frequent urination. for 2 years!

I'm glad you found something that works well for you. I use a disposable 1 liter urinal in a basket by the bed. I've trained myself to get up in the dark, stand at the side of the bed, use the urinal, put the cap back on the urinal and get back to sleep. I try to think of nothing but my pillow, and just open one eye to check the level of the urinal against the light of a digital clock before going back to sleep. For me, I can get up every few hours and get back to sleep in seconds. I've used foley caths before after my prostate procedures and it is nice to forget about getting up to urinate.

are you still on here? I'm about to try your method with the tape all night long. Tonight, is the first time. But I'm going to try just the usual intermittant by draining, then taking it out and see how it goes during the night. I don't think it's going to help because i sense what's going on inside me. I've found all the necessary things I'll need that you mentioned and will order them tomorrow if tonight isn't working well enough. (tape, urine bag, leg strap).

It's not clear if you are a male or female. Anyone can buy and learn to use a cath without a prescription, but there is a chance of infection. The foley cath is anchored with a balloon in the bladder so it can stay in place for several weeks.For a male a better solution might be to use a condom cath and sleep in a recliner. The condom cath can be attached to a night bag. It pays to figure out how much urine you are passing at night so you can buy a big enough bag. I think the night bags can be 3 to 4 liters if needed. For males or females, super absorbant diapers is another option, but they only can hold about a liter. I tried them for a few nights but they only lasted about 3 hours for me. When I got up to change I felt like I needed a shower.

I am glad i came across this forum by accident again. I didn't know I had a reply on here.  Im male. I get up about 10 or more times a night for the past 8 years. I've seen urologists....nothing helps. Not meds, not even this damn inter stem device they implanted 3 years back. He told me to come back in 6 months to see him.    I'm considering buying a catheter (i asked him once and he said no, that would cause infections). But I have to do something. I don't and cant' sleep in an upright position. But if I used a catheter, I wouldn't be able to roll over at night since it with interfer with it, right? And could i try emptying my bladder just before bed and then take it out?? The DR. tells me that i AM emptyhing my bladder well.  (when I go at night it's small amounts, but many many times). I need to do something. I've had like half hour a night sleep for 8 years. I have no idea where to begin with a catherter. Can you give me some ideas?

I was having this problem about twice a week for a year. I went to a urologist, a GP, a heart doctor, and a kidney doctor, and none had a clue.

Normally I void about a liter in a night. I use two 1 liter bedside urinals next to my bed, in a pail with a plastic lining. I can stand up next to my bed in the dark and urinate and get right back to sleep if I only go 4 or 5 times in a night. But from Sep 2014 to Sep 2015, twice a week I was passing 2-1/2 to 3 liters in 5 hours, getting up 15 times or more. Getting up that often (every 20 minutes) meant I was up all night without sleep until about 8 or 9 in the morning when I could get 4 hours or so.

I've had 5 prostate procedures in the last 5 years, a TUMT, 2 Greenight lasers, a turp, and a follow up to the turp to stop my bleeding two weeks later. In all of these cases I needed to wear a foley catheter for a week to two weeks afterwards. Wearing the foley at night, I have to sleep on my back. I can't roll around because I could disconnect the tube from the bag.

If I had your condition I would use an external condom catheter which is like a heavy rubber loose condom that is attached to a sort of athletic supporter or jock strap. A tube at the end of the rubber condom goes to a bag. With this device you can pee in your sleep and not wake up. However this is not a tight fit so I would only use it in a position where the urine will only flow downward to the bag on the floor, and not flow backwards out of the condom onto to your thighs. The ideal position would be in a recliner where you are partially reclined and the urine would only go down.

The big advantage of the external condom is it is not inside you. In your position that is what I would try. I have an external condom and holder and bag but never used it. Since September I have only been having the all night incidents about twice a month, so I just live with it.

