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BCG – 2 questions
Greetings – I have two sort of fine-tuning questions re BCG maintenance treatments. My most recent cysto after receiving my intial BCG 6-pak showed no CIS which I reported a few weeks ago. Now I am about to start my first quarterly 3-pak. Dr. Lamm’s protocol says to reduce the dose to one-third unless no side effects were noted in the initial 6 inductions. Well, I had almost no side effects (a one degree temp for a few hours after the fifth induction plus a little drop of blood in one or two urinations). So my first question is – is it better to hit it with full strength BCG or try to prolong my tolerance of BCG for as long as possible by going with the reduced dosage? My second question is – if you can’t schedule the three maintenance treatments exactly at the one quarter interval, is it better to be two weeks early or three weeks late? Thank you in advance for any advice and for being here. Best, brewster
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3 Replies
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My doc said that a 1/3 dosage of BCG was just as effective and missing a week was not a serious problem. But then I did have a pretty severe reaction to BCG. However I believe I’ve read elsewhere that reduced dosages of BCG are just as effective as full dosages. I’m no expert but that is what I was told.
David Doyle
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Hi Rosemary – Thx for your reply and I hope your upcoming tests all come out ok. Two years ago when I had a scan I got an itchy allergic reaction – for which they told me to take benadryl….I mention this just in case. This year, they gave me benadryl and prednazone sp? the day before the scan and that prevented the reaction.
I asked my BCG questions here before asking my uro so that I have an idea of the pros and cons before going in. I think your thought about staying with full strength as long as possible is the best path and has been confirmed by others I’ve asked…primarily because of my CIS being such a high risk form of the beast. Also, I’ve heard that 2-3 weeks early or late is pretty much a no-minder as long as there were no bad side effects from BCG. Best, brewster -
Brewster,
It sounds like the answer to your first question is in the question…
So my first question is – is it better to hit it with full strength BCG or try to prolong my tolerance of BCG for as long as possible by going with the reduced dosage
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It seems to me (and I am no doctor) that if you can tolerate the BCG, then full dose would be best.
I’m thinking it would be better to ask your Doctor for the answer to your second question. There are so many variables to the BCG schedule questions, and the best answer that I ever got, was that the schedules are programmed is based on the results of the research.
That’s the best I can do. Maybe someone else can jump in with better answers.
Regards,
Rosemary
Rosemary
Age – 55
T1 G3 – Tumor free 2 yrs 3 months
Dx January 2006Sign In to reply.
