Drinking
You should drink at least 6-8 glasses of liquid a day. When you drink a lot, you reduce the risk of developing UTIs.
Bowel habits
It is important that your bowel functions regularly for you. This makes it easier to empty your bladder completely. Eat a well balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables. If you become constipated, contact your doctor or nurse for advice, as constipation may interfere with your CIC.
Before catheterisation
Whenever possible, always try to pass urine the normal way before you use a catheter. Try to relax your pelvic floor and avoid pressing down with your abdominal muscles. Sometimes a running tap can stimulate urination.
Number of catheterisations
The number of times you need to use CIC will be decided by your Healthcare Professional. It varies from person to person, depending on your type of bladder problem, how much you drink, and different medications that you may be taking. To avoid infections, it is important that you follow the instructions of your Healthcare Professional. As a rule the bladder should not contain more than 350 - 400 ml of urine.
Difficulties inserting the catheter
As a rule, when you are unable to insert the catheter, it is the sphincter muscle that is the obstruction, especially if you are tense and cannot manage to relax. A good tip is to cough a couple of times, which will relax the pelvic floor and the catheter will pass the obstruction. You can also apply light but firm pressure on the catheter. After a while the sphincter muscle will relax and the catheter will slide in easily. If you have problems removing the catheter, leave it for a few moments and try again. If it still will not come out, try coughing, as this will often help.
Fitting CIC into everyday life
In order to fit CIC into everyday life as smoothly as possible, we recommend you create certain fixed habits. For example, it is best to start the day by catheterising. Other situations when it may be suitable to fit in CIC are during coffee breaks/school breaks and before lunch. This way you can both easily control the number of times you catheterise each day and manage your CIC without it interfering with your work, school or other activities. Be sure to always have catheters available. Here’s a tip: leave some extra catheters at places where you often go, such as work, friends’ homes, holiday homes, or at a relatives house.
UTIs (urinary tract infections)
It is common for people who use catheters to have a higher bacteria level in their urine. However, if you suffer a urinary tract infection with symptoms such as high temperature, pain when urinating, frequent urge to urinate, back pain, fever, smelly and/or cloudy urine or blood in your urine, you should consult your doctor.
If a few specks of blood should appear in your urine, do not worry. This sometimes happens and should clear up in a couple of days. Seek urgent medical advice for persistent bleeding or if clots appear in your urine.
Travelling
Bring your LoFric catheters and any other handling aids when you are away from home. Always bring more catheters with you than you plan on using, so you are not caught without a catheter if something unexpected happens. Unfortunately, lost baggage when you are flying is not uncommon. Always keep enough catheters for a few days' use in your hand baggage.
If you do not trust the quality of water, use bottled mineral water. Convenient alternatives when you are travelling are LoFric Primo and LoFric Hydro-Kit II, which both come with an integrated water sachet.
If you are travelling abroad, ask your Healthcare Professional for a medical validation certificate which states that the catheters you are taking with you are for emptying your bladder; this may save you any trouble with custom officials.
Outdoor activities
During outdoor activities it may be difficult to get hold of both a toilet and tap water. If there is no tap water or if you do not trust the water, use bottled water, a saline solution or sterile water. There are also a number of LoFric products designed for outdoors activities. If there is no toilet, you can use
LoFric Hydro-Kit II, with both water sachet and collection bag. You can also use LoFric Primo, which is a catheter that comes complete with an integrated water sachet.
When the water quality is not good enough
If you do not trust the water's quality, use bottled water, a saline solution or sterile water. You can also use LoFric Primo or LoFric Hydro-Kit II, which comes with both a water sachet and collection bag.