Understanding interaction of bladder spasm and shingles

[Steve18551]

My father is 83 and generally in good health.  He was diagnosed with bladder cancer and was successfully treated with the BCG protocol of Dr. Lamm.  After his first follow-up BCG treatment course, he experienced more fatigue and flu-like symptoms than normal, and an low-grade fever.  In the course of a few days he broke out in a large rash that was misdiagnosed as a fungal infection.  After things got worse he was admitted to the ER the rash was easily recognized as a shingles outbreak on the S2-S3 dermatome area.  He was then given a course of Acyclovir to take.  Now he is having severe bladder spasms/pain, especially at night.  My question is this - is the shingles outbreak related to the bladder spasms/pain, or is the most recent BCG course most likely the cause?  Also, if the shingles and bladder trouble are causally related, what should be done to minimize the trouble now, and what is the most likely time-frame for things to resolve (or progress)?  Thank you for any guidance you can offer -

[woundedmom]

My son had the same exact reaction after taking acyclovir... Except he was on it bc of a misdiagnosis. It will be 2 years in July and his spasms have never stopped. His life has been drastically changed and has not been able to  return to school. I would really like to know what happened with your father and if he recovered. Please contact me ***@****

[Steve18551]

Thank you for your comments on my Dad's condition.  It will help us keep things in perspective.

[Jagdish Vishnoi, MD]

Hi,
Shingles(Herpes Zoster) can cause urinary retention,blader pain,spasmodic neurogenic blader.Intravesical BCG treatment may also give rise to irritated blader(feeling like infection of urine),increase urinary frequency,blood in urine and flu like symptoms.Here its difficult to differentiate what causing blader pain but if previous BCG did not cause such symptoms then its due to shingles.It can be controlled with simple pain killer/analgesics like paracetamol.Pain due to shingles may last upto 2-4 weeks.
Regards,