Urethral Stricture

Warren,
Wow. That does sound lousy. I sometimes have those symptoms. After my last turb I was in pain for six weeks and the Doc's didn't do much to help...take tylenol? Yeah right. In fact it always seems as though the pain from cystos and BCG sticks around extra long for me as well. I'm always being told it will hurt for a few days to a week but it is always at least a month. I wonder if this is any indication of a developing stricture for me. Have you been able to find anyone to help treat it? Is there anything that you know of that can be done?
-Vin

Hey Vin,
I wish I could say what I owe my success to. I do exercise and eat a healthy diet, never smoked, only drink a little (can't handle my liquor-tipsy from one glass of wine.), have 1-2 cups of coffee a day. Not into herbs or vitamins. Part of my concern in leaving my current urologist lies in the fact that perhaps his skill at reaming out my bladder is responsible for my success, but, while I want to remain cancer free, after 6½ years cancer free, I think my urologist should be able to focus on the complications of my treatment.
Just to review, the urethra is the tube that runs from the bladder through the penis. A stricture is a narrowing. So, I have scarring in my urethra which causes a stricture. One problem is that the cystoscope can't be passed through the stricture without dilating the stricture... so, if you think a cystoscopy is unpleasant, think about adding on having a dilator pushed through the stricture until it pops so that the cystoscopy can be done.
Even with that, I would have tolerated it as the price I had to pay, but when I spent a full month in pain as a result of the stricture, I expected my urologist to at least acknowledge what the problem was so we could deal with it together. Instead, he insisted that I had a urine infection, in spite of negative cultures and symptoms that didn't respond to antibiotics... but I won't belabor that now. One of these days I'll get around to posting my story.

Warren,
Could you describe and/or define urethral stricture for me?
Thanks so much for posting here. Last year I recieved the same diagnosis as you and I just had my second clear cysto. I can't tell you how sensational it is to hear that people can actually bounce back from T1G3w/cis. Are you doing any sort of vitamin/mineral/herbal/enzyme supplements? What do you attribute your success to? Luck? Prayer? Just curious. I'm willing to try anything.
Thanks,
-Vin

At this point I'm on a 6 month cysto cycle. We'll see what the new urologist has to say about that, but even though my original was noninvasive it was grade 3 and there was one focus of CIS.The problem is that the stricture caused acute symptoms requiring dilation just at the 6 month mark, so I'm doubtful that I could avoid dilation less frequently than every 6 months unless there's another solution. Again we'll see what the new urologist has to say. The thing that threw me was my urologist's complete denial that my symtpoms were related to the stricture. That's why I'm looking for folks to share their experiences with me. Suggestions I'll take also, but pease feel free to share your experience without feeling a need to solve my problem. Even if you don't think you have an answer I want to know what others with strictures have experienced.
-Warren

Warren,

I have resisted the protocol of an every 3 month cysto because something in my soul told me that it could not be very therapuetic to invade and traumatize the urethra and bladder that often. That is one reason I am so hoping an accurate and universally accepted urine test can be found that can tell if a threatening recurrence has happened. Notice, I said a threatening recurrence. Not all recurrences need immediate treatment or surgery as stated and proven by some long term studies on low grade papillary growths that were just monitored rather than removed. Rosie Ambs

Yes indeed thats what i did.....you say Urethra i say Ureter...(sung to "Lets call the whole thing off!).....some moderator i am!...Oh well...if anyone has a stricture of the ureter i stand by my comments!!!
However constant dilation of the urethra can rescar the urethra again and wouldn't that indeed cause you to possibly not completely empty the bladder? The only sort of permanent cure i've heard about is Urethrotomy which works in 70 to 80% of the cases.
Lets hope we hear from some other folks in this situation.... Pat