Dangers of Sounds/Catheters

Urethral sounds are instruments designed to dilate (stretch) narrow areas of the urethra. In the past, these were most often caused by infections (primarily STD's), injury, or scarring following surgery on the prostate. Catheters are designed to empty the bladder, when you can't pee normally.

There are dangers to this form of play that should be recognized! The urethra and bladder are sterile, and any insertion can cause infection of the bladder (UTI) and possibly the Kidneys (there is a difference). The body DOES NOT BECOME IMMUNE to bacteria. The body fights infection through the immune system (White blood cells, etc.). There may also be chronic infections that are asymptomatic (No symptoms... burning, fever, etc.). Symptoms may be masked by by repeated insertions, causing decreased sensitivity of the urethra. In addition, repeated instrumentation can result in scarring, perforation of the urethra and or bladder (poking a hole through the urethra or bladder), creation of a "false channel" (which is a type of perforation, especially in males), and other significant problems. The smaller the SOUND, the higher the risk of perforation creation of a "false channel" (sharper point).

If you play....BEWARE! Some complications can endanger you life at the worst, or result in long term complications .

^^^^ You should read the threads and posts under this topic. There are numerous posts stating what you say, but I guess reiteration of the dangers is beneficial to those who might try something, that is, shall we say ill-advised (read: stupid).

The truth is, most of us who partake in this type of play are either knowledgeable and experienced or are asking questions about how to do it safely. There are very few reckless posts on this topic.

I'm not being judgmental.

I have read the threads. There are no mentions of perforation, false channel creation, etc. There is also a persistent thread in the posts that "infection is not a problem, because I have never had one". Furthermore, I personally have seen a patient die from a bladder perforation from passing a sound by a urologist. Experience isn't always enough. Before any play, know all the risks to make an informed decision.

[quote author=DoctorA12 link=topic=16263.msg168033#msg168033 date=1231528051]

I'm not being judgmental.

I have read the threads. There are no mentions of perforation, false channel creation, etc. There is also a persistent thread in the posts that "infection is not a problem, because I have never had one". Furthermore, I personally have seen a patient die from a bladder perforation from passing a sound by a urologist. Experience isn't always enough. Before any play, know all the risks to make an informed decision.

[/quote]

I have made many posts of the concerns of sounds and catheter insertions, many more than I can search out, but I have definitely mentioned puncturing or otherwise damaging the integrity of the urethra. I have also made special warnings to people about injuring their own urethra being one thing, but damaging their partner's urethra out of ignorance or carelessness is quite another and that they are probably not so likely to forgive you especially if the damage is permanent.

Yes, I know there are persistent erroneous posts about not having to worry about infections because "so and so" never had one.

Hi Doc and everyone,

I am now quite worried. I have always practised BDSM safely and no permanent damage has ever occurred. Lately I've bought some sounds for urethral play in sharp shiny metal and I've used them.

I've always paid attention to sterilise them before and no real harm has occurred apart from some burning feeling when urinating one or two days after.

The last time has been one week ago when I decided to try inserting 3 smaller sounds instead of one.

After two days I started to feel a certain pain under my groin on the external side. Touching from outside I can feel some irregular shapes over and I'm very much afraid of a permanent damage. I don't feel pain while urinating but i'm afraid I might have caused perforations or created a false channel. Yesterday seemed to be better but today the pain is still there. I am very worried but at the same time I really wouldn't know how to explain this to my urologist. What is your advice? Many thanks Dosh - Italy

Oh Switchablesusie - to late does Dosh discover the dangers of improvisation - he has, he says a set of sounds, presumably of varying diameters - but chooses to use 3 smaller ones. Just about as advisable I'd say as using a pen, a paintbrush or a 6" nail!

When will people learn to play safe, to go slow, to ask what to do (or not to do) before they get a problem, not after!

Dosh - dash off to the urologist NOW. Take your set of sounds with you and explain what you did. Ask to be checked over. When the urologist has done this ask him to dispose of your set of sounds in the trash.

I really hope you're ok but its a hard lesson to learn.

If you have been trained on using caths and sounds then you should not have to worry as much. But you do always want to have saftey first.

Sounds and dilators are, indeed instruments that need to be treated with respect. Never, ever force a sound. Allow the weight of the instrument and gravity to carry it in. Technique can only be learned by doing. Probably, an experienced U.P. devotee has as good, if not better technique than the average urologist. Play safe, go slow, understand the possible consequences, and make informed decisions.

Speed

To put it simply and safely in my opinion, the only people that are truly trained, understanding, and knowledgeable about how to properly use sounds and catheters are doctors and medical personnel (yes, I'm talking real here). You could read every book, watch every educational movie, practice on yourself as many times as you like, but until you've graduated from medical school or nursing school there's no way that you can be up to that standard. Don't get me wrong, doctors can make mistakes, they're human, but I think that they are way less likely to screw up something they probably do at least a couple of times a day than someone who has cathed someone twice a few years ago, or worse, it's their first time.

My two cents, take it or leave it.

Ba3003, are you serious? The nurses over in the UK are not allowed to insert a catheter? Geeze, somedays that seems that's all I get done, lol. Over here we also allow paramedics and med techs to do catheters, and they are lower than a nurse, but higher than an STNA. Interesting.

In Italy the nurses do it without any problem, normal job for them ...

M.

Apologies to my UK friend ba3003 - but nurses in the UK are allowed to catheterize males and females, at least in the two Primary Care Trusts that I'm familiar with - but yes, they obviously are trained as in all procedures they do.

It was a nurse professional who taught me to catheterise women. As in everything I do I make sure I experience everything for myself (excluding vaginal speculums, lol) but she wouldn't catheterise me because she had not been trained on males - She got the training and I got a 16Fr inserted at the next meeting - and she trained me to catheterise males too!

Like all invasive procedures the sterility aspect is paramount - physically there's little difference in the insertion. In real life, patients who require ongoing catheterisation are taught to do it at home. The training I received taught me to use a catheterisation pack to create a sterile field and I've used these ever since. I commend them - in several years catheterising my patients I've never caused a UTI though it has to be said that the familiar 'burning' sensation in the first couple of subsequent urinations has occasionally happened.

I have a really cool stainless steel urethral vibrator but i use it mainly on asses that need to be relaxed a little berore inserting my finger prior to doing a prostate exam and massage. I would never use it in a urethra unless I autoclaved it first.

I was trained to self-cath when I was having problems with urinary retention. At that time, there were also times when I had a Foley for up to a couple weeks.

I've got to say that the Foley gave me some ... interesting ... sensations. Inserting the cath myself was not a big deal, mainly because it was functional, not playtime.

That being said, no one is going to play with me in that way unless they were medically trained.