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I am not medically qualified so my responses are based on my experience or thoughts. I can produce anything from 300ml to 1100 ml of urine overnight, so the urine is slowly dribbling out of my bladder into the catheter and onto the bag/bags, I assume any debris and forming clots will settle in the bottom of the bladder and the urine will flow freely through the slots in the catheter, of course tossing and turning will alter the position of the bottom of the bladder. I have never woke up at night with a blocked catheter. Once awake and mobile the Debris etc has a better chance of blocking the slots, a removed catheter often seems to have gunge around the slots. When mobile the catheter tip and balloon does have the ability to rub against the wall of the bladder causing debris and producing blood.
Not emptying the bag often enough can slow the flow of urine through the bladder and presumably increases the chances of infection. Catheters do get colonized with bacteria, I have had the brown coloured catheters fitted that have an antibacterial coating.
I am issued with and have used flushing bottles to release blockages but sounds like Dad may not be capable of that. When flushing a catheter yourself it is easy to feel what is happening, having an untrained person doing for you is not recommended.
I would not want much more than a size 18 catheter in the urethra, I have had a size 18 and it was like having toothache that never goes away. The number size on a catheter is a French gauge for catheters not mm.
I hope you can get a solution for your Dad.
I mentioned instillagel in the last post make sure they use when changing the catheter and they should allow five minutes for the anesthetic to kick in.
Thanks Chris
Edited by member 02 Jan 2019 at 10:37
| Reason: Added last paragraph