What reduced the incidents from twice a week to twice a month is a bed time routine I follow. I think there is a cycle of insomnia and frustration that increases the urination on the all nighters. I think my routine breaks the cycle. My routine is as follows. At around 1 AM I take a warm shower, brush my teeth etc. At 1:30 AM I sit in the living room and read a novel with a 7 ounce glass of Chianti. At 2:00 AM I pour a second glass and take it to bed, where I sip it while listening to old time radio mystery shows on my internet radio. By 2:30 to 3:00 I start to drift to sleep and sleep until 9"30 to 10:00 AM. During the night I use my bedside urinals 4 or 5 times and get right back to sleep each time. When I stand up to pee I'll peek at the digital clock on the cable box just to know how much longer I should sleep. I try not to have any thoughts except about my pillow while I am up for that minute or so.

Surprisingly this routine has worked for me. The doctors had no advice and nothing else I read on the internet helped either. But if I had an allnighter every night I'd use the external catheter and pee in my sleep. It wasn't hard to learn to pee in my sleep when I was wearing the diapers, but they didn't work out because they became very uncomfortable when filled in just a couple of hours. If you do try the diapers, you can get super absorbant wones that hold a liter. You have to wear plastic underpants with elastic on the legs at night though, or the diapers will leak onto the bed.

Bob

So, IF i used an internal one, for one thing, I'd have to reuse it again and again (wife problem) because I couldnt' afford using a new one every night. I think you can sterlize them pretty well.....

It looks like your choices are limited. It also sounds like you have bph (an overgrown prostate) or else an overgrown bladder mouth that is restricting your urine flow. It sounds like you need to be tested by a urologist with a cystoscope to determine what is causing the blockage. 

I would think the urologist would install a foley catheter for a month or so to at least let you sleep. Some men are on the foley catheter for years, getting them changed once a month. They are inconvenient since you need to wear a 500 ml. or 1 liter leg bag during the day and switch to a larger bag at night. But at least you should sleep without interruption.

Good luck.

Bob

Can I buy catherters without a prescription from a dr?

Can you give me some advice on them...what kind, what size, lube with it?? What web site? Thanks

The foley catheter is inserted all the way into the bladder (about 12 to 14 inches inside) and about 20ml of water is injected into the second (short) tube. This inflates a small plastic balloon at the end of the tube inside the bladder which anchors the catheter in the bladder and keeps it from falling out. To remove it, the water needs to be removed from the balloon with a syringe, or by cutting the short tube and letting the water drain out before pulling the cath out slowly. The foley cath is used as a semi permanent day and night cath that generally stays inside you for a week to a month before being removed. There is a leg bag (either a half liter or a liter size) attached to it to continuosly drain urine from the bladder, day and night. Usually the leg half liter bag would have to be emptied several times during the night, so a one liter leg bag, or a larger 2 liter night bag can be attached to the bed frame, lower than the mattress to drain all night without being emptied. The Foley catheters have the largest diameter, anywhere from 18 to 24 FR.

Single use catheters are inserted all the way into the bladder (about 12 to 14 inches) and drain the bladder and then are removed. If your bladder or prostate is not blocked a 12 FR is a comfortable size. But if either the prostate and/or the bladder mouth is blocked, the 12 FR can be too flexible to push through, so a more rigid 14FR size will work better. The caths I have used in the past were hydrophillic caths. They are about $1.50 each and can be ordered mail order. The hydrophillic caths are packed in sterile water and become slick in the air so no lubrication is needed. I bought mine at Best Buy Medical Supplies online. The brand and sizes I used were:

28416 Coloplast® Speedicath® Male Straight Intermittent Catheter 12Fr, 14" L, Pre-Lubricated, Hydrophilic Coated, Sterile

and

28416 Coloplast® Speedicath® Male Straight Intermittent Catheter 14Fr, 14" L, Pre-Lubricated, Hydrophilic Coated, Sterile

You really need to do some research on line on how to insert the single use cath. The first time is tricky and it took me a couple of tries to learn how to gently push it all the way to the bladder without puncturing any tissue. You may see a couple of drops of blood in the cath when you remove it.

I wouldn't feel right giving you any supplies because I don't want to be responsible if you get injured. You need to do your own reading on this. I'm just letting you know wht I did. Everyone who does self cath has to learn either from a nurse or doctor or on their own.

Those model numbers should have read 28412 Coloplast for the 12FR size and 28414 FR for the 14 FR size. The 28416 Coloplast I cited above is the 16FR size.

