Can I be put to sleep if I ask the day of the procedure?

My urologist is performing a cycstoscopy on me on Tuesday. (That is where he inserts a catheter and camera into my bladder). My doctor told me he was just going to use a 'numbing gel' when I have heard that they usually put the patient to sleep for this procedure.

Can I ask the day of the procedure to be put to sleep? Can they do that in the office? I am really not looking forward to being awake during this procedure!

Thanks!!

[MSKshelly]

Shannon,
  Honestly I have had several cysto scopes.  It is usually done in the office and you are awake.  I really have not found it that bad and I have IC, which is a chronic inflammatory bladder disease.  They only put you to sleep if they are going up into the ureter. I would be shocked if they would put you to sleep to do it.

There are some things you can do to make it more comfortable for you especially if your really nervous.  Ask if you can take the over the counter AZO before hand.  It turns the urine orange so can mess up a urine test if they need one, however they may let you swing by the day before for the dipstick test then take the AZO the day of.  Also you can ask your doctor if he would prescribe one valium or pain med to take right before hand.  Honestly it is really necessary, I have had to go through urethral dialations that were much worse, but being able to take something to help relax you will also prevent much after pain.  You can take the AZO for the day after as well.

The other thing I would suggest is taking some instant ice packs or those soft gel packs.
Slip them down there right afterward then go home and rest with the ice on the area.  Keeping in mind with my IC it can cause me to flare, the above suggestions are what I would tell an IC patient, so should take care of any issues you might have.  You can also soak in a warm bath afterward then follow it up with ice.

I hope that helps you.  The scopes is not very large etc.  For me the cold water the used with the scope caused me more of a shock then anything.  I struggle with urethral pain so do get a little sore unless I do the above but other wise it is not a big deal, I promise.  A little embarrasing, but not worse then a pelvic exam!!

Let us know how it goes!
Shelly

[ChitChatNine]

Hi,

I've had two of them and really didn't need to be put out at all.  Maybe they will let you take some Ativan before the procedure if you want, but it really isn't painful at all .. afterwards it may sting a bit for a day but other than that it was worth the peace of mind both times knowing all was ok.

good luck ..keep us posted!

cheryl

[Totie]

I had one done and they gave me a vicodin & zanax 30 minutes before the procedure. I was fine, I did not feel any pain, during, or afterwards.

You will do just fine.

[shannonwooten]

Oh, thanks so much for the responses!! Ok, well I am really relieved that they don't typically put you asleep! I was so nervous when I heard that they do- and I'm not... but you gusy def helped me out, a LOT! I will call the office tomorrow to see if they can prescribe me something. If not, I think I still have some codien left- I can take one of those to relax me a little bit.

What exactly can a cystoscopy tell you?? The doc is doing to see where the blood is coming from in my urine... but my question is- what if I don't currently have blood in my urine during the time of the cystoscopy? The last 7 months I have been having a varied amount of blood in my urine... some times a little, some times a lot, some times none at all. Also, I have read that it can tell you why you have a lot of UTI's? I get UTI's often!

Thanks soooo much for all of your help!!!! And I will def keep the ice packs handy!

[ngio64]

I am a big wimp and I bring DH so I can share my fear by holding (breaking) his hand while they do the scope. The fear is always worse than any true pain for me. It is uncomfortable, but not agonizing or unbearable. I have only had it done in the office to remove stents. When they go up to the kidneys, it is a hospital procedure with an anesthesiologist putting me out.
I would never consent to being put to sleep in a dr or dental office.
Only in an outpatient surgery center or hospital with an anesthesiologist present. Then the doctor can concentrate on the procedure and not concern himself about my vital signs, etc.
Good luck tomorrow. If you are not bleeding, the uro might still be able to see the area that is still healing that was bleeding, or scarring, or stone debris or signs of infection or swelling. I hope you come home with some answers!
Nancy

[Totie]

My cystoscopy & biopsy was done to try and find out why I go frequently. I was not having any UTI's or blood in the urine.

My cystoscopy revealed I had Interstitial Cystitis.

Good luck....you will be just fine.

[MSKshelly]

Shannon,
   My URo did a cysto on me to check about the blood in my urine as well. Though, it is actually very common to have blood in your urine with MSK, they need to make sure there are no tumors, cyst etc in the bladder etc.

    For me though the blood seems to be connected to the infection more then anything else.

   Hope everything goes well, keep us posted!

Shelly

[shannonwooten]

Oh thank you all so much for the responses! I am not that nervous anymore! I don't mind going through a bit of discomfort to finally get some answers (lets hope there are answers...)
I am trying to keep my head high! I have been very upset/disappointed that I've been having this pain and varied amounts of blood in my urine for 7 months now with no answers. Normal CT scans are great, but when you are suffering, it is almost like you want someone to be wrong so that you can finally have an answer! As much as I would like to the doc to say "You are 100% healthy, there is nothing wrong with you"... I wouldn't mind a different answer... because I know there is something wrong, just please tell me what it is!!

