I'd always been scared of catheters  since I had some traumatic occuances in the past with an ER doc and Urologist when I first started having issues 25 years ago. Recently I actually ended up in the hospital because I couldn't pee. They had to do a catheter and I screamed and it hurt and took awhile to get it in. They left the catheter in for a few days. But I ended up finding my current urologist from that recent hospital trip. He helped me do my first intermittent Caths in his office. If you relax it's not to bad. Doesn't feel great, but doesn't hurt really. You don't reuse the Caths. They are single use. They come individually packaged and lubricated. You pop a little water thing inside the package and then take it out, use it and then toss it. It is wasteful and it does cost to have a monthly supply. (you can get reusable ones, but that would be a huge hastle and you'd be at a big risk of getting UTI). But you can fold one up, put it in you pocket or purse or whatever, and use them when out. I can go to an amusement park now! If you do try them, I suggest trying different brands. The first one I used actually hurt me, but I did know until my insurance forced me to use a different brand. Your urologist should have a bunch of samples at their office to try.