The baloon is sort of like a donut allowing urine to pass thrugh the center out the tube, but large enough that it wont pass back through the bladder mouth.

The single use Coloplast hydrophillic caths (no bag, no baloon, no lubricant needed) is also not re-usable. You use it once (like before bed) drain your bladder and throw it away. They cost about $1.50 each.  The foley kit with the cath, leg bag, water injector and sterile water is about $15.

Concerning risks, if you force the cath in you could puncture your urethra, prostate or bladder mouth. The fact you can't urinate easily may mean you have some sort of blockage already. With a blockage, the cath might not go in easily, or you may not be able to get it in at all without injuring yourself.

That's why you need a urologist to examine your urine path from the urethra, through the prostate, into the bladder, to identify any blockage, before you use a cath. Ideally he could put in a foley and leave it in for a month to see if you will get to sleep like that.  

If you do it on your own, read up on it. Look at diagrams of the prostate and bladder so you know where the cath is going. There are also online instructions on inserting and removing both types of caths, There is some resistence in putting in a cath the first time. It has to be put in slow and easy, without forcing it. Once it enters the bladder and goes in another half inch or so, urine will flow freely into the foley bag, or into the toilet with a single use cath.

I have a interstem device (battery implant) done about 2 years ago and it's worthless. I turned it off a couple months ago and their's no difference at all. So, i am sure I don't have any kind of blockage. Of course I'll be super careful if i do go thru with buying one on my own. I've had these in me before (cyst turp procedures), so I'm familiar with tthem.

it's not uncommon to see a drop of blood or a bit of rolled up tissue in the cath when you pull it out. An infection will cause badly burning urine and/or foul smelling cloudy urine. If you get that you need antibiotics.

The cloudy urine, smelly urine....so that could happen BEFORE I even start to have painful urinating? If so, i could drink alot of fluid (cranberry juice), that might get rid of the infection.

I don't know how effective that would be. I just don't want to pay 100 dollar copay at the emergency room every time i get an infection.

Are you still on here? I haven't tried any catheters yet. I see the lady on  monday about it though. She has adjusted my inter-stem decise in the past (which doesn't help me).

I brought up catherters to her. She said i won't have to go thru a doctor about it (i told her i mentioned it once and he said no).

So, she's going to give me some samples (intermittent).

If that doesn't help much, i want to try what one person said in a post and he's been doing this for years. He leaves it in all night and takes it out in the morning. Long story how he does it, but uses surgical tape (doesn't just slap it on though!) and uses a urine bag and the elastic band around the leg.

I'm still here. I think you are talking about Tim's post above. I'm not sure how he tapes the cath to himself or what tubing he uses to connect it to the collection bag he hangs on his bed frame. Maybe you can ask the lady to show you how to insert the cath, if you haven't done it before. The first time can be tricky. Good luck.

WOnder if you can give me some good advice or suggestions here.

I justg came back from the lady who usually adjusts my inter-stem device (electical implant for urination).. I talked with her about the catheter thing. She gave me some samples to try. But only as intermittant before going to bed. So, i have about 7 of them. She will get my insurance to pay for them if it works hopefully. I have a feeling that i DO empty my bladder though. Lets say i do, so that means that i'm producing urine during the night thru my kidneys still....

Here's the question: I feel that i want to do what TIM is doing by taping it and leaving it in during the night while HOPEFULLY sleeping!!

I didn't tell her that though. So, i have to buy a few things...the urine bag, the surgical tape...which might take a week to arrive here. I may end up calling her and saying it WORKS, when in fact it might not, at least until i get the tape, bag in the mail to try it while sleeping. I'll have to assume it'll work that way and let her call the insurance to mail me catheters every month.                    It seems to me that the way TIM does it will not be anything to worry about and be safe. I just don't want to blow it and tell her, or she might not give me the catheters.

I think you should take it in stages. The first thing I  would do is to start to keep records every night. How often do you get up now? How many ml do you void overnight? You can get a 1 liter plastic urinal with ml markings that you can keep by your bed, use at night and wash out in the morning, and record your overnight volume. The urinal probably only costs $6 or so. If you can't afford that you can use a wide mouth two liter juice bottle.You can keep a piece of paper by your bed and make an x in the dark every time you get up. Keeping records will tell you how big a bag you need overnight.

