OP
Good tip, RickRick Murchison:
Laid low by a pee valve...
- Thread starter jagfish
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BIGG_BUDD
Contributor
Bro, I don't wish what you've gone through on my worst enemy. Bravo on the recovery, and just know that you've made a 295 pound Texan squirm in his seat.
If the infection was related to the pee valve, maybe it was some kink in the pee valve tubing and back pressure on ascent forcing contaminated liquid back up the urethra?
As Web Monkey said, if it was from simple contamination, then lots of wetsuit divers would be in trouble all the time. My wetsuits are badly contaminated ...
For what it's worth (not much as statistically meaningless - have been using drysuits for a lng time, but a pee valve for only about 200 dives and I am only one user) I use an unbalenced pee valve in my drysuit and just leave it open the whole dive - the bolt with the hole in it is just there in case there is a problem - so it get flushed out pretty well during the dive. I also flush it out with freshwater regularly, mainly to stop any nasty smells developing. This seems to work well.
As Web Monkey said, if it was from simple contamination, then lots of wetsuit divers would be in trouble all the time. My wetsuits are badly contaminated ...
For what it's worth (not much as statistically meaningless - have been using drysuits for a lng time, but a pee valve for only about 200 dives and I am only one user) I use an unbalenced pee valve in my drysuit and just leave it open the whole dive - the bolt with the hole in it is just there in case there is a problem - so it get flushed out pretty well during the dive. I also flush it out with freshwater regularly, mainly to stop any nasty smells developing. This seems to work well.
I got a bladder infection once....but I cant say how in this thread. 
aquaoren
Contributor
I'm using a big syringe to flush it out everytime after i've used it.
H2Andy
Contributor
holy cow, Jag...
glad to hear you're ok ... dang ...
(do i have to teach you how to use a condom?)
glad to hear you're ok ... dang ...
(do i have to teach you how to use a condom?)
blatter:
Okay, I wanted to keep it up a level but here we go. Your natural equipment has a self-sealing feature. At ambient pressure like in a wetsuit, if there is nothing to artificially defeat the self sealing feature, it is only operative when there is pressure behind it, keeping contaminants from re-entering you. Ergo, wetsuit divers are not especially prone to picking up infections.
The potential problems with the pee valve are two-fold: First, some condoms defeat the self-sealing feature by pulling it open and leaving it that way (for me, this is what Rochester Wide Bands do.) In this state, any liguid in the system can contact the inside of the valve assembly including the tubing, and freely flow back into your body when there is not a pressure head behind them forcing them out.
Second, if there is a kink, the same thing happens when you try to go. You don't need back pressure "intubating" you, just free circulation in the tubing or valve through to you. Once the free flow out of the sytem has stopped, if you're still trying to go, the liquid is not flowing freely out of the sytem, it's refluxing and bringing contaminants back into your body.
Honestly, this isn't that uncommon. Talk to a group of tech/cave divers and you'll find a few who have experineced this, and it is the pee valve that's the culprit.
OP
No way...H2Andy:
The last time I fell for that trick, it was a bad experience...
cummings66
Contributor
While my prostate infection wasn't the result of a P Valve my doctor did tell me that it's common for men as we age to have issues like this crop up on occasion. We supposedly have a natural immunity to infections along that path and so it's not a common thing to go through, but if you do you'll understand pain. While some may claim urine is sterile, it's not always so and that's one reason I can believe what has been stated about the P Valve. I think I'd make it a part of cleaning the drysuit and just clean it as well each time.
I think the doctor said something like 95% of these things have no explanation, the other 5% are the results of things like STD's, even the type of drinks and food you eat etc. I know they sure like to run tests on us when this happens, and you hurt bad enough you'll let them. At least that's what I was told when I asked why me?
I think the doctor said something like 95% of these things have no explanation, the other 5% are the results of things like STD's, even the type of drinks and food you eat etc. I know they sure like to run tests on us when this happens, and you hurt bad enough you'll let them. At least that's what I was told when I asked why me?
SparticleBrane
Contributor
Yarg--whenever I get a drysuit and a pee valve I'll definitely be extra diligent about cleaning it!
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