Just had a cystoscopy performed an hour and a half ago.

Tests and investigations
1

I thought I'd share my experience..

By far, the worst part was my anxiety. The procedure begins with inserting of a lubricating gel which is not fun, a bitstingy for a few seconds, not painful, but very odd sensation. The scope is the inserted, this does not hurt, there was s a bit of cramping sensation when the scope passes through the bladder sphincter, once again lasting about 2 or 3 seconds. One the scope is in the bladder there is no painful sensation, only a feeling there is something there. A saline solution is then injected thru the scope, feels like the need to urinate, a quick look around, and the scope is removed...All done.

I just urinated for the first time since the procedure, no blood, no stinging.

All in all not a horrible experience, but as i mentioned the worst part in mental!

I hope this helps anyone who is worried about getting this done.

My results were all good!

2

thanks for the info share, settles my nerves a bit more, getting one done friday . how long did they leave the gel to work and how many people were there in the room? im fretting for a few reasons, the procedure in general and the embarassment, im someone who hates an audience when trying to pee at a urinal at somewhere like a pub or hospital toilet.

did they give you a valium to settle the nerves too?

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How was it, Ollie? I suffer from anxiety with everyday life things, so for me all of this is extra terrifying! Not just the possibilty of something sinnister, but the pain and embarrassment of all of these procedurdes!

I can't urinate next to someone very easily at all. I'm just too tense even if I try.

Not sure how i'm going to get through all of this.

I have my cystocopy planned for one weeks time.

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I did my own review of it on here, worth a read. It will settle you down lol, id rather not copy paste what I out in my own review. For me though it never went past the prostate as I had a very tight stricture which I still have now after a failed urethrotomy, iv had a suprapubic catheter for almost 3 weeks now, had a normal one put in when the stricture fully sealed the water pipe in September, and i requested to be changed to a SPC as we needed to let the stricture re stabilise before doing any examination tests. I'm having a voiding cystourethrogram on Monday, they will pump contrast fluid in through SPC, then I try pee it out and xray are taken to outline the water pipe and also see if there is bacflow back to kidneys which I think is happening. The water pipe has almost fully sealed again as all I can do is a few droplets every second.

I had a retrograde urethrogram on January this year, wasn't bad at all, just really wanted to pee.

If you are having cystoscopy to check for restriction they will only approach it, take pictures and remove the scope, if it's to check for blood cause, they may go up your ureters to have a look at kidneys too, a friend of my dad had this and they found a cyst inside his kidney, they just gave him some tablets, told him to eat better and drink more, and it should go away.

As I say, check my review of cystoscopy on here. Will receive most tension. The worst part of it to be honest was the embarrassment, there were 4 women and the urologist in the room, one of the women were very attractive so I had to ignore her haha.

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Oh and mine was a flexible scope, if it's a rigid one your having they will either use general anaesthetic or regional / spinal. Iv had a rigid scope used twice, once at 15 for bladder stones, once in may for the urethrotomy. Flexi ones are usually 5.5 mm wide, rigid are around 7mm. Or around the width of a pencil. They sometimes dilate the opening so they don't have to force it in, the opening in the average male is around 8mm, mine is 6-7mm, the tissue is stretchy though, the flexi scope had no trouble at all.

The lidocaine gel helps. 

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It's the flixible one. I have lots of blood and blood clots in my urine with seemingly no infection or pain, so i'm a little scared. I'm only in my 20's.

regarding the embarrasment. For me, when I get nervous, my penis seems to retract into me, and it's gonna be embarrassing having a group of teenage girls looking at my shrivelled penis! Not to mention the fear of pain and the diagnosis. Really can't imagine getting something as thick as a pencil in my urethra. Dreading it all at teh moment.

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Have you found and read my review of flexible cystoscopy?

The flexible scope with a work channel for water pump is only 5.5mm, I have a tighter opening and it still had no trouble going in.

  It's The rigid solid metal one is 7-8mm because it's work channel is wider to allow other equipment through.

They arnt teenage lol. The assisstant women in the room will be fully trained, maybe 1 student nurse which can't be any younger than 19, gotta be 18 to start course, and takes a year before being put on placement. The 3 women assisstants in the room when i had the cystoscopy, 2 were above 40 and one was about 30, was pretty. Today when I had the retrograde urethrogram and voiding cystourethrogram there was the radiologist performing it, and 3 women assisstants, 1 fetching equipment and setting it up ( was about 60 years old), one operating the xray machine (about 30), one student nurse who was a very pretty blonde girl around 22 like me, was awkward and she could see I was embarrassed, they are going to see genitals every day, seeing mine was part of her learning, I just got on with it, I was almost more embarrassed about the leg bag of my suprapubic catheter.