Second step is to try to use the cath before going to bed. Don't urinate on your own, let the cath fully drain your bladder. If you never used a cath it may be tricky to get it in and take a couple of tries the first time you use it.

It takes practice to slowly push it past the prostate and bladder neck. Once the urine starts flowing freely in the toilet push it in another half inch. When the urine stops, pull it out very slow to get the last bit out as you pull it out of your bladder. At this point you may find that the use of the cath before going to bed may decrease the total volume and number of times you need to void in the night.

Once you have successfully used the caths for two or three nights. You can tell the lady which model you like the best and is easiest to use. She gave you several different models because some are easier to use than others. 

Finally, if you still want to tape the cath and keep it in overnight, remember that Tim didn't use a leg bag he hung a bag with probably 6 ft. of tubing to his bed. It probably depends on how much you go at night which you would use. You can get a leg bag in 1/2 liter size and 1 liter size. You can get a bag that hangs from the bed frame (bleow your body so gravity will drain it, in 1 liter and two liter sizes.

One fina thing is you will have to get used to moving carefully in the bed at night so you don't disconnect the hose. You also need to tape the hose to your thigh with a couple of inches of slack to keep from yanking on the cath while it is in you.

Finally I would get some sort of a wateproof matress cover, as eventually it's likely you will have a malfunction and pee the bed.

Like i said, if the intermittent use of it just before bed doesn't resolve it, then i'll do what tim does and try it all night. I hope and have faith it'll work one of those ways.

That's why I'm already preparing to check insurance and even the urine bad, tape, etc .......before even mentioning to the nurse it is helpful.(because she won't know that i'm doing the all night thing with it).

The one thing that worries me is infection.  She said, just call my primary dr.......but I think she's only available on TUesdays. I can't pee for  days with extreme burning in my penis!

I hope it never happens and i'm going to be really sanitory.

I wish TIm was available here still to help me with what and where to buy those extra things, but i already found them and will just wait till tomorrow to order (i'll need them to find out in any case if leaving it in all night will work).

I don't think i have to be particular about the urine bag, do i?

Is it possible to use the cath just before laying down in bed to drain, then attaching it to the urine bad after that while it's still in? That way, i won't have much urine in my bladder at all left. So, a small urine bad is sufficient.

This is why I'm almost expecting I'll need to cath entire night. I'm anticipating that having a cath inside the prostrate/bladder neck will illeviate that aggravating sensation, even if it's not a matter of having "to go".

That's why I'm saying, i'm kind of expecting to have to use the cath all night long. It's my only hope i think. I just hope that that aggravation at the bladder neck goes away if the cath is keeping it open so their's no pressure anymore. It's hard to say until i try it. I'll have to go ahead and buy the tape, the elastic band for the leg, the urine bag to find out.

Then again, sometimes i get up and go a trinkle, then 2 hours later, alot.

I guess the nurse said, she'll have my urologist sign for approval if it helps. I told her he had told me already when i ask him about using caths..he just said, "you'll get an infection" and that was the end of that. So, he better sign for me if it helps me. Then, i have to worry about if my insurance covers me for caths. I'm waiting for that company i chatted with today to call back anytime...they checking for me. If i have to pay too much or the dr.says no...............and it DOES help me. I'll go ahead and pay out of pocket for a few and just sterilze them and reuse them. I have no choice if it comes to that. I've read that some people do do that.

I was asking because they weren't made, like the Foley's, to be used with urine bags. It's the same??

Tried it last night. I cleaned really well, so at least i don't think i have an infection and hope i never do.

I drained well(took it out just before going to bed). I still got up around 1am and again around 4am and finally around 6am. Seemed...to be a little better, but i was expecting this would happen. I really believe that wearring it all night will make all the difference. I cannot tell the Dr. or nurse that though, so i'll have to lie a little. I'm not sure weather to say, hey, i didn't get up at all! or say, i only got up one time! I need to convince them that it's worth allowing me to get caths (I'm hoping the cath providers will contact me today to let me know if my insurance covers it or not)..so, i  have two obstacles in my way right now..Dr. APPROVAL, and Insurance coverage.

