Can cystoscopy cause incontinence?

[MisterJ]

I am a 57 year old white male.

Let me preface this by saying I am looking for causes for my problems, not to be litigious.

Last June I had to see a urologist to rule out bladder cancer as a cause of hematuria.  The entire episode appears to be frought with errors, not the least of which seems to be that the doctor took no notes and that upon the followup visit a month later, could find no record of ever doing a cystoscopy on me.

My main question is whether a cystoscopy can cause damage to the urinary sphincters.

The doctor used a rigid cystoscope.  His assistant asked him if he wanted a different size and he replied "no" without ever looking at my penis or the size of my urethra.

I would have thought that he would use slow, gentle pressure, until he passed the sphincters, but he used one quick, firm, thrust straight into the bladder.  He looked around, took samples for cytology (which were lost), announced "Good news, no tumors" and withdrew the scope.

I had what I would consider to be an excessive amount of bleeding and incontinence for the next 2 days, requiring that I wear diapers and keep a change of clothes handy.

Since that time, I have had continual "dribbling" or leakage, and "urgency" which I never had previous to the cystoscopy.

So, in your opinion, is this a possible adverse outcome of the cystoscopy, or some unrelated coincidence?

Thank you for your valuable time and opinion.

[MikeAnonymous]

I have had 2 cystoscopies which didn't reveal any physical causes to my pain or any reason for my reoccurring infections or difficulty voiding. I was a bit concerned when going for my first cystoscopy as I was worried that the cystoscope would be too big to fit inside my urethra and I'm sure this would be a huge joke for all those whom were at my procedure. I don't actually know what happened as I was totally knocked out. I had read that cystoscopies were usually performed under a local anesthetic or with a spinal block but I had a general anesthetic for my first cystoscopy.

When I attended the hospital for my pre-surgery interview for the second cystoscopy, I was told by the female anesthesiologist that I was an extreme risk due to my obesity and that I could not have a general anesthetic this time. She insisted that this time I would have to have a spinal block but she said she was worried about something and she wanted me to promise her that I would take my iPod and earphones so that I could have music playing throughout the entire procedure. I told her that I was not concerned at all about the procedure and that I would find it interesting listening to what was going on around me. She said that this is exactly what she was worried about, the fact that things may be said by staff about me that I may not like to hear. Obviously she was referring to nurses and other staff laughing and commenting about my micro penis. I have had nurses laugh in my face before so I was well aware that this was likely to happen.

Come the day of the second cystoscopy and I am taken in my bed into the theater and the usual trouble finding a vein for the cannula started. They ended up having to do an ultrasound guided insertion into a vein. I started to wonder why nothing was happening with my back as I had been assured that I would be having a spinal block and the anesthesiologist had examined my spine at the hospital interview weeks ago. I was wheeled into the theater and a mask was placed over my face and I was told to count backwards from ten. I woke hours later after having had a general anesthetic when I was told it wouldn't be happening as I was an extreme risk but it seems that the Doctors and Nurses must have felt that they couldn't control their laughter or comments about my micro penis so as to ensure that I didn't hear them humiliating me I was put at extreme risk of death just to ensure I didn't hear what was being said about me and I couldn't make any complaints or take legal action against them.

Obviously I could take legal action now for being put at such risk when I was told it wouldn't happen but why bother. I will likely have to have more similar procedures and I know I will be laughed at every time. Every woman whom has ever seen me naked in my life has either burst out laughing or has commented in some negative way about my genitals so I guess it is simply normal human behavior.

[Cjanders]

Hi Bubza, I hope everything went okay as it's been a while since you posted. My 17 yr old daughter recently had this procedure after months of reccuring uti's. Since the procedure she has bled heavily for 4 weeks and now is leaking small amounts of urine. The cystoscopy was very painful and even though they used the anaestic gel the
surgeon was very rough with her and didn't wait for the gel to work. She seems to have more problems now than
before the procedure and she's still only 17.

[Bubza]

Im a 17 year old girl, i keep getting water infections that dont respond to antibiotics so i got refered and the doctor said i should have this done, my operation will be under general anaesthetic as i may have to have the tube from the bladder to out streched :/ really worried i may end up wetting my self for the rest of my life, the doctor said  hes never known of anyone to have this problem buy i've read a few stories were people have but only men, any ladies out their have this problem?
cheers
Emma

[Varenty]

I am a 52 year old female living in  the Netherlands  and have experienced exactly the same.I had to do a routine check-up after an infection. My GP advised me to see an urologist ;which I did ; I even went twice to interview the medical staff and ask questions like if I could risk anything doing  the cystoscopy ;they convincingly told me there was absolutely no risk!!! So I finally went to undergo  the cystoscopy;An inexperienced urologist forced the rigid scopy inside my urinarysphincter.(I also asked if they didn't have a smaller size but they said 'no we dont have one' ; it was 2007 ;nowadays doctors work also with flexible ones .. strange they didn't use it there)
I experienced an excruciating pain  during the cystoscopy,and blood loss after and again excruciating pain while urinating.
After this painful operation I suffered airbubbles coming from  the urethra all day and pain for 5 years everyday now + urine loss while having sexualintercourse(orgasm)
Some doctors are indeed real barbarians  ; I went back to the hospital and to my GP I had at the time ;not anymore thus ,who told me ; he knew a cystoscopy wasn't easy but that I 'wouldn't have done it otherwise ...' can you imagine the twist in this docs brain???  Later I saw different doctors but nobody seems to care they even try to discredit my story ; that mean they are here.

[stevetellsthewholetruth78110]

There certainly can be damage to the sphinters from rough urologists that force the cystoscope through an undialated sphinter, but of course they will tell you that this is not true. Myself, flexible cystoscopy pain was a 9.5 out of 10 with just a little bit left for the case of burning to death. I screamed like a man might scream when his legs are getting cut off by a chain saw. The doctor just pushed the cystoscope right through my sphinters--the pain was horrific. You know if you look at the sites like Prostatis.org they sensor everything about cystoscopy so that all that is listed are "painless" comments. Most sites will not allow a poster to tell people the truth about how painful this procedure is. Have any doubts. Try putting a Q-tip up your penis 4 inches and twisting it 10 or 12 times. That is just a minor sample of what a cystoscopy feels like. The scope is the size of a pencil and when it finally hones out all the sensitiviy nerves in your penis and hits the sphinter muscle it feel like your bladder has just been soaked with gas and lit with a match.

[rmprdl1964]

Hi, I also have had the riged and yest some bleeding was noticed. In my case the incontinence was for about 2 to 3 days, however I did not experience problems after.

As for some urologist they don't seem to wait until the sphyncters relax,and I'm sure that they themselves would not like to be treated that way.

With my very first cystoscopy it had been a night mare. The urologist was very rough and took several biopsies from around the bladder neck. When the procedure was done, I was still bleeding, but when I wanted to recouperate in the waiting area, a nurse told me to leave the area after less then 5 minutes. I have met good people in the medical profession but there is a large group of real jerks.

God bless,

Ron