thought about calling the doctor back, but being that there was no pain specific to that area I wanted to give it another day to see if it would start to subside. Thankfully it has, and the time of this writing it's about 20% of what it was several days ago, and unless brown. 

I think a contributing factor to this particular infection was that I had recently started using a longer tube going to my leg bag that I wear when I go to work. I think this is kept more urine stagnant in the bladder, which proved to be a bad idea. I plan to go back to the normal length of tubing for more frequent drainage. My doctor also prescribed more supplies so I can irrigate more often, but I'm going to see how it goes with the shorter tubing first because if my urine stays clear longer, no need potentially re-introduce bacteria through irrigation.

Anyway, just sharing/venting.

@Wheels

Two Words:  "YEEEEEOWCH" and "YIKES!"

Sounds to me like you had something happen inside with the  catheter, as you described a "UTI" and and infection - Not sure how long those things can stay in there before they are changed, but I do have friends that use them, and I think they are changed quite frequently - Glad they were able to get you in quickly and on Antibiotics - If your urine was full of bad stuff, and you were dealing with "strange colored discharge" That indicates TROUBLE!  Glad that you were able to get that cleared up, but take it easy and change the cath tubes more often, I would suggest, because the cleaner you keep things that go IN to your body, the better off I think it would be, however, if you were feeling crummy anyway, one problem can mask the other, so you can be unsure

Take Care, and Get Better Soon,

Brian

[Wheels]

On 11/26/2021 at 2:04 PM, Little Sherri said:

Wow, I hope you feel better soon, that does not sound very comfortable. It's interesting that you almost got a "prescription" to wear diapers out of it, in that doing so would potentially be less irritating to the area, although I understand that from a practical perspective, it might have been hard to manage using a diaper at work. I wear diapers to work but I don't have any mobility issues and I don't, so far as I know, have a UTI, thankfully.

I have read some studies that suggest that diapers present less likelihood for developing UTI's than catheterization does, however healthcare providers and institutions all have their own preferences, because catheters are easier to deal with from a nursing perspective, and some people find them preferable, from a social perspective, to wearing a diaper. 

Hi Little Sherri, thanks for the well wishes. Believe it or not I actually do have a prescription for diapers, but unfortunately the only ones they approve are the terrible quality type. I've even asked if I could take the equivalent payment and then I cover the rest, but it's such a racket that they don't let you do that. I guess the supply chains make more money by selling you total shit, sadly.

I've tried various ways of managing bladder incontinence over the years, and I will say that the Texas catheters were the worst for me. First, they always irritated my skin terribly. On occasions when I wore due to being out & about too long for diaper changes, the constant enclosure of the condom with urine around the urethra always lead to strong smelling cloudy colonized urine. However, when doing catheterizing three times a day and putting on a fresh diaper at each change, I had the clearest urine that did not smell so strong. This supports what you stated. The biggest challenge during those times are my longer workdays because I can't change myself at work, and attending a meeting with a smelly pee diaper is a no go for me. So that resulted in me using foley catheters that I've tolerated typically quite well. I still get to enjoy my diapers! Thankfully the catheter doesn't get in the way of that kind of enjoyment ?

On 11/26/2021 at 2:17 PM, ~Brian~ said:

@Wheels

Two Words:  "YEEEEEOWCH" and "YIKES!"

Sounds to me like you had something happen inside with the  catheter, as you described a "UTI" and and infection - Not sure how long those things can stay in there before they are changed, but I do have friends that use them, and I think they are changed quite frequently - Glad they were able to get you in quickly and on Antibiotics - If your urine was full of bad stuff, and you were dealing with "strange colored discharge" That indicates TROUBLE!  Glad that you were able to get that cleared up, but take it easy and change the cath tubes more often, I would suggest, because the cleaner you keep things that go IN to your body, the better off I think it would be, however, if you were feeling crummy anyway, one problem can mask the other, so you can be unsure

Take Care, and Get Better Soon,

Brian

Thanks Brian  definitely much better now, still some sensitivity but definitely on the mend!

[skizics]

Me and catheters never got along and I'm sorry you're have so many issues this time around. I never understood why my Doctors always thought a rubber tube was better than a diaper.