I keep a leg bag connected to my catheter day and night.? When I'm in bed I don't leave it attached to my leg, I just lay it on the bed next to me.? I've done this for several years now and haven't really had a problem.? I used to have trouble with bags slipping off the catheter but since I started using Mentor's Alpine LegBag I haven't had any more problems.? I change my bag once a month and my catheter every six weeks.?
The key to not getting infections with an indwelling is to drink lots of water.? Keeping your system flushed is essential.? I have never in my 7yrs of quad life heard of flushing the bladder with vinegar or any other type of fluid.? I know it's hard to drink when you're not thirsty, but it's important to have a high intake of water...water...water.? (Not soda--caffeine takes calcium out of your body making your urine cloudy and increasing your risk of osteoporosis)? I drink about 7 or 8 700ml bottles of water a day.? Luke -----Original Message----- From: John S. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: David K. Kelmer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; quad-list@eskimo.com Sent: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 2:54 pm Subject: Re: [QUAD-L] Irrigating indwelling or suprapubic catheters Dave, DO NOT FLUSH YOUR BLADDER WITH BLEACH! Because of bleaches toxicity as an internally used chemical, I was inspired to write the thread a few weeks ago asking if any of you prevent urine from the bed bag tube from running back into your bladder. A local nursing home cleans the bed bags with bleach and water then reattaches it to the SP catheter. Everyone in the home has awful and persistant infections while taking assorted anti biotics daily. I personally called the doctors of record about 2 patients that were showing signs of fatal reactions to macrodantin. (I'm amazed nurses are so afraid of doctors that they won't do such things.) Maybe its in the hippa rules not do anything to save Med/Med patients. So, here is a new trick to try if you have an SP catheter. Attach a small leg bag to your catheter and leave it there. Do Not disconect it. When transferring bed bags and other leg bags, simply attach them to the drain side of the permanent leg bag. Goal: Adding an extra barrier to germs and chemicals and reducing infections. ? My big question is, why do you flush your bladders? Don't you change your catheter once a month? Even when folks say they use sterile techniques with replacement of catheters, there are new bacteria introduced. If you are as incredibly sterile about your technique, the best you can achieve is to be clean. ? good luck and best wishes, john ----- Original Message ---- From: David K. Kelmer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: quad-list@eskimo.com Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 2:55:23 PM Subject: RE: [QUAD-L] Irrigating indwelling or suprapubic catheters Hi Eric, ? How do you open your tube?? Do you also flush the leg/bedside bags with a vinegar mix, too?? I flush out my tubing and bags with a 10/1 bleach/water mix, and then throughly dry and reusable bag parts. ? With Love, ? CtrlAltDel aka Dave C4/5 Complete -?31 Years Post Texas, USA? Eric W Rudd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: correct ? ? Eric W Rudd [EMAIL PROTECTED] ? -----Original Message----- From: Danny Hearn [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 1:00 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; quad-list@eskimo.com Subject: Re: [QUAD-L] Irrigating indwelling or suprapubic catheters Eric....for the mix with water, You use the White Vinegar-----Correct???????????????? Dan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In a message dated 10/26/2007 7:52:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Yep...i use to get sterile h2o from pharmacy then they said they could no longer do it so was getting it online.? Then they said they couldn't so I had no choice...thought, u know, if my cath is clogged, we don't take the time to use sterile h2o, so, lets try it.? Have been using tap h2o & vinegar everyday...no problems & clear cath. Eric W Rudd [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: KK [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 6:28 PM To: Eric W Rudd; quad-list@eskimo.com Subject: RE: [QUAD-L] Irrigating indwelling or suprapubic catheters Eric - tap water?? Our water has all sorts of "stuff" in it.? I only use sterile water & only when I have started passing clots. what is wrong with distilled water? about 70 cents a gallon. See what's new at AOL.com and Make AOL Your Homepage. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com
