# Catheters...how to endure insertion?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 19, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483 "2016-03-19T01:44:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pianodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pianodave)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/1 "2016-03-19T01:44:41Z")
Hi SD,
I am going to the urologist soon for a urodynamics test. They insert a catheter through your penis and into your bladder, whereupon they fill you up with saline and measure your bladder function as you urinate. I am not looking forward to the catheter insertion. Can anyone give me any advice on how to endure it? I know it is more uncomfortable than painful, per se, but I wonder if anyone with experience in such procedures has any helpful hints. I don’t have a high pain tolerance, and people have told me that even the big burly tough guys scream upon insertion of the catheter. I mean, unless you’re into sounding (is that the term?) nobody puts things up there that often!
Thanks,
Dave
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### Author:  [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/2 "2016-03-19T02:02:12Z")
I don’t know if it’s possible for your procedure, but you can ask for numbing medicine (lidocaine jelly) to be squirted up there first.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/3 "2016-03-19T02:06:19Z")
I’ve had a couple post-surgery, when my bladder wasn’t working properly and they needed to drain the snake manually, so to speak. In my experience it wasn’t _painful_. It was, however, wildly uncomfortable and unpleasant.
Honestly, it’s very much a “lie back and think of England” situation.
The good news is that once it’s in, you’re golden.
Heh.
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### Author:  [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/4 "2016-03-19T02:14:10Z")
It doesn’t really hurt so much as feel weird. I’ve never seen anyone scream or even try to involuntarily move away from the discomfort. Try to not watch and count backwards by 3 and you probably won’t even notice.
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### Author:  [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/5 "2016-03-19T02:15:41Z")
I found removal a lot worse than insertion. Make sure they use lots of lube.
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### Author:  [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/6 "2016-03-19T02:17:01Z")
I had the pleasure of catheter insertion last year, for a process similar to yours. It was extremely unpleasant and uncomfortable, but was not painful, and not nearly as bad as I’d been led to believe it would be. Since I have an extremely low pain threshold (my position on the manly toughness scale is “Sissy”), I wonder if a man who screams during insertion might have already-inflamed urethra.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/7 "2016-03-19T02:22:51Z")
[What a pisser.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmA7Nm4qvGE)
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### Author:  [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/8 "2016-03-19T02:51:41Z")
I’ve done dozens of catheter insertions, male and female, and no one has ever screamed. No one has ever screamed on removal, either. I’ve had a catheter or two inserted myself related to hospitalizations and surgery, it’s a bit undignified and an unusual sensation more than anything.
My advice: take a few deep breaths and relax.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/9 "2016-03-19T03:47:18Z")
It’s been a little while but I think I can approximate the sound I made when they inserted the thing. I went like this:
“Nngggghhhhawwwthhphhhppppththppbththhppnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooooooooothankyou.”
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### Author:  [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/10 "2016-03-19T04:19:05Z")
I’d say “be in unmedicated transitional back labor with a stuck baby; you won’t care WHAT they do to you”, but since you’re a guy, I guess I can’t help.
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/11 "2016-03-19T04:24:57Z")
The times I’ve had it done, it was done while I was unconscious. Removal I was so eager to get the damn thing out that I didn’t really care.
Hubby has had the procedure you’re describing among others involving kidney stones. Based on his experience lube, or the numbing gel help. Based on his expression, I’d say the whole thing feels “weird” and not in a good way.
So very endurable, but definitely strange.
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### Author:  [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/12 "2016-03-19T06:32:16Z")
Came back to add this: some time after my catheter experience, I was talking with one of the nurses about how unpleasant but not painful it was, and she agreed (apparently it’s “the same, only different” for women); I cracked up when she said “It doesn’t really hurt, but it’s so _wrong_ on so many levels.”
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/13 "2016-03-19T08:33:29Z")
I was recently treated for a kidney stone, and as part of the procedure had a catheter inserted while under a general anesthetic. So I felt no pain when it was inserted, but it was somewhat painful for the day or so that it remained in my urethra – I had to be very careful while moving around in bed, including while I was trying to sleep.
On the other hand, when it was removed I felt no pain, and only relief that it had been removed.
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/14 "2016-03-19T11:55:04Z")
> [@pianodave](#):
>
> Hi SD,
>
> I am going to the urologist soon for a urodynamics test. They insert a catheter through your penis and into your bladder, whereupon they fill you up with saline and measure your bladder function as you urinate. I am not looking forward to the catheter insertion. Can anyone give me any advice on how to endure it? I know it is more uncomfortable than painful, per se, but I wonder if anyone with experience in such procedures has any helpful hints. I don’t have a high pain tolerance, and people have told me that even the big burly tough guys scream upon insertion of the catheter. I mean, unless you’re into sounding (is that the term?) nobody puts things up there that often!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave
Um, I hate to tell you this but a urodynamics test involves more than one catheter. :eek:
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### Author:  [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/15 "2016-03-19T13:20:59Z")
I’ve had a couple of catheters inserted (surgery and kidney stones).
Ask the nurse to let you know when she is starting, take a deep breath, and exhale slowly.
It’s not that bad. As others have said, undignified and uncomfortable, but not bad.
Also, don’t be alarmed if you see brownish stains. That’s Betadine, not blood.
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### Author:  [@pianodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pianodave)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/16 "2016-03-19T14:09:28Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> Um, I hate to tell you this but a urodynamics test involves more than one catheter. :eek:
Meh. I’m not nearly as scared of the other one. Thanks for the advice, everyone.
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/17 "2016-03-19T16:05:19Z")
Don’t let them use whale bone:
> **[Gouverneur Morris | Death and legacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouverneur_Morris#Death_and_legacy)**
>
> Morris died on November 6, 1816, after he had caused himself internal injuries and an infection while using a piece of whalebone as a catheter in an attempt to clear a blockage in his urinary tract. He died at the family estate, Morrisania, and was buried at St. Ann's Church in The Bronx.
> Morris's great-grandson, also named Gouverneur Morris (1876–1953), was an author of pulp novels and short stories in the early 20th century. Several of his works were adapted into films, including the famous Lo...
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/18 "2016-03-19T19:22:46Z")
> [@pianodave](#):
>
> Meh. I’m not nearly as scared of the other one. Thanks for the advice, everyone.
😕 Two catheters at the same time? :eek: Where does the other one go?
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/19 "2016-03-19T19:25:10Z")
There are worse medical procedures. Take it like a man.
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### Author:  [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catheters-how-to-endure-insertion/749483/20 "2016-03-19T19:53:14Z")
As an 8y/o boy with health issues caused by an enlarged bladder I was inserting a catheter myself twice a day. It’s hardly the end of the world and certainly not my worst medical experience.
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