I will order the tape, etc......as far as the attaching of the inttermitant to the urine bag tube, i looked at it appears that the cath tube does have a kind of nozzle for fitting in another tube.

I'm glad the cath went well. I am glad your nurse approved you getting the caths. I hope the rest of your plan goes well.

Getting up three times is not bad at all. What I learned to do was put a bedside urinal near the head of my bed in a basket on the floor. I learned to use it in the dark with one eye closed and generally get back to sleep in a minute or so. I hardly notice getting up 2 or 3 times. It's not getting up that woke me up it was the walk to the bathroom, putting on the light, etc. that did it. With the urinal I can be done in less than a minute, snap the lid back on and go back to sleep.

Still waiting for a phone call here...I don't recall the details of your post clearly...are you using a cath? You use the cath with the urinal, or just with no cath at all?

I've bought the things i need in ebay, i am waiting for a phone call that i can actually have the go ahead with cath orders, waiting for insurance ok...i hope i didn't buy those things for nothing, but i have to try this.

I haven't used a cath in a couple of years.  I just use the urinal now. In 5 years I had 2 Greenlight lasers and a turp. I now empty my bladder fully. I just don't have a big bladder capacity so If I have 200 to 400ml in my bladder I need to go. I found the bedside urinal lets me sleep because I don't wake up fully to use it. It is so automatic that I stand up, take it out of the basket, open the lid, use it, close the lid, put the urinal back into the basket and get back to sleep in about a minute, all in the dark. Sometimes I will check the lcd red clock display, but that doesn't wake me either. I sleep from about 3:30Am to 10AM. I also found that going to bed later improves my sleep and decreases the times I get up. I'll usually get up at 4:30, 6:30 and 8:30 but don't feel like I missed any sleep at all.

Isn't this forum england based? Im from USA. i had the turp twice, but it was about 10 years last time. I don't think i ever needed it either based on what's happening now. The one thing i regret about that is you cannot ejaculate ever again. Yea, the red digital clock...red wavelengths don't have same impact on the eyes. I go to bed out of complete boredom each day around 8:30 and usually get an hour or so of sleep and get up around 5:30am. Sometimes zero sleep. Once in a while I do get 2-3 hours. I still have a big problem with anxiety and have tried many meds with that too, so even with the urination thing, i still can sleep. Well, no Dr. or anyone called today..don't know if i passed the test or not. Will know in the morning.

I think the forum is based in England, but many posters are from the US like we are. I've seen posters from Australia too.

The retro ejaculation caused by the turp hasn't bothered me. I think the ejaculation feels about the same, just nothing comes out, it gets sent to the bladder and mixes with the urine.

My wife goes to bed around midnight and gets up around 7:30, but if I go to bed before 2:30AM I will have insomnia too, so I changed my schedule. Being retired I can sleep to 10AM with no problem. 

The only med I am on now is dutasteride which shrinks the prostate. Mine regrows at a fast rate and was enormous to start. When it was measured by ultrasound a few months ago it was 203g. That's when i started taking the dutasteride. Before the turp, but after the 2 greenlight laser procedures it was 300g.

I was having a big problem with insomnia, which caused anxiety which caused me to pee more often at night, to the point I was getting up more than 10 times a night about every other night. On those nights I would pee 2 to 3 liters). The next night I would sleep through and only get up once, maybe just pee 200ml as I was dried out. No doctor could help me. I went to my GP, my urologist, a cardiologist and a kidney doctor. They had no answers on the cause or the cure. What I did was create my own nightly ritual a few months ago which has worked for me.

Around 1 to 1:30AM I take a 20 minute hot shower. When I towel off I use the towel to dry out the whole shower stall. Then when I get out of the shower and pour myself 2oz of Jack Daniels and 6 oz of plain seltzer and sip this for about a half hour while I read my novel in my easy chair. (I mostly like police procedurals, political thrillers, spy stories, etc.) After about a half hour or so of reading my eyes get tired. By then it is about 2:30 to 3:AM. Then I pour myself another drink (same 2 oz of Jack Daniels and 6 oz of seltzer) and take it to bed. I have an internet radio I tune to audio noir, which are 1950s cop and detective shows like Dragnet, Johnny dollar, Nightbeat, Phillip Marlowe, etc. I fall to sleep listening to old time radio shows on my internet radio with a headset sometime between 3:30Am and 4AM while sipping my drink with my head slightly elevated on two pillows. When I start losing the thread of the story I take off the headset, put my drink down and turn over to go to sleep. That gives me about 6 hours normally. Then I take about an hour nap in the afternoon or after dinner while watching TV.

