I use 30 fr Foley with a 30cc balloon. I have never had any pain or discomfort inserting these. On the contrary, it feels rather good. No, make that REALLY good! I do encounter a bit of discomfort pulling them back out especially after 8 hours or more but it’s really not that bad. It seems like after going through a really good session, it just makes me want to do it again. It’s really quite habit-forming.
I like to inflate the balloon to the neighborhood of 100-120 mls. I know that sounds outrageous but I have never had any issues with it. ‘Course, there’s always a first time!
I read somewhere where one guy kept working his way up inflating the balloon each time more and more until he passed 200+ something before it finally burst. So, I think 100 mills is the safe limit – 120 at the very outside.
There is one thing, however, that frightens me about using a Foley catheter. In fact, it positively horrifies me. There is a remote possibility that once the balloon is fully inflated you might not be able to deflate it again. The occurrence of such an incident is very rare but it DOES, in fact, happen on occasion. When and if that should ever happen, you would be in real trouble. I don’t know how you’d ever get it out without professional help.
Therefore, I often just plain prefer to use intermittent catheters which gives me a lot more peace of mind. Trouble is, they have to be taped to stay in and that’s a real pain in the a__.
With intermittent caths, I like to use 30FR, 32 FR, 38FR and 40FR. 34 & 36 Fr don’t seem to be available anymore – I have no idea why.
Personally, I find wearing a 30 FR Foley far more comfortable and enjoyable but there’s always that inkling of doubt in the back of my mind. What if I can’t deflate the balloon? That probably happens in one out of a million catheters but it’d be just my luck that…..