Wussy Baby Pants

I was having a discussion with my husband yesterday on catheters and who they are more painful for - men or women. He, like so many others assumed they would be more painful for men.

why?

It's a heck of a lot easier to find the entrance on a guy and then go from there. For women there's a bit more looking to do. Once you get inside the plumbing isn't that different. It's a tube that leads to the bladder where the balloon will be inflated. Why that would be worse for a man than a woman I don't know. except that men are wussy baby pants when it comes to anything to do with their penises. I've had several catheters and while none felt good they were not all that bad either.

As a nurses aide I assisted in the insertion of lots of them. Both on men and women. Nervous people felt more pain, calm people felt less. Men were more likely to freak out when you came at them with it than women, but if they were calmed down enough there didn't seem to be any more problems than with women.

The most pain from a catheter is when something happens to cause it to get ripped out while the balloon is still inflated. I've seen several patients with dementia do that. It didn't look good. Going in - not so bad. Coming out properly - not so bad. Over all - way less painful than stepping on a thumb tack. (which I did yesterday and it hurt like hell)

I stand by my totally unscientific analysis on men and catheters. Wussy Baby Pants Syndrome.

If you haven't grimaced enough yet fellows - look up sounding. Those guys LIKE catheters.

And next time you have to get one - put on your big girl panties and deal with it.