Is there a lot of pain after a cystoscopy?

Answer 1

Answer:There are alot of variants which will probably effect the outcome of a cystoscopy, (general or local anaesthetic, rigid or bendy cystoscope), but I will give my experience of having a cystoscopy yesterday under general anaesthetic (I also had a urethral stretch so my symptoms may be worse due to that)

First urination after the procedure hurt quite a bit, same with second and third (I passed blood during these times, which is normal. Once I got home it continued to hurt but only at the end of urination .

The tip and underside were swolen for the first 3 or 4 days afterwards and clothes rubbing on my groin hurt so I wore loose clothes. I had inguinal pain/ache for approx. 3 days afterwards however I don't think this is the norm

A week later and its still uncomfortable when i urinate but only towards the end, however this may be due to slight infection, or maybe the urethra is still slightly swolen from the stretch.

If the cystoscopy is dealing with a urethral stricture, you may be given or have to give yourself urethral dilation. A week later and I was shown how to perform self cathaterisation and now have to do this daily for 2 weeks, every two days for two months then weekly for the remainder til I see a specialist again. This is to ensure that the stricture doesnt return and require surgery.

I was told that I am doing self cathaterisation because I'm relatively young so older people may have to go in and have it done

Although not full cathaterisation in my case due to the location of the stricture, I have to pass the cathater a good few inches into my urethra, move it backwards and forwards by a centimetre or so, then remove. Not a painful thing, but its certainly uncomfortable and not something everyone would be happy or willing to do.

Another Experience: I am a female and had a cystoscopy under local anesthesia to rule out cancer and other conditions that might cause hematuria. The urologist came in with brown disinfectant on what looked like paintbrushes. She cleaned the area and inserted lidocaine into my bladder to numb everything. This first insertion was probably the weirdest part - getting used to something going into the urethra. I didn't find this to be painful, just awkward and a little uncomfortable.

She inserted a sponge at the tip of the urethra to make sure the anesthetic stayed in there. I waited a good 20 minutes for it to work. That part was hard because I really just wanted to get it overwith at that point. The lidocaine tingled a little, but that was all.

She used a flexible scope to look inside my bladder. I asked her to talk me through the procedure and she did, and reminded me that she would stop at any point if I asked her to. The scope sprayed water as it went in to fill the bladder and allow her to look around. It was awkward and uncomfortable in much the same way as a gyn exam/pap smear, but not painful for me. I had to learn to relax to allow the scope in (not something I'm used to doing I guess). It lasted longer than a gyn exam, probably 5-10 min, so in that way was a little more uncomfortable I guess. She looked around herself first then turned on a screen to show me what she was seeing.

It really hurt after the procedure. I didn't pass blood but it was painful - kind of like a UTI with burning (and urgency due to the full bladder for the procedure), but also with a different kind of more intense pain - my best description would be it felt like a bruise. They gave me pyridium to numb the urethra and macrobid (an antibiotic). Even with the pyridium it hurt a lot to pee, and after peeing for a minute or two, for the next 36 hours or so. I was completely fine after that.