Immunotherapy

Hi Liz C  sorry to hear that your husband’s chemotherapy had to stop. I haven’t had immunotherapy myself, so cannot comment on that personally, but there are a lot of bugs going around at the moment that can also be the cause of your husbands sickness. Best to keep an eye, but do mention it to your husbands medical team. If he gets any worse, then contact them sooner rather than later. Hopefully this isn’t another side effect, and he can continue with his treatment . 

Hi Liz,

I was on immunotherapy - there are different ones with different side effects for different genetic profiles, I had Pembrolizumab/Keytruda. Complicating things further, different people have different side effects.

My energy levels improved by supplementing with a daily small dose of Creatine Monohydrate. It's produced by the body already, but the brain can't make its own. Well worth mentioning to the consultant - unlikely to get the thumbs-down but bad form to go dosing up with stuff without telling.

Nausea is probably best countered by adjusting diet to things that don't include nausea triggers. Example: I used to like my boiled eggs for breakfast, but on immunotherapy I just couldn't handle them, so now I whip them up in milk and drink them down surprisingly with no problem. I know that doesn't make sense but I'm not arguing with a crazy immune system. A bit of experimenting could be needed here.

More generally, immunotherapy makes the natural immune system go paranoid about stuff that isn't normally an issue at all. That's what the side effects are - they're the immune system acting up. The trick is to find out what's making the immune system react and finding an alternative that doesn't. What's makes it awkward is that the triggers aren't always obvious.

I hope your husband feels better soon and continues a successful treatment.

kind regards
Steve