BCG or UTI?

By Jennifer Toth

2 min read

Have you recently started BCG treatments for non-invasive bladder cancer? There are many possible side effects of this treatment:¹

Bladder irritation (e.g., difficult/painful/frequent/bloody urination)
Urgency, urine leakage or incontinence
Bladder or groin pain
Tissue particles in your urine (not blood)
Fever
Chills

BCG side effects mimicking a urinary tract infection

The common theme here is that BCG side effects may mimic an urinary tract infection (UTI). But the question is, how do you know?

I have had 3 BCG treatments followed by 3 mitomycin treatments. I am now in maintenance of 3 BCG treatments. Last week was my first BCG treatment in over 2 months.

Within hours I started feeling the urge to urinate constantly. Within 48 hours, I had every symptom listed above, with the exception of the fever, so I naturally thought I was having BCG side effects.

Urine tests revealed I had a UTI

When I arrived at my urologist office for my second BCG, the first thing I always do is provide a urine sample at which time they informed me I have some sort of UTI, they would cancel today's BCG and send urine out for culture.

In my 58 years of life, I have never had a UTI. I had no idea what it felt like. I naturally assumed my bladder was irritated from three TURBTs within three months and all the treatments I've received. What I did not know is that the BCG treatments do mimic infections.

Pay attention to your body during treatments

The lesson learned from this experience was to pay very close attention to your body. Everyone diagnosed with cancer will have some type of mild to moderate side effects and you need to be extremely vigilant about how you feel.

Do BCG treatments irritate your bladder? Did the 2nd, 3rd, 20th feel much worse? That is when you need to call your medical team and let them know. The worst that will happen is they will help you determine it is not an infection but side effects. And, their job is to help you deal with the symptoms.

Don't be afraid to call if you feel anything different - and honestly, don't be like me and "assume" you know what it is.

Have you had a similar experience? Tell us about your experience in the comments below, or share your story with the community.

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The BladderCancer.net team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

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Linda Urbanski Member
@Jennifer Toth - excellent information provided. I can see how you would have assumed that the symptoms you were experiencing were from the recent treatments. That makes complete sense. I did not realize all of the symptoms of a UTI and these certainly sound reasonable after BCG or TURBT which we would assume would cause some bladder irritation. This is valuable information because I could see people having treatments assuming it was an effect of that treatment and not confirming for certain. Always listen to your body and have things checked out just to be certain. Linda (moderator, <a href='http://Bladdercancer.net' target='_blank'>Bladdercancer.net</a> team member)
Laura MacKenzie Member
Great article. Sometimes with a specific health issue going on, we assume all is related. Good to be vigilant of any changes or anything unusual even during treatment for bladder cancer. Laura, Moderator, <a href='http://BladderCancer.net' target='_blank'>BladderCancer.net</a>
Trip Member
I just read Jennifer Toth's article "BCG or UTI". Interestingly, I've had two occasions now where instillations were postponed because the typical urine test indicated positive for UTI even though I am not experiencing the typical side effects/symptoms. As I write this I am awaiting the outcome of the most recent culture test to identify what antibiotic will best treat my current UTI. In general, I have not had any significant side effects from any of the instillations. Over the course of my life, I've only had two instances of suspected UTI's and they were many years ago. Now, over the past two months I've had two, both of which followed BCG immunotherapy. I've not received a clear answer to my question....does this therapy cause UTI's? The only explanation so far is that any time a catheter is used there is the possibility of developing a UTI. I would appreciate your views, ideas, thoughts and/or opinions. Thanks, Trip.

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