Water for Bladder Irrigation

I've never heard of ANY physician using tap water to irrigate a bladder; at least not in the 20th century.

Tap water enemas, yes. But not for bladder irrigation. Ever.

We even used sterile saline for enemas in my unit, but our saline was cheap because we bought it in bulk, not per-patient via the pharmacy.

I don't think that tap water is a good idea. Sterile water is a much better choice.

RN-Nightengale is absolutely correct. Sterile saline is the least irritating solution. DO NOT use non-sterile solutions.

I have been catheter-dependent for almost three years, so I have used a few thousand catheters, including Foleys. My normal routine is 3-4 Coude catheters during the day for intermittent catheterization and a Foley at night. I have never had any problems with using distilled water for inflating the balloons. On the rare occasion that the Foley doesn't want to flow for some reason, I have flushed the catheter with 10-12 cc's of distilled water. That will be the first thing that comes out when it does flow, so I have not had any problems with it. The longest I have left a Foley in was about four days, when I was traveling by car. I use a belly bag, so stops are quick and easy. I wouldn't do a bladder irrigation with anything but sterile saline.

I am only using sterile solutions when I irrigate and so far (five years I have not had an UTI. I would not to take the risk of using ordinary tap water.

The only way to go is with sterile solutions. You are asking for trouble with anything else.

The bladder is not like the rectum. You need to do sterile technique here. About anything goes in the butt. One warning is acid solutions. vinegar in an enema can kill you!

Keep it safe.

Surely glad there a professionals (doctors,medical practitioner etc) in here for the free advice for what that can do and what cannot.And sharing the info how to get the best pleasure out of medfet.

THANKS A LOT DOC....

Shah malay said:

surely glad there a professionals (doctors,medical practitioner etc) in here for the free advice for what that can do and what cannot.And sharing the info how to get the best pleasure out of medfet.THANKS A LOT DOC....

Someone claiming to be a Doctor, Dr., Nurse or 'Professional, either in their screen name or their posts, is no guarantee at all that they are qualified in medicine or any other field. Some are, most or not.

For instance my patients know me as Dr Karl Stone - but I am not medically qualified!

That means taking whatever advice you are given with a pinch of salt. For instance there are lots of references here in this Topic to sterile solutions, sterile water and sterile saline. It's my opinion that you should only use IV grade saline - but then that is just my opinion.

Hello BigK, In the US we have "water for irrigation, sterile" and "normal saline for irrigation, sterile". for such procedures. They can be safely used to irrigate body cavities which open to the atmosphere or open wounds, etc.

For irrigation of internal cavities such as surgical sites which open the chest or abdomen water or saline for injection, (of course sterile), would be used.

Just an interesting observation. When a patient has "open heart" type surgeries and is placed on a bypass machine the heart is stopped so the surgeon can work on a still organ. The technique which I have seen used is to expose the heart and once the heart lung bypass is in place and working, someone in the sterile field pours a pitcher of crushed ice made with normal saline for injection onto the heart!!!! Ouchie. I'm glad that I was out for that! The liquid formed by the melting ice is removed with suction and the surgeon has his still heart to work on.

While it's definitely better to be safe than sorry, IV-grade saline is not necessary for bladder irrigation. Either plain water or saline, both labeled as sterile is standard medical practice. Even when you going in for cystoscopy and they hang a bag of water (saline or otherwise), even though it looks like a bag of IV fluid, it is generally not IV grade.

For those that keep referring to the use of distilled water, as I have written in previous posts, that is NOT the same as sterile water and should not be used. Distilled simply means that there are no solids of volatile liquids in the water. This says nothing about sterility. Water that is sterile will always be clearly marked as such.

As BigK has said, Always side with caution and use IV grade saline may be awkward to come by in some places but at least you know where its come from and that its hygenic!!

As others have mention there are solutions called " sterile water for irrigation" and "sterile normal saline for irrigation ", we use both for bladder irrigation. The use of tap water should not be used as the chlorine would cause irritation of the bladder lining. The choice of water or saline is dependent on the presence of blood, saline is much better at unblocking a catheter with blood clots. In addition if there is a lot of sediment in the tube we have a cholorhexidine bladder washout that is very effective.