Pulling a foley catheter out

Does any one know if there is some way to pulling a foley catheter out, without deflating the balloon? Maybe there is some safety valve built in, that deflates it under to much pressure?

If someone would tried this, (who obviously was not thinking straight), what kind of damage can be expected? Thanks for any advice...

There are a few type of Foley. As I now no safe valve, I suppose that you can not deflate the balloon due to malfunction of the non-return valve. Or you do not know how to drop it properly. . Press The syringes tighter into the neck and then pull the cylinder of the syringe out. It can be done by cutting the tube, but not near the penis, but near the end.

Then the balloon will empty and slowly deflate. Then gently extract the catheter.

Or go to the first aid.

Pulling a Foley out without deflating it is a really, really bad idea. You can get really hurt.

Assuming your Foley is a standard one, it will have a Luer connector for inflating/deflating valve. The "toy" single or double balloon devices have no valve.

To deflate, press the tip of an EMPTY Luer syringe firmly into the valve. Do NOT pull on the syringe, except for possibly a small tug at the very start. Pulling on the syringe can cause the tubing to collapse and prevent further water outflow. Allow the water to flow on it's own and fill the syringe. When the amount of water you initially injected is back in the syringe, just relax and you may well pass out the catheter within a minute or so.

Cutting off the fill tube is a bad idea. It can turn a problem into an ER visit.

A friend of mine pulled one out in the ER because she wanted to go home. She needed surgery to repair the damage.

I think that would create all kinds of trouble for it to be ripped out especially in a guy. The male urethra is approximately 12-14 inches long so imagine a balloon the size of a lets say golf ball being pulled out of a drinking straw. Thats what it would be like.

BIG TROUBLE

I have seen some patients pull them out. Well I mean I found them after the fact when you walk into a room and see it on the floor. Most patients who did this were bleeding but there were some that it did no damage. Some will not come out without deflating. When I worked on a cardiac ward I remember leaving a room and all of a sudden everyone is yelling at me from the nurse's station saying there was an emergency in the room I had just walked out of. When we went back into the room there was a man on the floor with his insides spread out under him. He had a triple bi-pass CABG done a few days before. He still had his foley cath in. He was an older man. But he felt like he had to pee and got up to go. The foley catheter stopped him and he fell forward. What is the first thing you do when falling forward? Hold both arms and hands up to keep from hitting the floor with your face. That ripped open his chest but the catheter was still in place. If you are going to play with catheters be safe and sterile. Don't try anything stupid just to see if you can do it.

Pulling out a fully inflated catheter is really a very easy method to permanent cause you injury that may require surgery to correct. I had patients that have pulled out a fully inflated catheter and the trauma and haemorrhage that occurred is really not worth the risk.

As for the suggestion of cutting the catheter, that is really a bad idea , there is no reason to cut it I had patients with catheters in for 3 months and the balloon, deflated without any problem. So I cannot understand why a balloon would not deflate .

RN

I have worked in the hospital. Several times patients had pulled out their catheters (coincidentally they were all males) and unfortunately there is a lot of bleeding from the penis. Not something you want to see when you walk into a patient's room.

And Tabitha is so right "always use caution" and never play in any way that can be medically dangerous unless you know what you are doing.

What kind of idiot pulls out a foley catheter without deflating it first???

Sorry but that is the only appropriate response.

I have had a few patients over the years pull out their catheters with the balloon inflated. All were males oddly enough. Idiots!

Mashie

Can you say "dumbass"

Course

My wife did it once. Her eyes were as big as basketballs!! She has a brain injury - so idiot may apply! (Joke)

W H Y ? ? ?

I’m not sure she knew what it was or what she was doing. She was confused and sort of out of it.

@gwhap

She was confused and sort of out of it.

Sorry gwhap - I didn't mean her personally!

I was more so pointing to absurdity of the initial poster asking about even the possibility of trying to do this without deflating the balloon - WHY would one want to know what would happen if it were tried? Like ANYONE would want to intentionally try something this stupid!?

If someone would tried this, . . . , what kind of damage can be expected? Thanks for any advice...

Susie

Demented one, been close for one. Been involved many. Screws up placement.

Happens often in psych.

What kind of idiot pulls out a foley catheter without deflating it first???

Sorry but that is the only appropriate response.

Well a very close relation, who has a deadly decease, broke there hip, was heavily drugged because surgery to fix the hip is to risky . Clearly delirium has set in, and they did not know what they are doing. That's who does this. Call them what you will. I'm sure one of you have a good chance of being in this predicament. And this is what we call health care? I call this BS.

