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There are a few things that can cause higher than desired pressure during urination - kinlked hosed, folded over ends on the cath, or even a too tight crotch strap if things are routed funny.
However, it is not just the pressure issue that causes problems but rather not being able to clear old urine out of the tube and/or having urine stay in the tube under pressure when there are germs in the tube. In essence you don't want to create a situation where a germ could swim upstream and cause an infection.
Following my own drug resistant UTI and kidney infection I use a large syringe to push 50% Alcohol and Vinegar solution through the valve, hose and connection bits after every diving day and sometimes before hooking everything up if things have been stored awhile. I also let it sit a couple minutes in the system when possible, then if it is a post dive disinfection, I ensure it dries thoroughly.
I will also from time to time remove the vale from the suit and boil it. I tend to do this if it acquires any kind of odor.
In this regard I think the general move toward delrin pee valves in prefernece to stainless steel is probably going to aggravate the infection situation as delrin is far more porous and much harder to disinfect than stainless steel. So in my opinion, delrin pee valves require a much higher level of care in terms of keeping them clean.
springer
He is part Springer, part Beagle. Very smart but still a pup, so he is hell on wheels. Has selective hearing issues
FWIW, I replaced the balanced valve that came with my White's Fusion suit with an unbalanced valve at the suggestion of Steve Gamble. Never had a UTI with the balanced valve, but I seemed to notice much more back-pressure with the balanced valve. Maybe routing of a stiffer Norprene discharge tube, shortening the catheter tip to prevent kinking, etc. had more to do with it, I don't know and have no desire to run a controlled experiment.Originally Posted by FW
I was using the cheap bolt type
Dr Harry's research shows all the UTIs he has info on were using bolt type P-valves.
To those brave/stupid souls who would re-use a catheter, what pennies you save may be spent a thousand times over in $ and anguish if/when you get a UTI - commonly harder to get rid of in men than women as they can involve the prostate, which is a bear to disinfect.
He is part Springer, part Beagle. Very smart but still a pup, so he is hell on wheels. Has selective hearing issues
my basset looked a lil like that when she was young. that's why i ask
nice looking pooch
They told me the test showed no bacteria but I convinced them that I did have a uti. It was a crappy week and I'll never know the bacteria that caused it
That was the one time I didn't clean the tubing.
You may have had prostatitis, and unless a urine sample is collected after prostatic massage (yep, via a rectal exam), the culture may well be sterile. The difference in treatment between a simple UTI in men and prostatitis can be as long as 2-3 weeks of antibiotic treatment necessary in cases of prostatitis.They told me the test showed no bacteria but I convinced them that I did have a uti. It was a crappy week and I'll never know the bacteria that caused it
That was the one time I didn't clean the tubing.
I had a UTI and kidney infection bcaused by a drug resistant bacteria, but even after it resolved my lucocytes were still elevated due to prostetitis and that took another month of antibiotics to resolve.
I lived in fear of peeing for months after that.
I don't know much about prostatitis. I know that the day after diving, my back seemed to hurt more and differently than usual, and I felt funny. I chalked it up to the strenuous diving, but towards the end of the day, I really wasn't feeling that well, and took my temperature. It was only half a degree high. Over the next 4 hours, it shot up to around 104, if memory serves correct. I actually started feeling much better, but still couldn't sleep, so took my temperature again, and when I chatted with someone on Facebook about it and mentioned the temperature, she told me to call a friend or an ambulance and get to the ER.
Pee in a cup showed nothing, docs had never heard of cave divers and it took a while to explain a p valve to them. Honestly it was the best looking female doctor I've ever seen, and she insisted on a rectal exam thinking maybe it was prostate issues. Urine sample was taken before rectal exam. I was leaving for another city early the next morning and they finally agreed I probably had a UTI, and gave me a prescription. I felt pretty bad for the next week. Hurt to pee, and that bright orange/red colour caused by one of the medicines....will never forget that! Scared the bejeesus out of me at first! I didn't feel like doing much of anything. A friend who I met that evening who I've gotten to know more since then, said when she met me she thought I was heavily medicated or something, I just seemed sort of out of it.
I always clean with a quick blast of vinegar and alcohol, before and after the dive. Catheters don't stick to me that well, so I have to change them daily, and I usually do one long dive instead of multiple short dives. I was diving every weekend at that point, and a friend tells me it was likely I got it the weekend before, but it didn't show up until 8 days later.
One week of antibiotics cleared it up, but I didn't feel back to normal until the very last day, when it suddenly stopped hurting to go to the bathroom. I don't ever want to go through that again, but I am glad for the friend who pointed out that my fever was dangerously high.
If I knew the culture, I'd gladly send the info along, but I don't
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