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Posted 7/16/2011 3:31 AM (GMT 0)
Perhaps catheter discomfort is the classic oxymoron but I'm experiencing it now. open RP on Tuesday, home yesterday. Mostly, it's just a continuous sensation of needing to urinate - badly and semi-painfully. I'm drinking water like a fish and walking religiously. I was told the sense of urgency would subside but it hasn't yet. Any suggestions, thoughts, comments, experience sharing would be appreciated.

Wheeler
Posted 7/16/2011 3:44 AM (GMT 0)
Are you walking too much, or maybe too vigorously. The catheter has a balloon in your bladder, and you may be irritating things. Moving around a lot is good, but for me "too much" came with trying too hard.

I know we promote walking, but just getting up and moving around every few minutes may be enough while the cath is in. As much as I tried to walk, doing one floor of steps took 20 minutes with the cath. A trip outside had two major parts - get to the entry, then go out.

Posted 7/16/2011 3:51 AM (GMT 0)
I get up and walk about once an hour for about 10 minutes. Nothing vigorous, usually just laps around the downstairs of my house.
Posted 7/16/2011 4:13 AM (GMT 0)
My version of the "sense of urgency" took months to lessen, but even now if my bladder is empty, the next water in it has me wanting to go even though it will be very little fluid.
Posted 7/16/2011 12:14 PM (GMT 0)
I'm drinking water like a fish -> Might consider NOT doing that.. What goes in must come out idea
Posted 7/16/2011 2:22 PM (GMT 0)
my guess is the feeling of urgency has very little to do with the amount of water you are drinking. It sounds like bladder spasms to me. There are some prescription meds you can get. Bladders I think have a mind of their own. When I go in my bath room and lean over the sink to brush my teeth I get the urge to urinate, and when I had the catheter same thing happened? With a catheter in place you know it wasn't because my bladder was full. I hope David weighs in here on the meds as his online name "purgatory" says a lot. I would try things like sitting more and walking slower with no stairs and maybe shorter walks say a couple of miuntes, rather than ten. I am just guessing, but stuff like avoiding cafenated drink may help but that is just a guess. If you are still doing this monday, maybe call the doc and try to get him to call in a scrip.
The problem I had trouble with was irritation at the tip. To keep this down, clean the catheter tube where it goes in the tip will warm slighty! soapy wash cloth and lube it with a small amount of neosporin or the like, several times a day.
I hope you have a good outcome and remenber, catheter time is really "down time".
Ron
Posted 7/16/2011 3:30 PM (GMT 0)
Hi,
I had the same problem the whole time my catheter was in, 13 days of agony. In my case it was bladder spasms and they never did subside. After a week I was going crazy so got a prescription for some meds for the spasms. The meds are pretty heavy duty, they are a suppository containing opium and belladonna. They never completely relieved the urge to go but it just didn't bother you near as much. You have my sympathy, it was the longest 13 days of my life.
Posted 7/16/2011 4:44 PM (GMT 0)
My guess is spasms. I had them too but there is a med that will stop them for sure. Only other thing is were the tube exits the penis you should put some ointment there as well.

Cajun jeff
Posted 7/16/2011 9:55 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, everyone. It's a little better today but still there. I'll give it the weekend and if it's still bothering me on Monday, I'll talk with the doc. BTW - I should get my pathology results on Monday as well.

Thanks again for all of the feedback.
Posted 7/16/2011 10:26 PM (GMT 0)
I spent a total of nearly 2 years on a total of 21 catheters, and all of them produced plenty of painful bladder spasms. They kept me on an inexpensive drug, ditropan, the entire time, was like 3 bucks at Walmart kind of drug.

My uro said the bladder is one of the most powerful muscles in the body, and its thinks its doing you are favor by trying to expel the catheter from you, knows its not suppose to be there. Of course, the inflated baloon end of it prevents that from happening.

