What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Bladder Cancer?

In the early stages of bladder cancer, you might not experience any obvious signs or symptoms.

One major sign of bladder cancer is blood in your urine, known as hematuria. Your urine might be reddish or seem darker than normal. It is also possible to have blood in your urine even though your urine looks normal. However, blood in urine does not necessarily mean that you have bladder cancer.

Other warning signs and symptoms of bladder cancer include:

• Painful urination
• Urgency (feeling like you need to urinate without being able to do so)
• Frequent urination
• Lower back pain
• A change in bowel habits
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss

Sometimes when the first symptoms of bladder cancer appear, the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body. In this situation, the symptoms depend on where the cancer has spread (metastasized). For example, lung metastases may cause coughing or shortness of breath, liver metastases may cause abdominal pain or jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes), and bone metastases may cause painful or broken bones.

The symptoms of bladder cancer may be similar to the symptoms of other medical conditions or problems. Always consult your physician if you have any of these symptoms.

This content has been reviewed and approved by Myo Thant, MD.