INDIANA POUCH

[ladykate]

Hi,

I have had an Indiana Pouch since September of 2006 and I am still experiencing a lot of leaking. I was hoping that I would be able to go longer by this time but most days I can only go 2 to 3 hours. I am getting concerned that I will always have this issue. I tried irrigating but it does not seem to make a difference and notice I get an pain in my left side before I start to leak. My Dr. said I may not be emptying the pouch completely but I cannot get any more fluid no matter what I do. Anyone have any suggestions.

[sb]

If you're feeling pain before leaking it might indicate that your bladder is full. I know that when I started I measured my urine output so that I was comfortable that I was getting a nearly constant output with time. This might be something to start doing.

Regarding my pouch, I find that to empty completely I'll have to move the catheter around inside. I'll start urinating with the cath mostly in, but then the urine flow will stop. I'll pull the cath out some and it will start again. This will continue on until the cath is almost out of the pouch. I'll then rotate the cath 90 degrees and push it back deep and more urine will come out. I'll repeat this procedure until nothing comes out.

For me it also seems that I don't properly emtpy if I'm not full when I cath. I mean, I get some urine, but I don't "feel empty". I can't explain this and perhaps it's just in my mind.... but I will wait to go to sleep until I can empty a full bladder so I know that I've taken care of urination for the night.

Of course this might chagne from person to person, I'm not certain.

[squid56]

When you say a lot of leaking how much are you talking about? My pouch is 16 years old and I still leak. For me though it turns out that my pouch goes into spasm and that is when I leak. I also have to move the catheter in and out to make sure I get all the urine out, I was told my pouch has little pockets in it that urine gets collects in. My pouch took years to be able to hold as much as it can hold right now. I can go very long periods of time, but again it took years to get to this point. Are you drinking lots of water? Judith

[catriona]

hio

[catriona]

I have had mine around the same years as Squid. I still leak as well. But I go through phases. Sometimes I can hold a lot and catherize maybe twice a day, others I need to catherize 6 times a day. I get spazzes too. Mostly when I lift heavy things, and RIGHT at that moment too.
I just try to make sure I am not too full if I have to empty.

Sometimes, I do spaz right after I catherize. THAT is really frustrating. It passes over a few weeks.

It's kinda crazy when I think about in detail like this... But you just get use to it, I suppose.

I can hold up to 650cc.