"My experience of Cystoscopy"

At the age of 74 I attended the Urinary Investigation Suite for Cystoscopy. I had read about the procedure in information from the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS). This advised that anyone worried about the procedure, which I was, should ask about having it under general anaesthetic. I was told that this was not available. I was surprised to find that the nurses were female. The surgeon was a male. The procedure was a bit painful. The worst part was pain when peeing afterwards. I took paracetamol but it didn't seem to help much. Different painkillers vary in effectiveness between different people. I would advise anyone having this procedure to have a stock of painkillers available and if there is one such as ibuprofen which you know works well for you then use that. When I was discharged I was told to drink a lot. I found that peeing was painful and I thought that the more I drank the more I would pee and the more pain I would have. However I then read that the more you drink to flush out your system the faster you will recover and I did drink a lot. I sipped apple cider vinegar in cold water (dessert spoonful in glass of water) as it is said to help to keep the bladder healthy. I had the procedure in the afternoon and had pain afterwards that day and the next day but the day after that I was much better. To summarise, I would advise anyone having the procedure to have a stock of painkillers, and the most important point of all is to drink a lot afterwards.