Sean said
With a Foley in, there are several options for pee control:
If you plan on staying in bed or on a chair, there are big pee bags available which typically hold 2000ml... a day or night's worth. These allow you to sleep through the night without getting up to pee, but they are completely impossible to hide.Everyone can see you are peeing.
If you want to be mobile, you can use a bag that straps to your leg. They hold less than a bed bag, but typically enough for 6 to 8 hours. Several sizes are available.
A really nice option is the Belly Bag. These are placed over your pubic area and have a belt, hold 1000m,l and are all but invisible under loose clothing. Also, the warm bag of pee feels quite sensual. The down side is they cost about $20 each. It is also possible to sleep with a belly bag. I like them a lot.
Finally, you can use a catheter plug, clamp, or valve. With this option the pee stays in your bladder until manually released. Fitted with one of these, guys probably have to pee like a woman... sitting on a toilet.
Catheter play can be fun, but complete sterility is an absolute MUST. Also, use only new, sealed, sterile equipment. Never cut corners. While you supposedly can cleanse and reuse pee bags, I would not. Catheter prep kits are cheap. Use them.
While Sean said he doesn't reuse pee bags, I have found, living on a limited income I have to wash and clean my pee bags. Yes they are not super cheap, especially belly bags. Many of the catheter suppliers have very good instructions on how to wash out and clean your pee bags. I have done that a number of times and I have yet to have a problem with my pee bags. I do need to order some more of them, leg bags are the ones I need the most. I find wearing a catheter very freeing. Taking diuretics, I have to pee a lot. I also have to drink a lot of water, so I am always going to the bathroom. I usually wear Depends since I leak at times. My leakage is better than it used to be. I would go through 3 to 4 Depends a day with leakage. Now I don't have that problem. I would void without warning before the botox injections. Now I have some control, but not total control, so a catheter is a very nice way to stop the frequent accidents or leakage.
I use a Foley FR-30 with a 30 cc baloon, inflated to about 40 cc. The catheter says inflate to 30 to 50 cc. The 50 cc is for fellows who have their prostrate removed and the 50 cc fits into the bladder better than just a 30 cc inflated balloon, so I have been told. I don't know for sure.
After a few hours now, I don't even know I have a catheter in me. I know it when I have to empty my bag, a leg bag and I know it a tad more when I have to empty my overnight bag. I usually use a 2000 ml bag overnight. I do have a couple 4000 ml overnight bags, but they don't have any anti reflux valves in them. I don't know why they don't make them, but so far I have not found any. I have hid my use of a bed bag, 2000 ml by hanging the bag on the inside of my sweat pants, the urine has to flow out of my bladder and up the tube into the bag, similar to a belly bag, and so far no one knows I have my bed bag on me.I have also done that with a 4000 ml bag. It is a tad uncomfortable, but sometimes you have to do something a tad unconventional. No one knows you are peeing, but you have the peace of mind that you don't have to find a place to empty your leg bag.
When I first started wearing a catheter, I noticed I had it in me for at least the first 12 hours or there about. Now I know my catheter is in me for about an hour. After that, I don't even feel it at all. Then after the 12 hour mark, I started to notice I didn't feel the catheter at all. I have noticed that when I read some of the posts on Zity, I find a lot of fluid coming down my catheter and I get a bit of a hard on while reading many posts. I then notice the catheter more when that happens.
I can wear my Foley Catheter for at least 4 weeks and then change it out for a new Foley catheter. I like one brand over others. Seems to me the catheter I use the opening is closer to the balloon than others. I like the Rusch catheters over other brands. I am not allergic to latex and so I use those.
What I really enjoy about using a catheter is that I can drink as much as I want, I drink water, some coffee and now and then a pop. All of that goes through me rather quickly, so a catheter drains my bladder and I don't have to run to the bathroom every few minutes. When I drank beer, I could drink 3 or 4 beers and not have to go to the bathroom. Then when I drank the 5 th beer, it seems the other 4 beers started to come out almost instantly. Had I been wearing a catheter, it would have made life much easier.
Now I can get a good night's sleep. I don't have to get up and go pee every hour and a half, I sleep all night, the overnight bagt hangs on my bed, I have to arraingn the tube so that I don't pull on my catheter while I sleep. It is so nice not to have to get up to pee or to wake up and use a urinal so I don't have to get up and head to the bathroom.
The other thing I like about wearing a catheter is that when I have my catheter in me and I am naked, I like the looks of a catheter hanging out of my penis. I don't have kids at home and my wife doesn't give a damn about me wearing a catheter. She doesn't care if I am naked or not and if I have a catheter in me or not. She says, if you are happy, then fine with me. She doesn't F**k me any more, she claimes sex hurts and she doesn't care about sex with me at all. She has been that way for years.( 10 years or more)
I can shower with my catheter in me, I can't swim in the lake, take a bath or use a hot tub. The water would go right my catheter into my bladder and cause all kinds of problems if it went up the outside of my catheter. I would put a plug in my catheter if I could do that.
I don't plug my catheter for a very long time. I worry about urine backing up to my kidneys and causing problems, so a plug or valve to me is worry some. For a short time I plug my catheter, but for a long time, over 20 minutes, I don't do it. Some people do do it, that is fine for them, but not for me.
Are there some disadavantages to pee bags, yes, the straps that go around your leg are a pain in the butt. By now I would have figured that someone would find a better way to hold the leg bags than what has happened. I like the latex straps the best and then the ones that have some elastic in there with velcro attachments. The stretch ones with buttons are the worst in my opinion.
If you are going to wear a catheter, I will say that I love the feel of the catheter in me. Now and then I do have some leakage, just a little, far better than what I have without wearing a catheter. From all the videos that I have watched, each nurse has said that leakage occurs and not to worry about it. All you have to do is pull on the catheter to make sure it is in place and you are good to go.
Enjoy wearing a catheter, play safe and be smart with what you do. Be clean, if you suspect you have a UTI, get to your Dr. get some drugs to clear it up Don't be afraid to tell you Dr. how you got it. Remember, fever, chills, being hot and cold are signs that you have a problem
Today I can't type worth a damn. I have edited this post about a dozen times.