Overcoming your BC challenges will change your life. Here are a few tips for managing your BC challenges:

Help Your Doctor

Do not be surprised if your physician is not attentive to BC. Swamped with information, doctors must focus on acute medical conditions. Longer-maintenance issues can get overlooked.

Tell your doctor about any issues you’re having and discuss the Liberty as a BC option.

Cleanliness Is Not Optional

Healthcare advocates may not stress the importance of a clean technique for your BC Management, either internal catheterization or for emptying a leg bag. If you touch the opening of your leg bag or the tip of your catheter, germs enter, travel the bag or tube into your body and set up colonies—a urinary tract infection (UTI).

Stay as germ-free as possible with your BC management by:

• Washing your hands
• Not touching the leg bag or catheter opening
• Knowing the difference between clean and sterile intermittent catheterization

Clean intermittent catheterization requires a non-sterile catheter with a clean technique. Sterile intermittent catheterization involves sterile gloves, an antiseptic preparation, and a sterile or “touchless” catheter. If you are having frequent UTIs, a sterile catheter may be the best option for you.

Going on the Go

Transportation is a special consideration for men with BC challenges. The very act of leaning forward to transfer seats puts stress on the bladder, causing leaking. If you have stress or urge incontinence and do not wear a BC management device, you must be particularly careful. It is best to travel with a BC management device.

Drink!

Do not be afraid to drink because you fear leaking more. Your body is easily and greatly affected by dehydration. Avoiding water, your body’s most important fuel, is not a good BC management option.

Using Liberty keeps your dry and comfortable when your bladder leaks, so you can drink up.

Watch Out for Skin Damage

If you have a spinal cord injury, you are more susceptible to wounds or bedsores because you cannot rely on your sense of touch to tell you that your skin is hurting and breaking down. These wounds can be aggravated by the wetness from diapers and condom catheters. These wounds are extremely serious and can lead to severe infection. For men, severe wounds on the penis can lead to amputation. (Need we say more?)

Most men prefer Liberty for their BC management because it eliminates the dampness of diapers and the wounds of condom catheters.

To keep your skin healthy, always check Liberty and ask your caregiver to help too. To assist in this, arrange a wall mirror and hand mirror so you can more easily check your backside.

Get Back Out There

The typical response when dealing with BC is to cut back on social activities. This is understandable until you learn how to manage your BC. That’s the key—management. Overcome your BC challenges, then get out and live your to fullest.

The Bright Side

There are some benefits to using an external device for BC Management. You will never miss a football play because you had to go. You avoid restroom lines altogether and head straight for the beer stand. You can drink the giant, free-refill soda and still watch the whole movie. You can out-fish and out-hunt any outdoorsman. You’ll never have to battle with the tiny airplane stall again. Most of all, you will gain perspective and learn what’s important, and what’s just part of living.