Advice please - husband urinating every 30 mins since 9th BCG

Hi Starsign

Welcome to the online community. My name is Kathryn and I am one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists on the Macmillan Support Line.

I can see you have joined the bladder cancer forum. I hope you’re finding it helpful to share your experience with us. You may wish to consider joining the carers only forum as well.

It sounds like it’s a really difficult time for both your husband and you at the moment. As a charity we don’t have access to medical records and can’t give specific advice about your husband’s diagnosis or care, but we can certainly give you some general information that may help.

I would advise that if your husband has had no improvement in his symptoms since starting the Mirabegron that he contacts either his consultant or nurse specialist for a review and request further support. He needs to make his team aware of the impact that this is having on day-to-day life, how poor his sleep is and the exhaustion and lethargy that he has. His team can assess whether further tests such as blood and urine tests are needed to see if there is anything else contributing to his symptoms.

You also mention that his appetite is poor, we have information on our website about adding energy and protein to the diet without having to increase the amount someone is eating. Your husband may benefit from nutritional supplements, you can find further information about these on our website. He can discuss these with his team, and it may be appropriate for him to be referred to a dietician for further dietary assessment and advice. The building-up diet booklet has more detailed advice, you can view it online or order a physical copy from Macmillan Orders.

It is important that you look after yourself too Starsign, caring for someone who has cancer can be very difficult, you can find out more about emotional support for carers on our website and advice for self-care.

I hope this information has been useful, please contact us whenever we can help. 

Take care.  

Kathryn

Cancer Information Nurse Specialist  

You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email. Ref: KR/TT

Thank you for that advice. He is having blood tests tomorrow, so will see what they show. I will then get in touch with the urology team to let them know just how much it is impacting on his life . I know it says the mirabegron takes up to 6 weeks to work fully but wondered if there should be any improvement at all after a week, as nothing has changed. 

Hi Starsign.

My name is Helen and I work with Kathryn as one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists on the Macmillan Support Line.

Mirabegron starts to work after about 3 to 4 hours to relax the muscles around the bladder. However, it can take up to 4 to 8 weeks for it to work fully.

Some people notice their symptoms start to improve within the first week of treatment, but the effects tend to build up over time and it can take longer to see an improvement.

Understandably, his symptoms are having a major impact on his quality of life right now. As Kathryn suggested, it’s important that he contacts either his consultant or nurse specialist for a review and request further support.

I hope you found this information helpful. Please don’t hesitate to get back in contact with us if you need further information or support.  

Best wishes

Helen K

The Macmillan Support Line offers practical, clinical, financial and emotional support. You can call us free from landlines and from most mobile phone networks on 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week, 8am – 8pm or contact us by email or webchat. 

Ref: HK / GeS

Thank you, I appreciate that.