Advice Needed - Catheters

[Narrowminded]

Hi All,

As most of you know we have been at this for a very long time. You may have been told that ALS will not affect your bladder/bowels. That may be the case if your PALS goes quickly, but if you choose to vent and they stick around longer than the suggested time frame, you may end up dealing with this issue.

Brian has had no control over either for at least a year if not two. My biggest issues is keeping something in place for the urine issues. Generally he needs help moving his bowels, so we haven't dealt with any explosions.

We have been using Condom Caths for years, as it started as a way to help over night. However, they cannot stay on forever and you need to give the penis rest or it will get sores. During the off time we use a urinal and now I've got one that has a bag attached.

Here's my issue, the condom caths regularly fall off. I've done searches and I've tried every suggestion with keeping them on. Also the urinals, somehow move. The man can't move a muscle, but somehow comes out of the urinal placed there for him. I check it every time I touch him.

I woke this morning to a bed that was soaked, due to the condom cath coming off sometime over night. That means, changing the whole turkey works, by myself with the dead weight of a man 6'2 in the bed. Never easy or fun. Get him changed, get the bed changed, get the floor mopped because everything was so soaked it left puddles, get that stuff into the washer. Go back in and somehow, someway, the urinal had moved and he had again peed himself. Fortunatley it was only the pad under him that was wet, but that is still not a fun process to change. Now my back is hollaring at me.

Anyway, I'm wondering if any of you have gone the route of an internal urinary catheter. I know they increase the risk for UTI's, but I'm not sure my body can take the abuse of having to make these bed changes routinely, by myself. If I can schedule sheet changes for when one the kids are here, it's much easier, but I can't leave him soaked for hours waiting for help, it must be done.

Brian is not in favor of an interal cath. He's had them in the hospital and hated them, said they hurt. My thought on that is a couple of things. A) wrong size, B) maybe he's allergic or slightly to latex, as they just used that kind there.

Anyone use them and then they finally get used to it, after a time. Hospital stays are short, and rare, so not much time to get used to it. Or has anyone used a silicone one to stay away from the latex?

Any help would be appreciated.

Hugs,

Sue

 

[affected]

If you decide on a catheter, and yes lots of male PALS here in Australia have them placed, go for the suprapubic as there is a far lower incidence of UTI with this placement.

You are right - you need a far better solution both for your energy, your back and for both of you as people!

 

[bkite]

I am using a condom catheter. The original prescription worked fine, but subsequent refills were loose fitting, until we had the size changed to the next smaller. If the condom catheter failed often, I would go with the supra pubic catheter, as already recommended. Your PALS sounds like he needed to have this a while back.

 

[gooseberry]

There is a wipe to use that is sticky and helps the condom cath stay in place. It might help. Depends might be an option...you could cut them off. If he feels it coming on you could use chucks/pee pads and make your own absorbent diaper. You would only need to clean your husband up that way.

This might work

 

[Narrowminded]

Tilllie and bkite - Don't know if Brian would qualify for surgery. Have to research that some. He hasn't even seen a physician face to face (except for a hospital stay) for years due to his inability to travel now. If placing a suprapubic cath took general anesthesia it probably could not happen.

bkite - I've also thought about a smaller condom cath, but I'm not sure that alone would fix the issues. I will however see if I can get a few and try them.

Goose - Brian can't tell me when he's going to go, it just comes. We have cloth resuable chucks under him at all times. Placeing an removing depends would be as bad as changing his current pads. If its a small issues, as just the urinal moving and being caught quickly, the sheets are saved, however when something happens at night, i don't know it and even he didn't realize it had happened in his sleep. We used depends when he was up in his wheelchair, they're not perfect either. If they are not position inside correctly, they just pee right out of it. I will look for those wipes.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and suggestions. Off to do some research.

Hugs,

Sue

 

[Narrowminded]

Ok, did some research on the suprapubic cath. It might be a possability for him, I mentioned it to him and he didn't seem to like that idea, any better than a regular foley cath. Sometimes I think he just doesn't understand what I go through dealing with this. These are the times that are trying with trying to follow his wishes and protecting myself. How to reconcile that is what is hard and questionable.

Hugs,

Sue

 

[Nuts]

I've been g to figure this out for over a year. I asked the VA and our HHA for help, and neither offered any good advice. Between the important member retracting and the VA guessing and sending condom catheters that were too small (figured that out when he got open sores from pinching), I gave up for awhile. I finally googled alternatives to condom caths and came up with Men's Liberty. It attaches to just the tip of the penis. I just figured out how to use Medicare and Tricare and I think I finally have them on order. This waking every couple hours to hold the bottle is almost as bad as having to deal with it when he's in the chair. He is not amused when I spill....

Oh, funny story...we all know most bidets don't work unless someone is sitting on them. Well, if you raise the guy in the lift very, very slowly, and if you are for some reason I can't even remember bending over in front of him, you CAN get sprayed in the face if you forgot to turn off the water. Sigh...at least it wasn't pee...

I also saw other products that seal against the body instead of the penis. I can't believe I had to figure this out myself (or should I say HAVE to, because we're not home yet).

Now, who can help me with the best way to attach a bag to the permobile, since using a leg bag really doens't make sense for a guy who can't stand and whose legs are now so skinny.

Becky
The Queen of Pee

 

[Narrowminded]

Becky - funny about the bidet. Please let me know how these work out for you. My concern after watching some videos is about the tip still getting sores. When you get them can you also let me know if what attaches is hard or soft. I'm still leary, I guess just way too many times having the change the bed both with the condom caths and with leaving a urinal there.

Wishing you best of luck with this unit.

Hugs,

Sue