Anyone experience extreme fatigue with BCG Treatment?

I am also a patient at MAYO and just finished my first 6 BCG treatments 2 weeks ago and am finding I am very fatigued as well. Mine started after the 4th treatment but got much worse following the 6th. Beginning to worry myself about it and plan on sending as message to my Dr. on the portal and maybe a visit to my Family Dr. to see if I need to get checked for other things. Hope your situation gets better and will post my results too.

Chrissie Thank you for your prayers!! I appreciate it. Yes im terrified. My cancer was rough but it was me. It’s harder to see my baby girl go through this. Some days I can block it out and others days i fall to floor sobbing terrified until i can get ahold of myself. Thank you! 😊

Thank you Chrissie! She had blood work done a month ago and not anemic at that time. Probably should get another one.

In googling quite a bit about anemia, I read that it's not uncommon for cancer patients, pregnant women, and children to have it, especially those undergoing chemo treatments. If as you say she is "SO TIRED", then a simple blood test is all that's needed to determine if the cause of her fatigue is, in fact, anemia. I wouldn't hesitate in the future to get my blood checked for that because it could be a fairly simple cure.

Thank you for your kind response. How difficult it must be for you to see your daughter have to go through this. Stay strong. I'll keep you and your girl in my prayers for a full recovery.

Chrissie,
Thank you so much for your reply, I really appreciate it. I sure hope your blue lights continue to be ok. I will remember this about the red blood cell count for future just in case she has to do the chemo. It’s so wonderful to have this group to learn and share with. What a remarkable and beautiful blessing and gift to have you! ❤️ Im so sorry you’ve been through so much.

I had bladder cancer also, did not penetrate the wall but it was a rare type of cancer caused from radiation I had from a metastatic endometrial cancer I had growing on my outer colon and hip bone 20 years ago. That type of cancer I was told tends to come back early so I go for blue light cystoscopies every three months. I had chemo for 6 weeks once a week and then once a month for a year. I did not get BCG treatments but two chemos into the bladder. My last one was in April. I was always fatigued. I thought this would improve once I stopped chemo but it did not. I went to my primary care and told her how I felt. She ordered blood work and found 4 red blood cell tests were low and diagnosed it as anemia. I was told to take over-the-counter medication for a month. I researched a lot about anemia and discovered it took about three weeks of taking iron before I saw an
improvement. That's just what happened. I realized in week three how much better I was feeling and now I'm into week five and going for blood work this week to see the results. My oncologist brushed me off when I mentioned fatigue. That's just not their specialty so I suggest going to your primary care doctor and have her test your blood. Good luck and God bless.

No ma'am. No servere bone pain.
I'm so sorry she's going through this.
What does her doctor recommend? Another type of doctor?
Prayers her pain will subside 🙏

Do you also have severe pain in all of your bones since starting BCG? She hurts all over all the time and her dr says it’s not the BCG causing it yet that’s when it started.

Hi @Irwants2know, I too have high grade urothelial non invasive bladder cancer. Last Thursday I took BCG treatment #24. During #23 was the first time I ever noticed any blood and a little bit of clotting with it. The blood worsened during last week's #24, but is gone now. I still am having frequency, urgency and the tiniest tinge of pain in my lower right abdomen. But I have figured out in my 50+ years of living that life is not perfect, and can be painful. So I turn to my higher power and keep my faith. I am grateful for the days when pain is minimal, and pray, pray, pray when it is painful.
May you find Peace and pain free days ✌️🌞🙏

I am so sorry for all of the stress you are experiencing. Hopefully someone with more experience can tell us their experience. We definitely can’t get diagnosed here but it does help to have others speak up and at least share their experience. It has helped me so much. We are not far enough into this for me to be able to tell you anything. I do think occasionally daughter had blood but definitely not a lot of blood. It’s really hard to trust when our lives/or a loved ones life is at stake. It’s just nerve wrecking. Big hug to you. Does that Dr have a nurse you can talk to? Our Dr is pretty calm about everything too… they have done this so much and we have not! Big hug. Hang in there. I hope it’s knocking out your cancer. Good luck with your scope in July. . My daughter did 6 weeks then had scope and some cancer returned but he is adamant it’s working and not to panic. she just started on the maintenance. then we have to wait several months for scope. Ugh. he says bcg keeps working for 6 months i will post once we get that done. Sure wish someone here sees this and tells us their experience. We HAVE to stay positive and keep our faith. BCG is the gold standard. You’re in my heart.