I did the same thing (my kidney doc wanted it bc I was getting so many kidney stones). I just did my best and relieved my bowels and then relieved my urine. As a female it’s hard, since we sit down and it kind of happens at the same time.

I was honestly surprised how little urine I passed, so you might be surprised too. See how it goes. Maybe you can try using a cup to catch the urine rather than a hat that goes in the toilet that they give you?

I've had to do the 24 hr. urine collection to measure how much calcium my urine contained. The lab or doctor will give you a specimen collection "hat"/bucket. This is a plastic collector that is placed under the toilet seat. It allows collection of urine without contamination by fecal matter, which can be deposited easily the same time as urination, as only the urine gets caught in the hat. No need to slow up poop output. Each time urine is collected, it is poured into a big plastic bottle and refrigerated. Make sure you get the plastic hat and storage bottle ahead of time. I did it on the weekend so I'd be home all day and not have to bother with it at work. They'l give you directions. It was no big deal. You might have actually used one of these hats while in the hospital during J-pouch surgery when they carefully measured all input and output.

@Bubba1028 posted:

I did the same thing (my kidney doc wanted it bc I was getting so many kidney stones). I just did my best and relieved my bowels and then relieved my urine. As a female it’s hard, since we sit down and it kind of happens at the same time.

I was honestly surprised how little urine I passed, so you might be surprised too. See how it goes. Maybe you can try using a cup to catch the urine rather than a hat that goes in the toilet that they give you?

Thanks for replying, Bubba1028. I might try a cup.

I think we j-pouchers probably pass a lot less urine than those with a colon. This doctor wasn’t too familiar with the j-pouch and he handed me the testing order right at the end of the appointment and caught me off guard. I will have to tell him that there might be less volume.

Anyway, if you succeeded, hopefully I can too!

Thanks for replying, @roseviolet. I am a little worried because my BMs often have an upside-down sprinkler effect. I will give it my best shot and get a back-up collection kit just in case.

I don’t remember doing urine collection in hospital. After my first operation, I had a catheter for quite a few days, so they probably measured it in the collecting bag. I have done urine samples at home since then, but not 24-hour ones.

Anyway, I’ll give it my best shot!

As Bubba said, you can probably use a wide mouth Mason jar or something similar, which would keep out any output sprinkles. 😊 And I, too, think we don't produce as much urine as non-pouchers, as we lose water through the j-pouch. --Rose

Well, after many phone calls we have finally tracked down a “toilet hat” at a medical supplies company in the next town. (The collection centre didn’t have any.) Going to collect it tomorrow!

Turns out I have to do two separate 24-hr samples. Luckily I can have the loo to myself.

Will report back on how it goes :-)

Good luck! When I did mine, I actually messed up and didn’t send the right paperwork back with my urine sample so they didn’t process it, so I had to do it all over again a second time. I was like, you have got to be kidding me! Sorry you’ve got to do 2 right off the bat!

The toilet hat works for some bodies.  If you're small like me, you might have to use something else.  The toilet hat did not keep the poops out.  When I tried it the opposite way for a poop test, it didn't keep the pee out!  Next time, I'm going to ask for the kid version.

@Sara Marie I had the opposite problem and had to scooch forward to pee into the hat. I managed to get the samples, but only by holding on to my BMs. This meant I didn’t always void my bladder. The toilet hat did help, it wouldn’t have kept BMs out for me either.

I will not agree to another test like this unless the doctor has a good reason for it. I am a bit angry with my doctor because he handed me the order without explaining what the tests were or why I was having them. I didn’t see that he’d ordered urine tests until I got home.

This is a new doctor and he didn’t know what a j-pouch was and hadn’t looked it up.

Final update:

I managed to collect most of my urine using the toilet hat, but it wasn’t that easy. I had hold back BMs and so couldn’t void my bladder completely.

It was quite stressful because I am unwell (from something else). Also my bladder was damaged by a medication that I took last year. So I am up at all hours to pass a couple of drops of urine that are keeping me awake … and in this case the added hassle of putting the hat under the toilet seat, aiming into it, retrieving it from under the seat without spilling it, getting it into the bottle, and rinsing the hat.

I was tired and clumsy and in a very bad mood. (Did I mention I had to do two collections?) I spent a lot of time cleaning up minor urine spills in addition to my usual time cleaning exhuberant BMs off the loo.

Anyway, it’s done now. I don’t think doctors realise what they are asking sometimes and will be telling my doctor so.

I love your use of "exuberant" in reference to BMs.