# Just had a catheter removed. Pissing fire! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 7, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280 "2009-01-07T20:53:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/21 "2009-01-08T06:40:56Z")
I had a foley catheter last month for my heart surgery. I never saw it, but it was wonderful not having to get out of bed in the ICU with tubes running out of my chest (never saw those either God bless morphine!) when I needed to pee. Taking it out was a bit uncomfortable, as was peeing for a few days after, but it went away before the constipation did. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/22 "2009-01-08T07:50:31Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > To be more specific I had the cystoscopy, which hurt, and then had a catheter for a urodynamics test. > > Along with a probe up my ass. FUn time. I only had to a flow test - pee in flow measuring device. So I got up in the morning, and drank almost a liter of water. I get to the hospital two hours later, get shown the machine and told to pee. OK. I was full, but a bit nervous, and had some issues getting going, but did the deed. I went out to talk to the nurse, she looked at me and said “I’m really sorry, but the machine sensor failed. You’ll have to do it again.” ☹ So we did a bladder volume scan, some talking bits, and she sent me off for a blood test. I was waiting there about 20 minutes, and the rest of the water I had drunk was moving through. I finally saw the phlebotomist, and I offered my left arm, the one everyone uses. She picked the worst vein, missed as it moved, tried again, and pulled the needle out (and watched as the vein started bleeding). :smack: By now, I am basically crossing my legs. I **need** to get back to the urology dept. The phlebotomist sticks my right arm, gets the vein, fills the tube, and I can go. I quick-marched back to urology, told the receptionist to find the nurse _stat_ because I couldn’t wait, got to the flow machine, and peed for England. My water came out clearer than it went in. I had so much urine, my kidneys ached (along with my stuck arms). :dubious: Anyhow, all done now, and I have to wait for the consultant to review my notes, to see if I need further … _investigations_, probably all of the above mentioned procedures. :eek: Si ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/23 "2009-01-08T10:52:50Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > And just for the folks who have never had the joy that is a cystoscopy: > > [A cystoscope](http://www.endoscopy4you.com/assets/images/medit_cystoscope_450.jpg) :eek: > > And yes, they do insert the whole length. Dear lord…I think I just died a little. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/24 "2009-01-08T19:16:06Z")
I just pray that before I ever have to go in the hospital they’ll have perfected some non-invasive catheter. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/25 "2009-01-08T19:52:23Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I just pray that before I ever have to go in the hospital they’ll have perfected some non-invasive catheter. They’ve [got 'em](http://www.urinedevice.com/whychoose_geewhiz.htm). Robin ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/26 "2009-01-08T19:53:58Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > They’ve [got 'em](http://www.urinedevice.com/whychoose_geewhiz.htm). Cool, I remember hearing about those. Didn’t help the OP much though! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/27 "2009-01-08T20:02:24Z")
It hurts a lot more if, while you’re lying in the ICU, you discover the catheter hose, and decide, in your opiate haze, that you don’t really want it, and try to yank it out. Trust me. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/28 "2009-01-08T20:28:59Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > When I was in the Navy, I had a urethral stricture widened Wait, the Navy widened your pee hole? ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/29 "2009-01-08T22:13:38Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > Wait, the Navy widened your pee hole? Why yes—twice. Don’t they do that for everybody? It was all because of a urethral stricture, or a narrow point, that I had apparently been born with. The first time the doctor used the cystoscope to check things out and then used a set of dilators to widen the tight spot. The dilators were a series of flexible rods in increasing sizes, the largest seemed to be the thickness of a pencil. A year later, the stricture was back, so a surgeon went in with a device that looked like the cystoscope, but had a little tiny blade in the end that was used to nick the stricture to open it up. Had a spinal for that one. Peed like a fire hose after both events. The second time was the charm and all is good twenty years later :). ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/30 "2009-01-08T22:33:36Z")
Facinating. So Hank Hill was lying the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/31 "2009-01-08T22:47:30Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Why yes—twice. Don’t they do that for everybody? I hear it’s not always the _pee_hole… ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/32 "2009-01-08T23:29:52Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Don’t they give you some pills for that? > > When I was in the Navy, I had a urethral stricture widened, requiring a catheter for a day or two afterwards. When they removed it, I took the pills they gave me and felt no pain whatsoever when I peed. > > Of course, they neglected to tell me that it turns the urine the color of Tang (bright orange). What a surprise that was! I had that done repeatedly when i was very young [hm, before kindergarden so call it 4 years old …] over the course of at least a winter, spring and summer before they decided to do some sort of operation. I never had any sort of meds … and I can clearly remember the pain and literally holding it in until i peed myself because of the pain … I would have loved some sort of pain med … we wont get into what i consider the absolute value of medical child abuse .. suffice it to say that between that, and a spinal tap if I got my hands on a time machine, there would be 2 supervising physicians that would have seriously shortened lifespans. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/33 "2009-01-09T01:32:03Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > And just for the folks who have never had the joy that is a cystoscopy: > > [A cystoscope](http://www.endoscopy4you.com/assets/images/medit_cystoscope_450.jpg) :eek: > > And yes, they do insert the whole length. Hang on a second. That is not what they used on me. The full apparatus includes a [long black flexible tube](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cystoscope-med-20050425.jpg)with fiber optic bundles plus a water hose. After they look around your empty bladder, they fill it with water for some reason and look some more. But it was most assuredly not a long rigid metal tube as in the photo. That would never work. In men you have to take a sharp right turn at Albuquerque to get to the bladder. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/34 "2009-01-09T02:16:48Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I had that done repeatedly when i was very young [hm, before kindergarden so call it 4 years old …] over the course of at least a winter, spring and summer before they decided to do some sort of operation. I never had any sort of meds … and I can clearly remember the pain and literally holding it in until i peed myself because of the pain … I would have loved some sort of pain med … > > we wont get into what i consider the absolute value of medical child abuse .. suffice it to say that between that, and a spinal tap if I got my hands on a time machine, there would be 2 supervising physicians that would have seriously shortened lifespans. Ah, yes, the lovely “It doesn’t matter if kids and babies feel pain during a medical procedure” philosophy. I’ve never understood it and it really pisses me off. I was once essentially brought out of a coma by the pain of a catheter insertion. Fun stuff! To the OP: Go buy some Uristat, or some Cystex. They’re both available at the supermarket in the same place as the tampons and whatnot, because they’re marketed for urinary tract infections, but the last time I had a catheter in (checking for bladder problems), I got some Uristat and it did an excellent job of numbing my urethra and fixing the “My urine has been replaced with flaming gasoline” syndrome (although it does turn your urine bright orange, or dark red (nearly black) if you take two, and it stains clothes and underware and the like, so beware). I’ve heard that Cystex works too, but I have yet to try it. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/35 "2009-01-09T03:17:33Z")
Jesus Christ… :eek: The only times I’ve had catheters is when I delivered my babies, and they took them out while I was still numb. The way boys hate wiener pain, though- well, I can’t even imagine it… ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/36 "2009-01-09T03:19:45Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > And just for the folks who have never had the joy that is a cystoscopy: > > [A cystoscope](http://www.endoscopy4you.com/assets/images/medit_cystoscope_450.jpg) :eek: > > And yes, they do insert the whole length. Do they give you a blindfold with that? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280/37 "2009-01-09T03:42:57Z")
I had back surgery when I was nine, and while I was out when they put that catheter in, I remember when the otherwise nice nurse took it out. Yowch! And I’m a girl, so it’s a much shorter pathway, but still. Owie. It was really really weird not having to pee for days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-had-a-catheter-removed-pissing-fire/480280.md?page=1)