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Now that I have everyone’s attention 🙂 I am getting very mixed messages on post BCG safety precautions.
I saw a post from Jack Moon that recommended 6 weeks of protected sex following the last treatment, but have heard and read a lot of information suggesting only a few days.
Are there facts about this topic, or is it one of those things where it’s tough to know exactly what to do, so practice a precautionary principle?
3 days? 7 days? 6 weeks? Become a Catholic priest?
R
Sex – you should abstain from intercourse/oral sex for 2-3 days after
each treatment. The use of condoms thereafter is advised and should
continue to be used for several weeks after your treatment has been
completed.
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/documents/866/Urology – Guide to Bladder Cancer – BCG Treatment.pdf
I could give you several hopsital urology sites that give the same advice regarding sex during and post BCG treatments.
You are protecting your partner by following the advice on the use of condems.
JackI think that this is an important question and we at Bladder Cancer Canada should get the message out there. I’ve had that question asked of me in my support group meetings. When I first started BCG in 2008 that was one of the questions I posed to the nurse. She couldn’t answer me. She said it was recommended that men use condoms if they were the ones getting BCG but didn’t have an opinion on women getting BCG and the risks for a male partner. My hubby and I decided to err on the side of caution and use condoms. However, I found as I got into more treatments and was experiencing side effects I ended up abstaining from relations due to being very sore and irritated “down below”. I don’t think that men get affected this way. Another lady at my support group said she experienced what I did and found sex too painful with or without condoms. For anyone that is OK with having sex during BCG I concur with Jack; use condoms for at least a month and abstain for at least a couple of days after each treatment. After all we are dealing with a live bacteria. I figured if we were instructed to put bleach in the toilet to kill the BCG then it is important to protect our partners from possible infection.
One of the things we, of course, need to be extremely careful about is that we do not give medical advice to people – EVER! Not unless you have a medical degree. That’s why when we give advice that is sound medically we like to quote reputable sources, just as Jack has done above. We know information based on what we have read and what we have experienced anecdotally. But we are not medical doctors so if medical advice needs to be dispensed, we are best and safest to refer people to their urologist, stoma nurse, BCG nurse, quality websites, etc. in spite of what we might think we already know.
Just a cautionary note to us all to remember as we speak with patients and caregivers and share our experiences. We can empathize and give our anecdotal evidence, but we leave the medical advice to the medical professionals.
If that was directed at what I had said .. please note that I did say it was from what is written on this pamphlet I got during my last BCG treatment. . last is right!
I’m done.
Sorry if I did something wrong…
good luck to everyone.My comments were not directed at anyone specifically at all but to us all generally to not try to be giving medical advice. No one need feel that anything untoward has been said or done. My point was to point us, as Jack has done, to doctors and medical sites that give appropriate medical advice – which is what is needed on this topic. No offence intended by my comments to anyone. Just a reminder to us all…
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