WheelyCurious wrote: Thu Mar 03, 2022 2:50 pm You are likely correct for normal males LT, possibly less so for females but probably close. The length of the male urinary tract gives guys some protection against UTI's simply because the bacteria have further to travel... Females have the double issue of a shorter urinary tract, and a genital environment that is conducive to bacteria growth... Male or female, the meatus and first couple centimeters of the tract are expected to have some bacterial growth which does get flushed out every time one pees.

However once you start catheterizing, the situation changes drastically. While sterile technique is used when inserting a Foley cath, sterile only gets rid of most of the bacteria, not all, so some gets pushed in to the bladder with the cath, and more will migrate along it while it is in place. Intermittent cathing like I do is NOT done w/ sterile technique, although there is a lot of effort to make it 'clean'. So anyone doing IC is going to be pushing a certain amount of bacteria into the bladder along with the catheter. So the effort for those that have to do catheterizing is not on totally preventing bacteria in the bladder, but on keeping the colonization down to a level that doesn't produce 'clinical' symptoms... They mostly do this by encouraging us to drink enough fluids to make it necessary to cath every 4-6 hours which flushes enough of the bacteria out of the bladder each time to keep them from being able to multiply enough to reach dangerous levels. We also are encouraged to cut down on sugars and other foods that make urine more able to support bacteria, and sometimes to take supplements that are claimed to either make the urine less hospitable or otherwise discourage the bugs...

WheelyCurious

I have a relevant professional license, I'd quit while I was ahead if I were you.

Losethem (imported) wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 8:04 am I have a relevant professional license, I'd quit while I was ahead if I were you.

I have such a license, too. I agree.

This may be a stupid question, but I, too had heard that the idea that urine is completely sterile is a myth. I was further persuaded of this having recently been through a course of powerful antibiotics for an antibiotic-resistant symptomelss UTI (I didn't know I had it but it showed up during a routine urine test).

What "relevant professional licenses" do you two have to pull it back out of the realm of mythos?

racerboy (imported) wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 10:52 am This may be a stupid question, but I, too had heard that the idea that urine is completely sterile is a myth. I was further persuaded of this having recently been through a course of powerful antibiotics for an antibiotic-resistant symptomelss UTI (I didn't know I had it but it showed up during a routine urine test).

What "relevant professional licenses" do you two have to pull it back out of the realm of mythos?

I worked in a skilled nursing facility, AKA nursing home, where the care and maintenance of catheters was routine. As part the job I was required to maintain a license to practice and not merely a certificate as I was implementing/obtaining physicians orders and assessing patients with a patient load of 35-1 on a routine shift. The place this discussion has gone to I am more than qualified to assess for and relay this information to a doctor for them to make a decision. I am licensed in your state, which is arguably one of the most difficult to obtain ANY professional license.

What relevant qualifications do you have?

I think this thread has just about run its course, don't y'all think?

I don't wish to get into a lengthy debate about this, and I am not questioning LT and Kristoff's professional expertise, but I have 12 years of 'lived experience' with SCI, including ending up in the hospital many times w/ UTI's... (Typically from e. coli and kleb c. is what I've been told)

I just did a quick literature search, which seems to confirm what I've said - and seem to be credible sources that are quite consistent....

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19810421/ Urinary tract infections in spinal cord injury: prevention and treatment guidelines (National Library of Medicine)

https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/2040171-overview Urinary Tract Infections in Spinal Cord Injury (Medscape)

https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/ ... 016-1484-4 Management of febrile urinary tract infection among spinal cord injured patients (BMC Infectious Diseases volume 16, Article number: 156 (2016))

https://www.dovepress.com/management-of ... rticle-RRU Management of urinary tract infections in patients with neurogenic bladder: challenges and solutions (Neuro-Urology, Swiss Paraplegic Center, Nottwil, Switzerland)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 3X14640660 Management of urinary tract infection in patients with spinal cord injuries (Clinical Microbiology and Infection Volume 9, Issue 8, August 2003, Pages 780-785)

https://www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfe ... 0/fulltext Management of urinary tract infection in patients with spinal cord injuries

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4527903/ Prevention of urinary tract infections in patients with spinal cord injury

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3066481/ Treatment of urinary tract infection in persons with spinal cord injury: guidelines, evidence, and clinical practice: A questionnaire-based survey and review of the literature

https://www.sci-info-pages.com/urinary- ... nfections/ (more targeted at lay readers)

https://msktc.org/sci/factsheets/urinar ... -infection SCI Factsheets - Urinary Tract Infection and Spinal Cord Injury

Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center

https://msktc.org/sci/factsheets/bladderhealth SCI Factsheets - Bladder Management Options Following SCI

Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center

When I was injured I did my rehab at one of the MSKTC hospitals, which are considered the 'gold standard' for SCI care in the US, and is where I first learned about all this, education about care of your newly rearranged body is a big part of good SCI rehab programs...

WheelyCurious

Paolo wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 4:08 pm I think this thread has just about run its course, don't y'all think?

Sorry I didn't see your post until after I made my latest - I'm willing to drop it at this point...

WheelyCurious

No problems.

I'm still trying to figure out from those sample pictures, though, how he did it to begin with.

I mean, if he mashed his little penis flat with that thing, I can imagine it would have gotten infected quite easily.

Heck, the last time I nicked myself shaving, I had a heck of a localized infection that tried to turn into a mini-boil that I had to do self-surgery on.

Not that we recommend that.

Of course, I've heard you've not lived until you've seen Talula dig out a cyst!

I would add that what I've posted is what I've been taught about my situation in particular, and how it is pretty standard among SCI patients w/ neurogenic bladders.... It is not intended as any sort of negative reflection on what LT or Kristoff have been taught in their professional courses and training...

It is a particular niche topic that I got taught a lot about in rehab and subsequent experience in learning how to care for my newly arranged body post injury, but I'm sure that LT and Kristoff have far better knowledge about healthcare and so on in general, as well as a lot of more widely varied experience.

WheelyCurious