Guys with UI, why not use condom catheters?

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Hi @laalaauk, I don't know where the word bugaboo comes from. I think my dad used it and it may be something the troops in World War II might have used. I does sound kind of like military slang, doesn't it? From my own Navy days I know some other military slang which shan't be seen here!!!
All kidding aside it does sound like you have been really pro-active with your system and that is an accomplishment! And it's great there is no more bladder ache during the day. One less thing to worry about, right??

 

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Columbia’s “Bugaboo” ski coat was my favorite ever. I had several back-to-back. They don’t make them any more, unfortunately.

 

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That's interesting @snow! The origins are especially interesting seeing as how it comes from Welsh and Cornish. Our contemporary language owes so much to ye olde Englishe and Welsh, Cornish etc.
I didn't know that there was a Bugaboo ski coat either. Maybe someday they'll come back and make them again.

 

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I'd rather just wear a diaper to be honest. Nothing about the condom cath seems more convenient or dignified than a diaper in my estimation. Perhaps I've just gotten used to diapers and don't feel a need to seek out an alternative solution.

 

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Personally, the idea of a condom catheter just seems much worst than a diaper and less discrete than a diaper. I usually wear athletic shorts so hiding a leg bag would be difficult and also with how active I am, I feel like it would come loose and make leaks much moe likely

 

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I use diapers and plastic pants for my bedwetting. I don't think I'll use a condom catheter. I hear the adhesive used to secure everything can be irritating.

 

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Hi @greengold4, I don't think that leg bags and athletic shorts would go together at all!!! :O And having a leg bag hugging the side of your leg would be far less discrete than a diaper! And that's not to mention if you should move suddenly or jump at something and the whole blasted assembly should come loose and make things a lot more obvious than a diaper hiding under shorts ever would!

 

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I sometimes sleep with my intermittent catheter in on my right side just to avoid waking up with a very full bladder and severe Autonomic Dysreflexia which causes a spike in blood pressure. I sleep like a rock and don't move at all, so that works for me. But I'm paralyzed and can't feel. I wouldn't expect you guys to shove one of those up there unless you were sadistic lol.

I guess you lost me Dean when you said you use a intermittent, as without a balloon like a Foley, just a slight movement would with draw a intermittent. With me a bladder spasm out it would go. I have had lots of experience also with them, so I wondered

 

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@Boomersway I know that probably confused some, that's why I posted the picture. I sleep very still, so I usually have no problem when I do it. Sometimes if I get hard during the night, it'll push it away a bit, then I just have to move the cap closer to me and thats it. Sometimes the tube will slide out back into the bag and I wake up with my head spinning, so then a little push in and the floodgates open lol.

 

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@DeanLikesToHelp so why not just use and depend on a Foley for the evening? I just cant imagine anyone not dislodging as you mention what you have setup. But I guess if it works for you then that is all that counts

 

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@Boomersway main reason i do it this way is because I’m a quadriplegic. I do not leak. This intermittent catheter is easy to put in and since I don’t move, it stays in place. When I wake up I slide it out and off the bed into my small garbage can.
I sleep naked because I want my skin to breathe AND because since I can’t feel below my chest, anything that I wear, that can wrinkle or bunch up under me can cause a pressure mark.
As far as a foley goes, for me it’s overkill. But that’s in my situation. I know what I do won’t work for everyone, but it works great for me, so it’s just one more possibility that I’m offering.
Being a Quadriplegic, there’s a lot of things throughout daily life that I have to make work differently.

 

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That's as very good explanation, @DeanLikesToHelp. It is a matter of adapting and finding the best thing that works, as you have done.

 

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That’s a smart idea Dean. People often forget that when someone has parts of their body that are stationary until physically moved that gives you an advantage to be creative in ways others can’t.

 

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@billliveshere thank you and exactly.
@jrpoorman thank you and yea i'm definitely creative. that's why i always offer to help. when i succeed at making a difference, i always finish with 2 words... "problem solver!" lol

 

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Hey, Dean, you're most welcome!