I'm 69 and seem to have lost a lot of my energy, but I try to keep motivated with reading, TV, the internet, taking a walk in nice weather, etc.

Good luck with your plan. It seems the doctors must all be dummies or robots. They have as much bad advice and no advice as good advice. They can do easy things like an infection or a surgery. But anything complicated they are usually worthless.

I like reading, but it's only about photography, or painting. I've had several hobbies in my life and read alot, but not too much lately. I could never read a regular book or stories, just don't have the patience. My sister gave me a very thick book on John Lennon's Life a few years back and i did read all of it because I'm a Beatles' fanatic.

It is about 8pm now and i feel like hitting the sack alread, but know i won't sleep. I understand the strategy of making  yourself stay up later, i've heard it before too. I've been on disibility for depression, anxiety, i'd say even paranoia..the past 18 years now. i stay indoors bored out of my mind all those years. My wife is Filipina...at least on weekends or every other, their is a party...birthday, Valentines, etc etc that i get out and go too, but the rest of the week for me is just sitting here doing nothing.

Jack Daniels, sounds good, but i never every drink because it would send me into deep depression, and i deal with it already often. Dragnet was a good show. I still watch the Munsters latey on T.V. beccause it's on...I love the 60's shows or anything.

I just hope my Dr. isn't going to be a jerk and make this difficult for me and tell me to come in and see him........when he knows i've tried everything. The nurse told me today all he has to do is sign if for me to get caths. (I'm afraid he may rememeber that my sonograms showed i was emptying and become suspicious).

Thing i notice about several on here is how they were insterting and removing a intermittent cath 2-3 times a night. Then TIM mentions about why do that..and just tape it to keep it in all night.

I'm just skipping the inserting 2-3 times a night and going directly to what TIM says with the tape. I'M sure 2-3 times a night would keep the urine out of my bladder, so the taping and leaving it in should do that also. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

I also don't see the taping and all that as something i'm not supposed to be doing. A Foley is kept in longer than that, so it should be no more risky. I wonder what the nurse or Dr. would say about doing that though.

I hope my bubble isn't burst tomorrow with the DR. or the insurance saying NOPE. I'm going to use the 10 or so caths i have and boil them and sterelize them if it comes down to it. I have to do this one way or another.

Best of luck in your plan. 

Bob

I had a guy on the phone today about insurance etc..so at least it's ok'd by the Dr. The guy is telling me that sometimes it's cheaper just to pay out of pocket instead of insurance, just depends....really confusing now. I'm waiting for his call again.

I'm thinking it might just be the better and cheaper way if i pay out of pocket. I saw that caths don't cost too much really and if i may not want one every day of the week, so it might be better.

I was looking at the Foleys....would i be better off using one of thme instead?? I know they have a balloon ...is their any more danger to use them vrs the intermittant?     If I wore a Foley at night, can i still wear it during the daytime witout having the need for a urine bag?

At this point, it seems that my insurance will cover my caths %100.

I don't know about the Foley now because it might cause a conflict and my Urologist might see that, or the provider just won't accept that type.

I better now go with the original plan. I read on the urine bag (which i recived in mail today) about a "release clamp" also, like you say, but as far as i can see it's just the plug at the end of the tube that I'd use to release urine from the bag. I'll have to look more.

I do have major insomnia, but also do have the frequent urination..i get up from 4 to periods where i'm getting up more than 20 times. I'm sure it's related to anxiety, but not entirely.

You won't know if your plan will be the solution until you try. If it works, great. If not you will have to try something else or just learn to live with it and catch up on sleep during the day if you can.