My commendations go to the people who can deal with the mentally ill on a daily basis. I know I could never do that.

I need people who are either under general anesthesia or in the here and now with reasoning ability and all their marbles.

When I said to cut the catheter. This is done when the valve is defective, so it can not be emptied with siring. The balloon will empty by itself, when the valve does not hold . So is a good solution.

Water wetter when a patient is dopey and delerious that the could harm themselves by accident the are put in soft restraints to prevent it. I had a nasty ICU stay, and the damn NG tubes was pissing me off and I yanked it out , that's when trouble began that set me off. They gave me anesthetic doses of everything they could think of short of killing me. They had to up the sedatives on other patients because i screamed for 9 days straight. My hospital bill was in the millions. I was off and on every life support they had as I went thru cascade MOF multiple organ failure ever organ in my body shut down more than once. Yes, you have done taken leave of your senses as your organs push crap into the blood stream .

Me too (i.e., have had patients who pulled them out). Every one of them has been AMS (altered mental status). They just felt something was there and went for it. All the foley's i've put in have 10ml NS balloons inflated after they are in place to hold them in. They could burst coming out, but not necessarily and that's a lot to pull through a urethra. About half my patients experience pain with insertion, so i use lidocaine gel when putting one in... can't imagine pulling one out inflated on purpose, but then, i'm not into S/m.

My patients that pulled out their inflated foleys didn't have altered mental status, most of them anyway. A few did. I understand they couldn't help it, but the ones who were in their right minds, well, again, idiots.

Mashie

Would be like pulling the tail out of a cat.

Would be like pulling the tail out of a cat

. . . . THROUGH ITS MOUTH! 😁 😁 😁

First off, I cannot imagine a person attempting this unless they were mentally ill, under the influence of some mind altering drug, or ignorant of how a foley cath is designed! That said, anyone who tries this just to see what happens IS an IDIOT! Just put a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger to see what happens! We don't need you in the gene pool!

Pulling out a urethral Foley is a very, very bad idea. Even if the Foley balloon is not fully deflated prior to removal it can hurt like hell.

Several things:

First off, a urinary catheter is MUCH bigger in relation to the size of the passage than a rectal balloon catheter. A rectal catheter of the same proportions would be more that softball size.

If the catheter was recently inserted using an anesthetic gel, be extra careful. The gel deadens pain and masks possible damage.

Do not cut off the valve to deflate the balloon. It is possible for the balloon to fold back and block the exit port. In such a case the balloon will need to be partly re-inflated and you can't do that if the valve is cut off.

For similar reasons, do not pull on the syringe when deflating the catheter. Just insert the syringe tip into the valve and relax.

The syringe should gently fill with all the water originally injected. A tiny tug at the very start may be needed to unstick the piston.

When the balloon is empty the catheter usually will start to slide out slowly, without pulling, of it's own accord. I find that sliding out naturally is the most comfortable way of removal. It may take a few minutes and is usually followed by a squirt of pee. Hospital nurses don't usually do this, but IMO it's better.

If the catheter doesn't come out easily, seek real medical help. Wearing diapers when you want can be fun, but needing to for life is another matter.

In nursing school, we were shown how a catheter, when fully inflated, does not deflate if it is cut. With the visual in front of us, it was driven home to us that should that occur in a SNF or home situation, the next step is a trip to the ED.

When teaching nurses and CNAs about proper securement of an indwelling Foley, I always fully inflated a foley balloon in the classroom so that orients would quickly and very tangibly understand the implications. This exercise was particularly effective with the male caregivers.

That said, and to support what others have already posted, fully inflated catheters do get pulled out from time to time. Especially with male patients, there is usually blood and definitely pain (not the good kind). Each time requires incident reports, with all the notifications and follow ups requires per facility protocol, etc.

And almost every occurrence I have seen, the patient had a form of dementia or mental illness on board.

There one other scenario that can cause a wound similar to a inflated cath balloon and catheter being pulled out by a patient and is the reciprcol , but usually less severe. That is inflating the balloon of a catheter that has not been properly placed in the bladder and is still in the urethra when inflated. The common cause is an untrained DYI individual attempting the procedure often for the first time. The other is simply the cath was pulled back due to human error and/or a hostile disruptive patient and chaos prior to inflation. This is not a common occurrence . I raise the issue only to make light of the fact it can /does happen to untrained new Fetish enthusiasts from time to time. Fortunately pain is an alert.

What kind of idiot pulls out a foley catheter without deflating it first???

One of my late besties did. She was in the ER and wanted to go home (AMA) so she pulled the cath out, not knowing about the balloon. She didn't go home - she went to surgery to get the damage repaired.