I thought it would be a good idea to carry out a poll to see how often during the day members self catheter. We mostly know the importance of emptying the bladder fully and regular so backing up dosent occur in the kidneys but i do remember being advised that i may be able to self catheter morning and night if i dont retain too much.
As it happens i needed to catheter 4/5 times a day....but most annoying that i needed to catheter very early in the morning and sometimes i just havent felt like doing it, I guess this is the peril of not feeling a full bladder
I can feel the sensation when I need to pee, and go by that feeling. In rehab I was told I must cath every 3 to 4 hours, but thankfully there is no need for that.
I install a Foley catheter when I wake up and remove it last thing before I fall asleep. Am lucky to be able to sleep through the night and not have to self cath.
I install a Foley catheter when I wake up and remove it last thing before I fall asleep. Am lucky to be able to sleep through the night and not have to self cath.
Your very lucky indeed sherry..i know that many people end up waking very early to catheter..do you find that when you catheter in the morning you are over full? Just be careful about that...
I install a Foley catheter when I wake up and remove it last thing before I fall asleep. Am lucky to be able to sleep through the night and not have to self cath.
Your very lucky indeed sherry..i know that many people end up waking very early to catheter..do you find that when you catheter in the morning you are over full? Just be careful about that...
Well it all depends how much I drink the evening before. I try to drink 2 litres of water/fluid in total but 1.5 litres of water. If I am low, I tend to drink the missing water before going to bed. In the morning I usually have anything between 400-600 ml, I have had more though (a few times 1 litre) but they told me that wasn't good.
Before I started to install the catheter during the day I used to autocath. The days that I had an appointment in town, the adapted transport would come pick me up at 7:25. I would wake up at 5:30, cath. Get washed and dressed, and before leaving the house I would have to cath again around 7:15. When I would get to my destination around 9:00, cath again, 11:00 cath again. In the afternoon, I could start spacing them to every 3-4 hours if I wasn't too active or doing lots of transferring. In the evenings, I could almost go 5 hours. I don't take any diuretics at all, but it is like my kidneys slow down in the evening and night and kick into high gear in the morning. Even before my accident I would wake up and my rings would be tight. I don't think my feet were swollen, I only noticed my hands and after a few hours, I would be OK again once I started moving around. When I used to track my quantities we noticed (urology RN and I) that I didn't have big quantities in general in the mornings so she said I could skip the night cath but to remove the catheter as late as possible before falling asleep. I am delinquent sometimes though because the first thing I should be doing as soon as I wake up is to install the catheter and not watch TV or get on the internet or phone. That is when I have accidents because I go 8-10 hours between emptying my bladder.
What would your definition of over full be Lαrα or DJ?
sherry, I got worried for you when you said you've had a liter a few times! About 600ml should be the max but even that is really pushing it. Have a look at this post by Millard on my 'Bladder Spactisity' thread - www.inspiredsciforum.com/post/3973/thread
EDIT: The link Lαrα provided in the post above has some great info. Definitely check that out!
I cath every 3-6 hours. Kind of depends on how much I drink throughout the day and how active I am. The more active I am, the more I drink, so I will have to cath more often. I can usually go all night 8+ hours without getting up to cath. As long as I take my Oxybutynin regularly, I only go through 150 caths per month.
Post by kilg0retr0ut on Feb 10, 2014 9:12:17 GMT -8
:)I'm super fortunate. I can feel when I need to go most of the time. I'm with DJ in that it's pretty uncomfotable to cath. They wanted me to get down to 100cc's, which I believe is acceptable. I ussally get around 180-220, which is not ideal, so I'm kinda gambling. I do a modified version of the Valsalva-Crede method, which means I really don't know what I'm doing My plan or thinking is, I'll do it this way till I get a UTI.
I also want to say that when drinking alcohol, it doesn't seem to work and I have to cath.??
I will also say that this is not a reccomedation, I'm not a medical professional(should be obbvious), and anything I say in my posts is probably misinformation.
kilg0retr0ut...i know its entirely your choice but is it not worth doing a catheter in the morning at least because then at least you are empty properly morning and night.
If you are retaining some its a long time to be 'sat' there with bacteria growing but you indeed are very lucky to not have had a UTI