I also was getting up 15 times or more times in a night a few nights week last year. For me a good night was anything less than getting up 6 or 7 times, because I could get some sleep between the times I got up. on a bad night it would be  20 minutes or so for 3 or 4 hours and would slowly wind down, so I couldn't get to sleep until the morning. I would get up, have some coffee then sleep in my chair from 8 or 10 AM to noon or 1PM. I just decided to sleep whenever I could and decided to learn to live with it. I stopped fighting it and tried to just adapt. That seemed to improve the anxiety from, oh no, not again, to ok, I've done this before.

I told you about my routine that has solved the problem for me over the last few months. I guess we have to make our own solutions because the doctors are no help at all. 

It's scarey when that happens. So, i don't know if i need a smaller diameter, or is it the elbow end?

I won't use one tonight to make sure it heals. So, you WERE using caths in the past? The provider is supposed to call me sometime soon, today, tomorrow? I'll probably just tell them and i'm sure they'll be ok with sending me different samples to try and different diameters. I guess it just a matter of simply that. Many years ago, i had an infection and it burned like hell. I'm pretty afraid of ever having that again!

I used to have a few drops of blood and sometimes a little tissue in the caths when I used them. If you got a lot of blood you may have cut yourself with the cath with a bend in it. When using the straight cath you can apply pressure or even twirl it around a bit, but any resistence has to be overcome slowly. With the FR12 caths, they would double up inside of me when they hit resistence. The FR14 were stiff enough to not do that.

I had the burning long time ago, I'm really really afraid of that happening again!!! After the blood, i really got scared, that i might get that happening in the nextd few hours. I drank alot of fluids, it's been about 7 hours. I think I'm clear. But all of this...i just don't know...i need this so I won't get up all night, but then again, I'm fearing the infection risks. In any case, I don't feel I want to do this every night of the week. This is serious stuff.

On not getting it in.....it seemed like i had to really press hard and it just wouldn't go in....do you think that means i need a larger one or smaller one?      Almost seems i need a smaller one.

My primary Dr. is only available on Tuesdays. If i got an infection I'm in serious trouble. My wife has the car all day, i have no transportation. Emergency..is 100 dollars. Wife would refuse, no questions. With that in mind, now I'm so afraid of inserting, that i'd dwell on it all day wondering if an infections is occuring and wondering if it'll burn next time i pee.

Also, they talk about indwelling Foley's having infections due to it being in for long periods. Again, just having the intermittant in during night, then out by morning is alot less than when people have Foley's in for a week or more.

Why don't you wait to see if the cath helps. If it does, there are paraplegics who cath several times a day. My cousin's husband's bladder got so stretched it no longer works to expel urine so he caths every 6 hours.

On the other hand, if cathing doesn't solve your problem, it's all moot anyway. You should know withing a few days what works and what doesn't. If it doesn't work, or if you decide not to cath, maybe you can try using the bedside urinal in the dark and getting back to sleep. 

I was going to mention that also..that alot of people chat all the time.

You've seen this thread ...someone mentioned getting up at night to cath 3-4 times (maybe it was you).

But, if someone caths that much during the night, why don't they just go to the bathroom instead??

On infection, the best preventitive is drinking alot.

The bedside urinal...my bathroom is only 15 feet from me. I suppose it's about the same thing. I just started putting a nightlight in there instead of turning on the light.

I've heard lots as well as you have, that some have gone years with no infections, and that cathing very often.

I tried the F14 Speedicath and i had alot of blood. It is real scarely to see that happening.

I didn't cath for a day or so and tried the F12 Straight end (the speed had the curved end to it)

I didn't bleed, but it still had moments of "sting" like the 14.

I tried the F14 again last night, and same thing, even more blood. The whole tube was red, and for the next 6 times or so i p*ssed, it was blood still.            I tried sleeping with it taped only one time. That didn't seem to turn out so well as i expected. Head of my dick just felt like i had to pee, even though i really didn't. I think it was because the cath was irriating my prostrate. All of this doesn't seem to be working too well. I bought some things i needed for all night using it, which is kind of a waste now, but didn't pay too much. I had to find out.

Provider is supposed to call today on the first order. I believe the insurance will pay 100 per cent. If so, i'll just go ahead with ti and order maybe some F12 Straight ends and probably only occasionally...........put in/take out emmediately before bed. I think their could be some benifit to that.