Rand Paul considered catheter for filibuster: 'I've put them in before'

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) says that he considered self-catheterization to minimize trips to the bathroom during his nearly 13-hour filibuster on Wednesday.

The morning following Paul's marathon attempt to block John Brennan's nomination to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Kentucky Republican selected conservative radio host Glenn Beck as the platform for his first interview.

Beck introduced Paul as "a man who is, I believe, going to be the logical choice for president of the United States."

"About four or five hours into it, I was thinking, 'Gosh, Glenn Beck can sit and talk for four or five hours every day,'" Paul recalled. "But it's really not that easy to talk for that long."

As the senator explained before ending his filibuster on Wednesday, "I've discovered that there are some limits to filibustering and I'm going to have to take care of one of those in a few minutes here."

Beck joked that he had been a little disappointed that Paul had not used his skills as a doctor to prevent the need for bathroom trips.

"Did you think about giving yourself a catheter at any point?" the radio host wondered. "I know you're an eye doctor."

"You see the thing is, I did think about it," Paul admitted. "I've put them in before and I really decided against it."

The U.S. National Library of Medicine website provides some basic instructions for men who need to catheterize themselves:

Move back the foreskin of your penis if you are uncircumcised.

Wash the tip of your penis with Betadine (an antiseptic cleaner), towelette, soap and water, or baby wipes the way your doctor or nurse showed you.

Apply the K-Y Jelly or other gel to the tip and top 2 inches of the catheter. (Some catheters come with gel already on them.)

With one hand, hold your penis straight out.

With your other hand, insert the catheter using firm, gentle pressure. Do not force it. Start over if it is not going in well. Try to relax and breathe deeply.

Once the catheter is in, urine will start to flow.

"Twelve hours is a long time not to go to the restroom," Paul conceded to CNN's Dana Bash in an interview later on Thursday.

Listen to this audio from The Glenn Beck Program, broadcast Feb. 7, 2013.