For the blood, you may have like my dads friend had,  a cyst in the kidney, nothing uber serious. Iv experienced blood in urine dozens of times.

Have you taken an injury to the area between the legs (between the scrotum and the anus) AKA the perineum? The bulbar urethra is completly exposed to injury, anything like straddling a bike frame or being kicked in the groin can crush the urethra, and cause lots of blood and stricture ( what I am suffering from) or maybe you have a bladder stone (although these are usually very painful as I experienced 7 years ago when I was 15) 

When i expressed my disdain towards having the cystoscopy during the first consultation a couple months before having it,  I was told that if I was that anxious I could have a sedative to make me relaxed and sleepy or even a general anaesthetic,  Although I think he said that if I chose the general he would do the cystoscopy and if he found a stricture, try do a urethrotomy there and then while I was under. I hate general anaesthetic.

Find my cystoscopy review, it will help alot.

Habe the dam procedure :D  a general check up at dentist plaque scrape n polish is worse! No really.

They don't mind seeing your genitals, they do dozens of cystoscopies a week. I think they have one day a week where the urologist does them

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Ah pressed send before finishing.

I think The urologist has one day a week to do cystoscopies, when i went I was 4/14 men for that day, there were several women too so more than 20 people a week have cystoscopies under the care of one urologist, and there are usually 4 or more consultant urologists in any medium - large hospital.

If you don't have it done then there is no way they can find out the source of your problem, there's no getting away from it.my cystoscopy was back in March but I had one scheduled in the past 18 or so months ago because of a small amount of persistent blood,  I cancelled it,  but If I hadn't,  they'd of found my stricture a year earlier than March and I'd of had it seen to over a year ago. Being a wuss and cancelling that appointment made me have to suffer for over 10 months extra. I'm still kicking myself now as the problem is still ongoing and wouldn't be happening if I just had that cystoscopy a year and a half ago. 

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Ah pressed send before finishing.

I think The urologist has one day a week to do cystoscopies, when i went I was 4/14 men for that day, there were several women too so more than 20 people a week have cystoscopies under the care of one urologist, and there are usually 4 or more consultant urologists in any medium - large hospital.

If you don't have it done then there is no way they can find out the source of your problem, there's no getting away from it.my cystoscopy was back in March but I had one scheduled in the past 18 or so months ago because of a small amount of persistent blood,  I cancelled it,  but If I hadn't,  they'd of found my stricture a year earlier than March and I'd of had it seen to over a year ago. Being a wuss and cancelling that appointment made me have to suffer for over 10 months extra. I'm still kicking myself now as the problem is still ongoing and wouldn't be happening if I just had that cystoscopy a year and a half ago. 

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Thanks, Ollie. Still obviously very nervous, but my mind is a little mor at rest.

My dad has loads of tramadol lying around. Wonder if theat will help with my nerves on teh day....

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Thanks, Ollie. Still obviously very nervous, but my mind is a little mor at rest.

My dad has loads of tramadol lying around. Wonder if theat will help with my nerves on teh day....

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Tramadol is a pain releiver for moderate - strong pain.  Doesnt have any sedative effect. When you arrive it won't be straight away, probably about an hour or two after arriving , i was in one waiting room for about 20 mins, had to then get changed into 2 gowns, then i had to sit in a room for about 20 mins with the other men having it,  then talk with a nurse through what was going to happen, she saw how nervous I was at the time and moved me up the list to get it over and done with faster as I was originally 13/14 , then back in the room for another 25ish mins, then called through.  You'll have plenty of time to ask for a sedative. Thing is though if you have one they will have to keep you in for about 4-5 hours to allow the sedative to wear off enough for you to be ok by yourself, they have a strong hangover effect and they won't want to have an accident while under its effects. If you don't have it then you can go after having the post procedure talk with nurse which means you will be out the door about 30 mins after the procedure. It only lasts 5-15 mins inside the room. Maybe get some kalms tablets from a pharmacy chemist,  I have an anxiety problem and taking two helps.  Any more than 2 and i feel sick, take 2 of those as you walk in through door of hospital,  they last a couple hours and take about 30 mins to take effect.