Good luck as you work through this, can honestly say, I know how you feel, and then some

david
Posted 7/16/2011 10:42 PM (GMT 0)
Same here..bladder spasms x14 days...Rx Levsin helped some. Talk to your doc and get an RX which will help..then one day at a time until it comes out...sweet relief! Best of luck on the Path report...keep us posted...
Posted 7/17/2011 2:57 AM (GMT 0)
I had a catheter in for 20+ days and some days were bad some good. The first couple of days drove me nuts with that constant feeling of needing to empty my bladder, so I called my doctor. He explained that the pain medication I was on would not help and I should take Ibuprofen to relax the muscles. This seemed to work pretty good. At times I would not even know the catheter was there.

I'm not sure if you are taking any meds right now. I was concerned about taking the Ibuprofen with the pain meds (Hydrocodon-Acetaminophen) but the doctor said it was okay and that they would not conflict with each other.

As far as that full bladder feeling. Someone here said it right that it is just the bladder trying to push the catheter out. With that catheter in, your bladder will not fill up. That tube goes right into the bladder so there is nothing stopping the urine from exiting the bladder. At one point I really felt like I had to go but nothing was coming out. I started to panic thinking that I was clogged up and might have to go to the hospital to have the catheter removed or SOMETHING. That's when I called the doctor and he told me to take the Ibuprofen.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted

Roy

Post Edited (R0Y) : 7/16/2011 10:54:00 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/17/2011 4:43 AM (GMT 0)
All of this is very helpful. Thanks, guys!
Posted 7/17/2011 12:51 PM (GMT 0)
My problem was at the other end. I didn't feel anything internally, but the tip of my penis was raw the entire 23 days. I kept it well lubricated but that didn't help, every little move hurt. Sleeping was difficult, the only relief was stitting still on the couch.
Posted 7/3/2012 7:40 AM (GMT 0)
I had catheter for over 21 days, this was the hardest 21 days of my life. I also had the problem of the end of my penis being rubbed raw.

I am sure my urethra is now elongated because I pee almost sideways. I kept the end of my penis well lubricated but there didn't seem to be anything that worked. I tried taping the catheter to my upper leg so that my walking didn't tug at it all the time, I tried wearing heavy pads to try to support and cushion the catheter, I tried directing the catheter up towards my navel and taping it across my stomach and then to my upper leg to try to stop the tugging, all to no avail. The only thing that worked was lying down on the lounge and resting.

I had 2 trips to emergency for catheter insertion after my biopsy because of urinary problems, the 2nd time the nurse just about made me lift off the bed with pain as she inserted the catheter. After that experience I had to go to the urology department to be taught how to insert a catheter myself ! That's fun, particularly as the instructer was a female and you have to remove your lower clothes and stand half naked over a toilet and do it while she is watching. Very embrassing.

After that nothing fusses me any more about your penis or talking about problems with incontinence or ED.

Fortunately I have only once had to consider a DIY insertion, I got as far as doing all the cleaning and preparation and rereading the instructions, I think the shock of what I was about to do was enough to open the flood gates. What a relief, in 2 ways.

It is humourous to look back on now, but at the time it wasn't. 

Posted 7/4/2012 10:26 PM (GMT 0)
Catheters are no fun. I had both the urethra and a superpubic. The Superpubic was easiest, but the other one I bleed a couple of times when not completely healed.
Posted 7/5/2012 4:11 PM (GMT 0)
I can't say the catheter was comfortable, but I didn't have problems with it. I learned to manage it and went to work a few days with it and a bag strapped to my thigh. Once in a while I would have pain as a small piece of tissue would pass through. The uro said this was to be expected after all of the stitching from surgery.
Posted 7/5/2012 6:46 PM (GMT 0)
Good ol horror story thread..

Had my cath in for five weeks...But it was during the summer so I could wear shorts to work... That made it easier to empty the cath since I only had to hike my pant leg up a couple of inches.

Then there were the two times the cath slid down my leg and bounced off the floor.... And almost taking mr pee wee with it...

Ya... the good old days I don't miss a bit.
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