side effects of BCG treatments

Hi Kim

You have found the right place for support and advice. So many knowledgeable and caring people here.
I had 30 BCG treatments including the maintenance treatments.
What you are feeling seems normal. I was lucky or maybe unlucky as I had very little side effects during my 1st 12 treatments, BUT I did have 2 recurrences of small tumors during that time.
Been cancer free over 3 years now, since my 13th BCG treatment.
I found from treatment 13-30 each treatment the side effects of urgency, spasms, and fatigue lasted a little longer. I had all my treatments on Friday afternoons which gave me the weekend to recover. I only lost a day of work during my last 2 treatments.
Everyone seems to have varying side effects and varies length of time for them to last.
I couple of things I learned during the treatments is to drink lots of water after your 1st void and for the following day also, and a little cranberry juice will not hurt either. The number one problem I encountered during my treatments were bladder infections, caused in my case by my bladder not completely emptying. Since I have been drink cranberry juice and 1 capsule a day, I have had no further infections.
I know the feelings you may be having during this time. What helped me was this very site and just having others to compare notes with and learn about this disease.
I recommend you join us on our Sunday night chats at 8:00pm ESD. You will get to know some of the members like I have been lucky enough to do.
I wish you all the best,
BCG = Bladder Cancer Gone
Jack

Hi,
I'm new to this forum. I'm a 52 year old female in fairly good health. I was diagnosed with bladder cancer in mid October/10. I had the resection (still don't know the proper terminology) and had 2 tumours approx. 1" removed. I started BCG treatments 2 weeks later and had my 3rd treatment yesterday. I feel fine for the first day but by the end of the second day I'm starting to feel unusually tired. By the third day I have a stomach ache, slight fevers and a feeling of sadness that I just can't shake. It's almost like over whelming anxiety. By day 6, most of the symptoms are gone but I will have a treatment the next day so it starts all over again.

I have been reading many of the posts and so many say the side effects get worse as the treatments go on, but nobody's really saying what is happenening to them. I know everyone is different, but can somebody give me some examples of what they are feeling, maybe what I can expect? Are the treatments making some people so sick they can't work? More importantly, how do you handle them so they don't get you down. Are there ways I can avoid this getting worse?

I would never admit this to my family, but I'm pretty scared right. I'm attempting to carry on as "business as usual" but it's getting hard. Anybody's imput would be appreciated and would help put my mind at ease.

Thanks and I hope everyone is doing well.