BCG Side Effects: my toughest side effect is lower back pain

@jcold5619 welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. So sorry to hear about your back pain. What is BCG treatment? (I don’t do well with acronyms.) Could you elaborate?

I'm sorry you are having such pain. Have you discussed this with your doctor or their team? Pain at that level should be something they are aware of.
Have you tried a phone call or email ?

Hi @jcold5619 I think everyone's side effects differ greatly. I'm in my 3rd year of bladder cancer treatment. Currently on a 6 month break. I've had 27 BCG treatments to date. The symptoms, side effects and irritation I experienced were mainly with my bladder. Horrible burning, urgency, frequency, inflammation and irritation. I also had some back pain, but honestly wasn't sure if it was caused by that or my arthritic back.
Good luck with the rest of your treatments and I do hope your pain will ease.

Thanks for your input. I have also experienced most all of those same side effects. I admire you for sticking with this treatment plan for as long as you have.

Maybe it is just me but this has been brutal for me both physically and mentally and I’m only in week 5 of the induction period. I have gone from a very active lifestyle to one that is seemingly consumed and centered around the rest room.

Good luck to you.

Ready for a break.

As I see it, there's not really any other option. I do not want to lose my bladder to aggressive bladder cancer.
It definitely did a number on my mental. It's hard to understand unless you've been through it. I found BCAN very helpful. I also was able to sign up for a mentor to call me. She was so kind and patient. I really enjoyed talking to her. Made me feel not so alone in the process.

Thank you for your input. Just returning from my 5th treatment. One more to go on my 6 week induction period.

Is it common to drop down to 1/3 dosage after my time off? I had not heard that they will be doing any reduction in my dosage…..

Thanks again and good luck to you.

@vickyhay you pose a very good question. I had a similar question myself related to another body system and the occurrence of cancer. There are SO many groups and discussions on Mayo Clinic Connect. They are largely categorized by body systems. Unfortunately concerns about cancer pertains to nearly all of them. In addition to that there are other groups and discussions devoted to other aspects of achieving good health and well being such as mental health, caregivers, spirituality ….. etc. When there are overlaps in a topic the discussion can be posted to more than one place. Sometimes the title can be changed to clarify what the discussion is about. Do you have any suggestions for making this discussion more accessible to the appropriate audience?

My issue with this Blog is that Mayo Connect has placed Kidney and Bladder Cancer in the same group. This is so inappropriate since the two have distinct profiles and distinct treatments. For example, while BCG has been the mainstay for treating early stage bladder cancers (after the tumor has been removed) since the 1970's this is not a treatment for kidney cancer ! Why was this decision made in the first place to group the two ?