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BCG Treatments - Bacteria in my urine
Bladder Cancer | Last Active: Mar 12 3:00pm | Replies (11)Comment receiving replies
Unfortunately, UTI's are expected as a side effect of BCG. If you do not show blood in your urine, you should proceed. Your medical providers should be aware that antibiotics will reduce the efficiency of BCG induction. My BCG induction was delayed by only one week for the entire protocol, meaning that I had the six full-dose BCG induction in 7 weeks. A urinalysis was done before each treatment, and regardless of the presence or not of bacteria if I was not showing any symptoms, the induction was done.
Replies to "Unfortunately, UTI's are expected as a side effect of BCG. If you do not show blood..."
I am aware UTI's are more prevalent with BCG treatments. My concern was over the delays in treatment due to bacteria in my urine, having to wait 4 days for the culture to grow to only be told there was no UTI and the risk the delay has on Cancer entering the muscle.
Thank you for your insight, however. Apparently, each office has their own protocol for how the initial urinalysis is read. Mine appears to be very conservative, sounds like yours was not.
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The organism in the BCG is affected by some antibiotics, but not all in what I have researched. Perhaps the medical providers know which drug is safe to use during this treatment? Also perhaps the risk of reducing treatment efficacy is less than the risk of delaying more instillation treatments? Just food for thought as I don't have the answers to these questions. Perhaps @caflynnr1 can have this discussion with her provider.