Thanks so much for the support and answers... I will let you know what I find out on Tuesday!!

[MSKshelly]

Shannon,
    Below is a repost of my answer about the chronic pain to someone else on the board... I hope this helps, if you need help getting the articles etc. let me know!

keep us posted on how things go Tue.. AFTER you come home and rest!!
Shelly


There are several options to try for treating the constant pain, and yes there are several of use who have constant kidney pain even when there is no sign of a stone or infefction.

There are two articles listed on here... One is an e-medicine article about Medullary Spong kidney, the other one is listed as new procedure for MSK calcifications.  Both of theses are on the lowere right corner of this page.  (If that is not the right e-medicine article let me know.)  

There are several therories for the pain and honestly the pain may have mulitple causes. One is that there is pressure that builds up in the tubes.  The article below about a procedure by Dr. Wolf is mainly for this type of pain.  The other reason that many of us suffer from chronic pain is a biofilm infection actually sets up within the many calcifications.  Because a biofilm infection does not allow enough of the bacteria to slough off in the urine to showup on typical test for infection, these infections do not always show up on a urine disptick at the office or a culture. I can send you many articles about this if you would n like to pm me... also check under the health pages here.. they have done a great job of listing articles I am just not sure if they have my list of them for biofilms but we will work on that.
I have also written and article that is on my website for IC under MSK that explains this theory too.  My website if mainly for IC)Interstitial Cystitis Patients in Missouri and Arkansas.  However I put a link on the site just for MSK to post my research etc.
This article really needs to be update but I have just been working desperately to get the site information done etc,  our support group is called MOARK IC and can also be googled.


The treatment options for the chronic pain appear to be as follows.

1. Increase your fluids and do not allow you kidney to get empty, since this increase pain,

2. decrease your meat intake to about 6oz a day.  the pain level does seem to increase if our kidneys have to process a lot of protein from meat.

3.  Ask you physician about trying a long term antibiotics... if you are on antibiotics for a long period of time does the pain go away?

    Along that lines many of us have found so relief of help through a natural antibiotics by American Biotech labs, called Silverbiotics. You can google the title and their website will come up.

4.  Going for massage for the muscles around the kidney etc. seems to help too, though many of us can not tolerate eve having our kidneys touched. The muscles seem to try to protect the kidney and actually knot up around it.  Going to a good massage therapist they can keep these muscles relaxed, I go to on through my local hospitial and they are really really reasonable.

5.  Last of all is the procedure by Dr. Wolf below.  Though this is not a cure, it is a treatment.  Some patients get relief dramatic relief by the procedure itself.

For those of us with chronic biofilm infections, the procdure seems to kinda knock the top layer of calcifications off, allowing the antibiotics to penetrate deeper into the kidney and therefore gives us a remission.  My understanding from Dr. Wolf is that on average this procedure last about 2 years but can be repeated.

6. My doctor talked to a physician, who wrote an article in MS Consult intitled the Complicated Urinary Track infection, great article but this physician has had some antidotal success with patients with MSK who have chronic infection.  I can not list the info here since at this point there is no research on whether or not this will work.  We are trying it, I am better but that may be more from having the procedure and my upping my dose of Silverbiotics.

I hope this gives you so hope and direction.  More then anything it will give you confirmation that your pain is real and you are not alone.  Taking this into your doctor can help you to get better treatment since truthfullly most of them just do not know and it goes against what they are being taught in medical school.  I am glad that joined this site and if you need any more info, you can pm me.  I do have several pdf of articles that we can not legally post the whole article here etc.  Also the CL of this board has a really neat website she has put together on MSK..., (Nancy) it is also worth checking out and I think it is listed in a thread and if not in the health pages.

Hope this encourages you!!

Shelly

[shannonwooten]

Thank you so much Shelly... I have read this before and I have found it very helpful/informative!!


Thanks all for the support/advice..... wish me luck tomorrow!!!

[MSKshelly]

You''ll be in our thoughts and prayers tomorrow!  Let us know how it goes!

Shelly
PS done forget the ice :)!

[shannonwooten]

I posted a new thread "VERY upset and disappointed"


Just to update you on my cystoscopy... it really was not that bad! It was uncomfortable but not really painful. The only thing that was painful is when they injected fluid into my left kidney, it hurt so bad!!

If I have to have one done again, I know that I won't stress over it!!!

Check out my thread for the results....

Thank you all again for everything... you guys are amazing.