I had never done this on myself before, but only had nurses do it and that has not been a pleasant experience. And when I tried it at the urologist before summer it was pretty bad. Actually the nurse ended up doing most of it and it hurt really, really bad. I had to use one of those "small" catheters for women, and I am being ironic here, because small isn't small at all but pretty long, and you end up having to hold the actual catheter with your fingers, and trying to push something that is really slippery into your bladder isn't easy, plus touching the catheter increases the risk of UTIs. So, I said that if I had to do this I wanted another catheter that I had found, that's called Speedicath Compact. I thought it would be easier with one of those.
I am still a bit worried about a couple of things when it comes to ISC and that is the nerve pain and what that will be like when I have to use a catheter a number of times every day, and the risk of UTIs. I haven't had a UTI in almost 11 years and I don't want any! The tricky thing is that when you do ISC you aren't supposed to check for bacteria in the urine if you don't have any symptoms since people who do ISC can have bacteria without having an infection. But for me it's hard to separate symptoms of a UTI from my usual nerve pain. So I will have to work out a strategy for that stuff with someone later.
Anyway. Today was the first time I tried doing ISC by myself. The number one challenge is finding the urethra, because I do not look like the anatomical picture you get from the urologist. I wonder if any woman does. There are a lot of stuff in the way that they don't draw in. I suspect this is true for most women. I used a mirror. I wonder how I will be able to do it without one... :) But here's a tip if you're trying to learn to do ISC and it's possible for you to do what I suggest. I used a big rubber band that I attached around the back of the toilet. Then I had a medium size mirror with a thing on the backside so that it can stand on a table. I used that "thing" to attach the mirror to the rubber band. Then I actually sit backwards on the toilet. This gives a lot of extra room in front of me plus it gives me access to my mirror.
I was a bit worried and it was quite tricky to find the urethra but once I had found it the catheter just went right in without it even hurting the least bit. I thought I was in the wrong place but then I felt a bit of pain and that the bladder was irritated and then the bladder emptied. The bladder didn't feel completely empty, but when I tried to use my normal bladder emptying technique afterwards hardly anything came out so I guess it was empty. I will continue to test this so I see that my bladder empties completely.
It was so much easier with this new little catheter! Plus they are small and easy to take with you in your purse for example, or even in your pocket. I don't know if you can get them anywhere in the world, but they are manufactured by the company Coloplast and are called Speedicath Compact. Below are a few pictures so you can see what they look like and how small they are.
EDIT: Tried a second time, the next time I needed to go and it went really smoothly, apart from hurting a bit more. But then again, the urine was very pale indicating that the bladder had filled up quickly and I ended up having to go back and forth a few times with the catheter until I realized that it was probably not that the bladder didn't empty but that it actually was filling up while it emptied. I confirmed this by just holding the catheter in one place and waiting and sure enough after a while it started dripping continuously, and after I had pulled the catheter out I emptied the bladder a few times with my usual technique and yes, it did fill up quickly so now I know how that looks in the world of ISC. :) Like I said it hurt more this time, but I don't know if it's because I tried again so soon after my first ISC or if it was because I ended up going back and forth more. I can't remember if the initial pain was at the same level or more intense. I am waiting now for the residual pain to go away. We'll see if that takes longer than the first time or not. I hope not. I hope pain won't be an issue. I don't want more or worse nerve pain or pain in between ISCs. But I can handle if it hurts a little bit during the ISC as long as it doesn't get a lot worse than these two times.
