How does it feel to have a Foley insertion?

RunnerKate · Feb 24, 2016

It burns on insertion and for a time afterward. For me, it burned similar to the way a UTI does for about an hour and then was sore for the rest of the day.

.4** · Feb 24, 2016

As a man on the receiving end in my best professional language description it sucks. Under the threat of death the nurses who had to do it wait until I'm anesthetised...

On the giving end I've done over a 1000 and except for fighting with the sterile field my patients have rarely if ever complained.

God help me if I ever have to catherise myself

tokmom, BSN, RN · Feb 24, 2016

Had a urodynamics test and have a straight cath. It is a stinging pressure and if the gel is cold, that doesn't help either. Not that you can warm up the lubricant, lol. I have also had them placed post op appy when I could not pee.

I also am 3 weeks post op and had a foley placed in OR. Sadly someone gave me a cauti, so I'm not too happy about that.

KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN · Feb 24, 2016

Had it quite a few times. For some reason, "anaphylaxis protocol" in some places includes Foley by default... not pleasant when it is going in but no biggie. Definitely less painful than Epipen. Only one thing that once went wrong was doing it while I was still under Ketamine for RSI. That combination produced hallutinations of a sort I could not wipe off my memory for a while.

Taking it out after it was in for a good month and especially accomplishing that pee #1 after was something that would make medieval executioners crying out of jealousy, though.

Sunnyrah · Feb 25, 2016

It depends on the person's condition. I was in the ED with a terrible UTI this summer, and apparently my urethra was so swollen and inflamed they couldn't cath me. Three failed attempts, and the last one was a peds kit. The pain from them trying was excruciating, and I bled. It DEFINITELY gave me some perspective on how it might feel to my patients! :laugh:

beckysue920 · Feb 27, 2016

I had one inserted before abdominal surgery...anesthesia wasn't given enough time to work yet(!!), it was no big deal and not painful. Withdrawal of it was not uncomfortable...just glad to not be tethered.

My husband had his prostate removed due to CA and the catheter became dislodged. I notified the staff, the doc came in and tried to manually reinsert it...I thought DH was going to die. They sent him back to surgery, did a number of scans or whatever and before they FINALLY anesthetized him, he fainted. Sheesh, I can only imagine the pain he incurred.

On a "humorous" note, I had to cath an elderly psych patient. She was cantankerous and uncooperative, to say the least. Since it had been a couple of years since I had done one (on psych we had few caths), I gave the directions to the patient (after reviewing them myself) and asked her to read them to me. The cath went off without a hitch!! Whew...

TheLittlestNurse · Feb 28, 2016

Had one as a pt in ER once. Let me tell ya, it sucked. Unless there's something more painful and traumatic going on at the same time, Foley placement is "unfortunate." It hurt when I peed for the rest of the day after it came out, too. I think I would actually rather have a thoracentesis than another Foley! That being said, it was over fairly quickly, and I really think part of the pain was due to the psychological perturbment I felt. My reaction to sitting in a cold ER bay with my entire bottom half completely exposed, and in a frog-leg position no less, was to feel deeply violated and like I didn't want anyone coming near me. Just thinking about it makes my whole body hurt! So, now I try to keep patients as warm and covered up as I can for a cath...idk how much it helps, but I personally would have felt more relaxed/less clamped down had someone tried to make me comfortable first.

NurseStorm, BSN, RN · Feb 29, 2016

Burns! A lot, going in and out. I was straight cath-ed for urinary retention due to narcotics when I broke my neck (workplace accident if you can believe it.. :yawn: ) and it burned a lottt. But didn't last very long and the relief was immense, since I was feeling intense discomfort with the retention. Still, I hope to never have to have one again. Wasn't the worst pain I ever felt but pretty unpleasant being in that delicate location

Jmira.BSN.RN · Mar 4, 2016

Ive had 2 placed on different occasions. Both had a burning feeling going in, similar to a mild UTI. Nothing too crazy. For some odd reason the nurse removed the foley as I was standing up by the sink and as it was removed I accidentally peed on her lol. Boy it feels so good to urinate normally after they are removed!

MrFoley · Oct 28, 2017

Hello!

I've been cathed for many times for shorter-longer periods. The insertions discomfort level is depends on the nurses technique. So if done right ,its painless. Important part to get the lube directly into the urethra. If the lube is only used on the surface of the cath, the inserton is painful. After 24 hours I usualy dont feel it's in me. In fine cases it's comfortable after an hour. It sometimes caused me bladder spasms, but it stopped after a (hard) day.