Posts tagged: abdominal pain

Update on Steroid Therapy

February 22, 2024 - Posted in The Journey by Todd with comments

Hello All,

I am on day 2 of my steroid treatment to try and shut down the overactive immune system I now have from the immunotherapy.

While I have not yet gained the water weight (oh, it will come... lol) I have found myself with little to no pain since starting the therapy.

This leads me to believe that the abdominal pains I was suffering through were probably a result of the immunotherapy, and now that my immune system is settling down a bit, the pain has seemingly gone away.

Other symptoms of the immunotherapy also seem to be weening down, or gone.

The gold marker for me will be to see if my creatinine levels come down now as well. We will have those test results next Tuesday (the 27th).

Immunotherapy side effects

February 18, 2024 - Posted in Medical Update by Todd with comments

Hello All,

Had a bit of a rough day yesterday. My abdomin was quite painful all day, making it a bit of tough time. Low appetite, drowsy and just not feeling well at all.

It's very difficult to determine exactly WHAT is causing the pain. Many of my medications cause side effects that can create pain in my abdomin or stomach area. But it is also very possible (and most likely) that the immunotherapy is causing me these symptoms.

The immunotherapy continues to work in my body months after an immunotherapy session. Some of the symptoms I am having, which could be attributed to the immunotherapy, are stomach and abdominal pain, stomach upset, nausea, vomitting, skin rash and itching, headache, stuffed up sinuses, signifcant fatigue and muscle pain (leg).

The only way to stop the immunotherapy is to use high doses of steroids for a period of time, which actually shuts down the immunotherapy completely. Of course, the use of steroids will cause me more strife. Steroids will reek havoc on my blood sugars (they will go through the roof) and will probably cause me water weight gain (which would go away after I stop the steroids). The only advantage to doing so is possibly getting rid of some of these nasty side effects of immunotherapy.

For now, while the immunotherapy keeps doing it's thing, I will have to try and manage these symptoms as best I can. Given my increased creatinine levels, the medical oncologist is likely to stop the immunotherapy.