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Caring for someone with a catheter: He keeps pulling it out
My 94 yr old father-in-law has a catheter which will most likely be a permanent thing. He is constantly messing with the tube and the bag and often pulls it out requiring trips to the ER. With his dementia he can't remember why he has it and often thinks he needs to take it out to go to the bathroom. He particularly obsessed with it at night.
Does anyone have any suggestions of how to stop him from pulling it out? We have tried mesh sleeves, the nurse put a kind of lock on the tube, which he removed in 10 mins., long pants didn't work (he takes them off).
We are so worried he is going to hurt himself. He can do this stuff within seconds if you aren't fast enough to stop him.
Thank you in advance for auggestions.
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@shellerman, that mst be so confusing for him and worrisome for you. I'm tagging a few fellow caregivers who have experience with caring for someone who has a catheter like @kartwk @jan83404 @gloro @sr5367sh @jbug25 @anthonym and others.
Shellerman, how are you doing?
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1 Reaction@colleenyoung About the same. We got a smaller one (a leg bag) which helps a little bit most days he is still obsessed with it. Thank u for asking.
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2 ReactionsAlthough my husband had a catheter, he was only momentarily invested in removing it himself. For the past few days, I have been thinking about your father-in-law and possible strategies to improve the situation. Although my dear husband passed away last, I am now firmly in the land of incontinence products and know a thing or two about the problem. Ask his doctor if a catheter is necessary. Could disposable incontinent pants solve the problem? Adding incontinent pads, along with the pants, boosts protection from accidents. The two companies that I have dealt with that deliver their product to my door are Because and Liv. In addition, Amazon has pants made of waterproof material that can be worn over the disposable incontinent pants. I hope something helps. GloRo
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1 Reaction@gloro Thank you for the suggestions but we have already been to the dr and hospital. His problem is the opposite of having accidents. He cannot relieve himself without the catheter. He can't empty his bladder without the catheter. It is in his mind that he has to go to the bathroom. He just hates having it.
My husband also tried repeatedly to pull out his foley catheter. Thankfully he finally stopped trying to do that. But in my research I came across an interesting solution that evidently works for many people. It's called a decoy catheter, or phantom catheter. The idea is to "hide" the real catheter by threading it through a pant leg or looping it under the thigh. Then attach a second or third phony catheter securely on the thigh or abdomen. Hopefully the patient will focus on the decoys and leave the real catheter in place. There are scientific articles describing exactly how to do this if you search for "phantom foley catheter".
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2 ReactionsThank you! I will look that up and definitely try.
My husband, who also has dementia, has a catheter that will probably be permanent due to urine retention. His urologist gave us two options. The first is to do intermittent catheterization where a catheter is inserted several times a day to drain the bladder. He didn’t recommend that because my husband could not do it himself because of the dementia, and I am dealing with some physical issues myself. We may revisit this when we get a full time home health aide.
The second option he gave us is a suprapubic catheter. It is inserted into the bladder though an incision below the bellybutton. It is usually more comfortable than a Foley catheter, so if your father-in-law is pulling it out because of discomfort in his penis, this might be an option.