Who here uses a catheter to emty their j-pouch?What does the catheter look like? Is it any big deal?

Hi Bill,

I have a W-pouch. It's like a J pouch - only double as big. It was created at St Marks hospital in London in 2005 and I've been having problems emptying it since I had it - going about 20 times a day.
I have only just been put in touch with a research fellow there who tells me I have functional outflow obstruction - that due to the angles of the pouch and my anatomy it is impossible for me to empty it on my own.
So he has given me a medena catheter but I can't get it to work. The design of it seems crazy to me - its too narrow, why doesn't it flare out at the end? all his other patients with the same problem seem to be able to use them ok, but I can't seem to get them to work unless the output is like total liquid.
I've been looking around the internet for other options, there isn't much out there. He has suggested trying a rigid sigmoidoscope, which is slightly bigger but I don't like the sound of that much!
Let me know how you get on, and which ones you find that help.
Charlotte