Can you irragate catheter with distilled water?

Posted by charleswulf @charleswulf, Jun 29 7:16pm

Can you irragate catheter using distilled water if your out of saline

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Caregivers Support Group.

@charleswulf Well, that all depends on what type of catheter you are referring to and what your doctor said! Are you referring to a urinary catheter or one for blood or one that is mostly for medications? I would suggest that before you irrigate the catheter, you call your doctor, you will get the doctor on call and he is the best person to call, being ‘on-call’ means that they will take your call anytime . They will want all the same information that I just asked you.
What plan can you put in place so it doesn’t happen again?

REPLY

@charleswulf You can make your own saline solution by boiling one quart of distilled water for 10 minutes, then dissolving 2 teaspoons of table salt in it and letting it cool

REPLY
@becsbuddy

@charleswulf Well, that all depends on what type of catheter you are referring to and what your doctor said! Are you referring to a urinary catheter or one for blood or one that is mostly for medications? I would suggest that before you irrigate the catheter, you call your doctor, you will get the doctor on call and he is the best person to call, being ‘on-call’ means that they will take your call anytime . They will want all the same information that I just asked you.
What plan can you put in place so it doesn’t happen again?

Jump to this post

Urinary for bladder if it gets clogged

REPLY
@charleswulf

Urinary for bladder if it gets clogged

Jump to this post

Distilled water is not sterile so you could introduce bacteria. Perhaps Sue’s homemade recipe would be a safer choice if it is handled properly after heating to maintain sterility. This was always a fear with my husband’s urinary catheter so we kept Lots of saline around to avoid running out.

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.