Texas/condom catheter - help!

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TammyS

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Joined
Aug 15, 2018
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Reason
CALS
Diagnosis
02/2017
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US
State
CT
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suburb
Hi all,

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. We have the tubing and bag pretty much below his bladder except when it comes out of the catheter and goes down his leg when sitting. It goes sraitet when he is lying down. When he goes it doesn’t empty into the bag.m all the way. Some urine sits in the catheter. He has already had a UTI recently that he had to be hospitalized . He needs to use the catheter since I have to sleep and I need to go out sometimes. The only way it gets fixed is if I remove the tubing and release the vacuum.

This is very frustrating . I was wondering if anyone else has experience with this?

Thanks,

Tammy

I can’t beiieve
 
Tammy, I have found that sometimes it’s just the bag. If you empty the bad, does that help with the vacuum and allow it to empty?

The other thing to try is to hold the tube up a bit to get it to drain.

Also, have it get off the edge of the bed as quickly as you can, it needs that downward flow.

Hope that helps.
 
Hi Tammy,

We had the same problem with the condom catheter bag not draining and I sensed it was a vacuum problem but didn't take the time to google for ideas. I just did and here's one idea I found.

Urine is not draining into the leg bag or urine collection device. Solution: Regularly empty the leg bag or collection device, always leaving a small amount of urine in the bag to avoid creating a vacuum. When a vacuum is created, it prevents urine from draining into the bag or collection unit.

I also read some people suggest blowing air into the bag before using it. It seems a lot people have had this problem and they seem to think it's a vacuum and/or malfunctioning valve problem.

We ended up using this product which worked well for us.
 

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It's common for urine to remain in the tip of the catheter, so don't mess with that.
 
Thanks everyone.

I had already tried to leave some urine and I still had the same problem. Blowing into the bag isn't very appealing. We get two bags a month so they are reused.

The Advantage wouldn't work for us since he doesn't have much use of his hands left so he would have to wake me to use it. But, thanks anyway.

Holding the tube up doesn't help. Unless I release the vacuum by disconnecting the catheter if doesn't drain.

It isn't a problem to have some urine in the tip of the catheter. The problem is when he tilts back. Since there is urine in the extension tube it pours into the catheter. Then, when he tilts back again it stays in the catheter soaking him in urine. If this doesn't possibly cause a UTI then it doesn't matter. I'm just worried that this isn't a good for him. He already is resistant to one antibiotic used for UTI.

I guess I'll have to keep on doing what I'm doing. I know people must use these successfully. I wish I knew how they do it.
 
It sounds like the catheter is too small.

I spend the day kicked back (to keep weight off my bony, chicken ass) and never leak as you've described.
 
Tammy, we only started using the advantage when he loss the use of his hands. We bought the " comfort " model and left it in place. It worked well in his recliner but needed to do some trial and error to get it to drain properly in bed. My husband was prone to UTIs and liked this because it kept him out of the urine. Kate
 
Thanks Kate.

Is he able to use it in a power wheelchair where he is reclining back and down?? Does he need to wear different kind of clothing?

Thanks,

Tammy
 
Tammy,

As you probably know, the devil is in the details, it depends on the degree of reclining " back and down". My husband never really was comfortable in his WC and preferred his lift recliner and it worked well with that, so reclining the upper body shouldn't affect it. The degree of tilt in the seat may. We taped a piece of wedge shaped foam to the underside of the urinal to get it to drain away from him when the seat was tilted back.

I'm not sure I'm clear on the clothing question. He wore flannel pants from Eddie Bower that had a buttoned fly with a privacy hand towel over the urinal that allowed us to keep it in place. Hope this helps, Kate
 
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