The lidocaine gel lube has some local anesthetic in it,  bit stingy as it turns off the nerves, ask the urologist to allow it a minute to make sure it completly takes effect, and you'll barely know it's there, I was going more on what was on the screen than what I could feel, we didn't reach my prostate though dye to stricture but people say it may feel a bit of a crampy feeling as it goes past prostate, but to be honest, you don't even need anaesthetic...  The reason you fear it is because it's fear of the unknown, which is why I was scared before having mine , I'll be having at least one, maybe more in the next 6 months, I don't fear them At all, I had no fear yesterday even though and I had to try pee in front of 4 people haha, took 5 awkward mins.

If you've not read my review yet then I will bump it to the top of this list. Read it

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Hi.

I also suffer badly from anxiety, although have never seen a Doctor about it. It's next on my list!

I've tried kalms a few times before, but unfortunately they have zero effect on me. I still felt sick to the stomach and unable to talk properly in my last job interview and could barely remember my own name!!

Can't wait to start trying medication to make me a 'normal' person, but want to get this hematuria stuff out of the way first.

The reason I asked about tramadol was because I thought it is a synthetic opiate and i've heard it can make some people very 'happy'!

However, like you say, if i need too, I can ask someone for a sedative.

(I'll read  your review now)

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So how did you find it mike?  Do you understand what I was saying by how the wait is far worse than the procedure itself lol?  Did they find the source of the problem?

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I have a tumour sad

I wasn't going to say, but since you asked, I found it extremely extremely painful! From the second they started injecting the gel I was in pure agony. Had some relief for a few seconds, and then excruciating pain again as they went past the prostate.

Then, trying to urinate when it was all over was basically impossible.

It felt like someone had clogged up my urethra with broken glass. I couldn't pee for more than a split second before my body instinctively stopped due to pain. It took 2.5 days to feel somewhat normal.

I have to go through all of this again in 2 days time when they remove the tumour.

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Oh that sucks, sorry to hear that, is it inside the bladder or in the tube? I hope it's benign and not  spread, Must of all been sore and infected to cause the pain from movement in the tube, we're you given a sedative or wide awake?

Did they keep you in or send you home same day?

At least you had it done, now they can sort it, just think,  if you had of cancelled it they'd never of found it, and it'd of gotten worse. 

I hope the removal goes well, did they say if it will be via a rigid scope or open surgery?

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Hope the removal went all ok, was it's sucess?

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Oh wow, I'm scheduled to have a cystoscopy next month. I'm absolutely terrified. I'd rather die than endure this kind of torture. I can't even imagine sitting in a room full of men waiting to be humiliated and tortured in such a manner. How could they ever think it's acceptable to make this a public spectacle? I'm thinking I better cancel. Nothing that is wrong could be worse than such barbaric treatment.

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I had a flexible cystoscopy last month and it turned out to be a lot of worry for nothing. I've had some blood in my urine recently and I have a history of an enlarged prostate. I'd had a negative CT scan, but my urologist wanted to take a closer look. A nurse brought me into a small exam room, took my temp, BP, pulse and oxygen levels. She gave me a gown and told me to take off my pants/underwear and lay down on a reclining exam table. She came back a few minutes later to do a bladder scan, then the urologist came in. The nurse stayed in the room through the procedure but only assisted. The doctor said he was going to clean me first and applied betadine to my penis. He then squirted a tube of lidocaine gel into my penis. It burned a little and he told me to take a deep breath. He immediately put the flexible scope in, which felt a little weird, but didn't hurt. There was a little snag getting past the prostate and then he was in the bladder. It was fascinating to watch the screen. He looked around the bladder and it felt a little funny when he tried to turn the camera to inspect the prostate. He then pulled out the scope. The whole thing took about three minutes. No bleeding, tumors or diverticuli, just an enlarged prostate. He answered my questions and the nurse directed me to a sink to clean myself up and get dressed. I had some very minor burning the first few times I urinated, but was back to normal by day two. There was no bleeding. Maybe I have a very good urologist, but the whole procedure was pretty quick, easy and painless and I'm relieved to discover everything is fine. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

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thanks for sharing your experience. I have to do one next week and I am very nervous. can i ask you why you had the cystoscopy? I am very worried that my result will be bad 😔