Does it hurt when a catheter is removed? And how long until normal urinary function returns?

I am having my urinary catheter removed tomorrow, and I am wondering if it is going to be painful? I am also wondering how long it takes for normal urinary function to return ? Because my Cystoscopy procedure was done just before the Christmas holiday, the catheter was left in for an entire week. I will greatly appreciate any helpful responses to my situation and will post responses after I learn what my experience turned out to be in order to help others.

Post Edited (racertrace) : 12/29/2014 12:06:18 AM (GMT-7)

With me nurse took it out over that quick didn't feel a thing,
tony w

Hello RacerTrace, welcome to the forum.

While it varies from man to man the most typical amount of discomfort when the catheter is removed after a man has had prostate surgery is none. We get a couple of guys occasionally who say it hurts but even they say it is over so quickly that it's not that big a deal.

Could you tell us a bit more about yourself? You mention a cystoscopy but don't mention surgery. Usually guys with catheters worries who post here are recovering from having their prostates removed. Are you?

If you are, then its really had to say for sure when normal urinary function will return. Most guys leak at first, often fairly badly, when their catheter is removed after prostate surgery but well over half will be dry after three months. Of those few who are still leaking at three months, over half of them will be dry at one year, and those few guys out of every hundred (like me) who are still leaking after a year may need additional surgery to fix the problem.

But if you have the catheter for some other reason then its a whole different kettle of fish.

Most guys say they barely feel anything. In my case, it was very uncomfortable, but was done in an instant. The joy of having it out was well-worth the discomfort when it was removed :)

-Gedman

Here's one more perspective. I had a TURP operation (Trans Urethral Resection of Prostate) (to correct BPH symptoms) in July 2011, which required me to wear a catheter for several days afterwards.

On the day to remove it, there I was, lying on the exam table, and the nurse came in, made some pleasant small talk (they do that on purpose, I believe, to relax patients), and then very quickly and skillfully removed the catheter. In fact she did it so quickly it was over before I knew it.

In my case there was no pain at all, just a brief, slightly "uncomfortable" feeling, lasting only a couple of seconds or so.

I'm convinced that whether or not there is any pain is directly related to the skill and experience level of the person (usually a nurse) actually doing the removing. In my case she was about in her forties or so, and thus obviously had been doing things like catheter removals long enough to become good at it.

So while it may or may not make a difference in your case, you might ask the person beforehand just how much experience she has in doing this, and hopefully her answer will be "a good bit."

As far as recovery of urinary function, I was back to normal following the removal in about a day or so.

Thanks to all who replied to my question about the removal of the catheter. I'm headed to the doctor's office now to have it removed...then we will see what happens next. I'll post something later today after the smoke clears....
I really do appreciate the responses regarding this question. Thanks again....Trace

(70 year old guy from Carmel, CA)

After my first brachytherapy procedure, the removal of the cathater hurt like $&i%....... I won't say the real words I was thinking. The ONLY pain worse I can remember happened about 5 minutes later when the doctor removed the HDR needles (a 9 on the pain-ometer).

I only had the cathater in for a few hours. Later in the day my first two or three pees stung pretty good as well.

The second procedure, two weeks later, was much more tolerable. The cathater was no big deal coming out and the needles weren't that bad, either. I suspect they took my advice and gave me some more pain meds in that area. Lucky for them.

Racertrace
As almost10 and 81gyguy said it is usually no big deal on the removal, it is the going in that can hurt. But that also depends on the skill of the nurse or doctor. It is the thought that is the worst thing.
Patrick M summed it up beautifully.

All the best.

Racer trace,
Glad your experience was good, from my experience I would suggest wearing a man's pad for a little while to ensure accidents don't cause any embarrassment. When you are confident things are all okay as a safety measure wear dark coloured trousers or shorts.
Good luck

I suggest using Depends diapers then switch to pads when things improve. I was dry after 13 weeks and never found incontinence to be all that problematic.
Bob

Brings back memories!!!
I remember the nurse saying "take a deep breath" I did. I then asked her when she will be removing it. She said it's done!

Mel