Catheter leaking

[Stevemr]

My father in law is 94.
8 weeks ago he had a Catheter fitted as he has an enlarged prostate causing him to have issues passing water.
The consultant said he was too old to operate on.
Problem is the catheter’s are just leaking. He has so far had 7 different ones fitted in 8 weeks.
He is not sleeping now because of this.
He is getting depressed, as you would.
Lat week he described a burning sensation so went to doctors who gave him antibiotics, which seems to have stopped that, but it’s still leaking.

Does anyone on here have any experience of this or advice please?

[shed driver]

What size is the catheter? It may need to be changed for a smaller size. Intuition would say put a larger size in, but this can cause irritation causing an urge to push and urine to bypass. A smaller one can be better tolerated.

Make sure he is drinking plenty, dilute urine is less irritant.

SD.

[ucb]

shed driver said:

What size is the catheter? It may need to be changed for a smaller size. Intuition would say put a larger size in, but this can cause irritation causing an urge to push and urine to bypass. A smaller one can be better tolerated.

Make sure he is drinking plenty, dilute urine is less irritant.

SD.

As above, smaller sizes tend to fit in the bladder neck better and allow fewer leaks

[Red9zero]

It's "bypassing" apparently, not leaking. We have had this problem with my step Father for the last 12 months. The support for his prostate cancer has been excellent, but the team in charge of catheters are useless. How on earth someone having piss running down their leg is acceptable I do not know. In our experience the district nurses seem to be a lot more helpful than the catheter clinic and are more willing to go out of their way to sort any problems. They also have access to a lot more stock of parts than anyone else.

[Stevemr]

Yes district nurses are fairly helpful. Interesting about size. He was on 16 then 14. Now back up to 16. Doesn’t seem to make a difference.
We do keep try to get him to drink more. But it’s not easy.

[ucb]

I rarely use a size larger than 12 in clinical practice.

[shed driver]

ucb said:

I rarely use a size larger than 12 in clinical practice.

Unless the OP's father in law is passing debris or clots I'd fully agree with you. 30 plus years ago it was accepted practice to go larger and larger in these circumstances, research has made a big change.

Also, the material in the catheter can play a major part. Latex can irritate the urethra causing bypassing.

SD.

[Stevemr]

Thank you so very much for the replies.
He is getting what he describes as sludge, I think that may be blocking it. Last week he did have some blood and when they changed the catheter there was some blood blocking it.
He came out originally with a 16. Then the supplier wrongly sent 14s which the nurses changed it too. Now back in 16s. Doesn’t seem to make much difference.
He was up until 4 am last night cos he didn’t dare go to bed. Says his house stinks of piss now. He’s normally very fastidious so this is really upsetting.
Do you think they should try a thinner one?

[shed driver]

It's difficult to say from a distance and without seeing him.

A smaller diameter catheter is more prone to blockage from debris, but is better tolerated.

He really needs to be assessed by the catheter team.

SD.