Hi,
I've been for a flexible cystoscopy today (in an attempt to find the cause of blood in urine).
I was a little apprehensiveembarrassment, fear of it being painful, a bit of concern about what they might findbut tried to keep it all in perspective and wasn't panicking. It all started well when they took me in 30 minutes early, since (for once) I'd turned up well in advance of the appointed hour. The bloke carrying out the procedure was pleasant enough too, and didn't mind answering a question in advance of the procedure.
When we got into the room, though, it was like a sprint to the finish! I'd read on a sheet of paper that I was given in the waiting room that there would be a local anaesthetic (in the form of a gel), but one moment the doctor wiped me down, the next moment he squeezed in the gel and (literally) immediately afterwards he shoved in the scope. There was no way that it could possibly have taken effect, so presumably the doctor had decided that it wasn't necessary.
It hurt! Not loads, but enough to scare me about whether further pain might be coming, and the speed of the whole thing was shocking. I spent the next 2 minutes (I would guess) rigid with apprehension as the doctor inspected my bladder with the camera. He talked me through it and encouraged me to look at the screen. He clearly didn't mean any harm, but I really felt it wasn't appropriate to go so fast.
Afterwards he told me that he'd not seen anything sinistergood newsbut on the way home I was sore. When I got back I went to the loo, and found quite a lot of blood on the tissue. I've now spoken to my GP's surgery about that and been told it's not uncommon--but it would have been good to have been told that in advance.
A colleague recently had the same test in the same hospital and she had a very different experience. She said that they were very calm and reassuring and that a nurse held her hand and helped her through it. The nurse present during mine didn't have time to do any of that, because the doctor was shouting (not aggressively, but he was shouting) that there was too much light so that he couldn't see the screen, and she had to dash round the room turning all the lights off. That was after they discovered that the electronics on the bed were broken, so that they couldn't get it into the correct position.
Now that I've had a chance to calm down (and a glass of wine) I feel less freaked out, but I really hope this isn't typical of how these things are normally conducted. Next week I have to have an endoscopy (the bottom end one, rather than the other) and so now I'm apprehensive in a way that I previously wasn't.
If you've had this procedure how did it compare?
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General health
Cystoscopy -- what was yours like?
pusspusslet · 08/09/2016 16:37
pusspusslet - I've only had a cystoscopy under general anesthesia, so can't share experiences, but I'm so sorry that you had such a rushed/stressful experiences. I think doctors sometimes get so caught up in the testing/medicine that they forget that it's not just a normal day at the office for us!
The bleeding may last a few days. If you have any stinging - that may last up to a week. Although i think that's likely with the one under general as they use bigger scopes.
At least it's over now! 
nmg85 - I'm assuming you mean instillitions. Have you asked them to use a smaller catheter? The normal size they use is a 12. I always ask them to use a size 8. No pain at all with the smaller one and I have chronic urethral pain!
Many thanks to all of you for the kind replies Much appreciated!
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