 

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Dean:
I've used diapers for 5+ years and a few times have tried condom catheters (CC's) to see if they would work for me. Unfortunately no matter how meticulous I was in applying them I would sometimes get a "blowoff" where the CC would come entirely off and generally cause a huge leak. I even tried a Posey strap and medical tape to help keep them on and it did help a bit but I still had some leaks. I even tried wearing a pull-up over the CC but that made routing the tube difficult and would sometimes contribute to pulling on the catheter. I also found it difficult to route the tubing to a thigh bag without constantly getting a kink in the tube or catheter tip which would then lead to a significant leak or blowoff. A leg bag worn on the calf did work better but wasn't really an option as I wear shorts most of the year here in Florida.

The only real positives I could find was that for a trip there was relatively little bulk compared to diapers and, barring a leak, your skin stayed completely dry. However the fact that I would so often have a leak never gave me the confidence I needed to use them in a public setting. I tried several things to hold the leg bag such as special leg straps, leg sleeves, briefs with pockets for holding the bag, and even a suspender belt arrangement. These worked better then the the cheap leg straps that come with the bags, but there were still issues, mainly with kinking. I honestly think I tried everything (even the Men's Liberty version) to make them work well enough to give me complete confidence in them but never got to that point. Compare that to using diapers in which I have nearly 100% confidence and my choice became obvious.

OK, all of that said I started thinking why anyone would want to use a condom catheter and came up with a rather interesting thought. Maybe it has a lot to do with the extreme stigma of wearing a (OMG!) diaper. I'm sure that for a huge majority of people the thought of wearing a diaper is horrifying, and might drive people to use any other alternative, especially so if a doctor were to recommend it. Not to mention that so many people have been led to believe that urine is "dirty" and something akin to nuclear waste, that they want absolutely nothing to do with it ever touching their skin.

OK, these are just some of my experiences and thoughts about this topic and I suspect that external catheters have worked well for some and would like to hear from those that have had good luck with them. Other comments are of course encouraged.

 

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Hi @Padded53, It's just like everything else in dealing with incontinence.
Everybody is different so everybody's needs are also different from anyone else's, even for those whose incontinence circumstances are strikingly similar. After all, you've got body size and shape, mobility, overall lifestyle and just good ol' personal preferences to consider!
But one thing that is common to all of us, it is necessary to experiment with different methods to find which one works best for us.
re: urine is dirty. Generally it isn't, unless the urine is infected, like with a bladder or kidney infection. Otherwise there should be no harm in it touching the skin but it is good for hygiene purposes to wash it off at the first opportunity.

 

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@billliveshere, I think that most all of us here on NAFC know that urine isn't intrinsically "dirty" but as you said it can be a source for bacteria growth, especially when exposed to air. However my point was specifically that probably a huge majority of continent people feel that it is "dirty" (probably learned from childhood) and will have nothing to do with it, or diapers, which would obviously hold it close to their skin. Hence making them seek alternate methods of protection which, as you also mentioned may suit their situation better than diapers.

That said here's a short true story that I feel illustrates my point...
One of my best friends got prostate cancer but caught it early enough that radiation treatment was recommended. He had the radiation and irradiated gold pellet inserted and from what he and his doctors can tell eliminated the cancer. All well and good, but I noticed that he seemed to have to urgently run to the bathroom every hour or so, which much to my surprise did not seem to bother him much. When I noticed this I mentioned that he might want to try a "Depends" like he knows I use. Well, you just can't imagine the horrified look on his face when I mentioned it. And that was as he was yet again running to get to the bathroom.

 

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Hi @Padded53, That friend must think the "cure is worse than the disease!" If I had to make all of those urgent runs to the bathroom I think that would bother me quite a bit, realizing that using Depends would at least make things a bit less inconvenient.
But I do agree that many people think urine is "dirty," and I'll bet you dollars to do-nuts it was something learned from early childhood. But when there is all sorts of good protection made these days for us we do have choices in ways to manage it, which does not exclusively restrict one to diapers.