Scared to death

My husband also developed the non stop hiccups. He had to get meds from the doctor to stop them! I can’t recall the name of the medicine but I am sure your husband’s doctor can prescribe something. It wasn’t until after the second round of opdivo/yervoy that we saw a big difference in the size of his tumors. He made it through the third round but then had to stop because of the side effects. He ended up losing close to fifty pounds. He was on a three month schedule for scans until March of this year. After the scan in March and there were no new tumors he was able to wait six months for the next scan.
I know your struggle-I know your fear. This message board has helped me a great deal. Look for posts from Bubbles-she has so much knowledge and information. Look for post from Melanoma Mike-he can keep your spirits up even in his discomfort!
Hang in there,
Jim’s wife

Everyone here understands that feeling of helplessness and uncertainty. It sometimes takes a bit for the treatment to “kick in”.

Your oncologist should be able to prescribe something for those side effects. I am not sure where you are in the world but where I am the non high inducing part of marijuana cane be prescribed as an appetite stimulant.

I had issues coping with my initial diagnosis. I went to counseling with a psychologist who was part of the cancer center who dealt with cancer patients. That may be something both of you can look in to. Being a care giver can be as tough and in some cases tougher than being a patient.

Hiccups can be caused by many things. If they are persistent, without any relief the oncologist should be able to help.

Both of you should express your concerns to the doctor.

Well wishes to both of you.

Mike

While on the combo I was not hungry, lost 28 pounds in 4 weeks. I called it the melanoma diet. I went through about 7 weeks with no saliva and anything with salt or sugar was to sour or sweet to eat. That kind of went away, at 3 years I still lose my saliva about once a week. I also ran fever for 6 weeks with horrible chills and sweats. I managed to figure out taking 800 mg of Motrin every 2 hours on the dot kept the fever away. If I missed it by 15 minutes I had to go through the chills and sweat cycle. Fatigue is a side effect, the worst one for me as it has control of my life still after 3 years. My immune system killed my thyroid gland and have been on hormones for over 2 years. Oncologist raised my dose this week trying to combat the fatigue. I was glad to see my side effects because to me it meant my immune system was responding to something. A scan at 6 weeks had shrinkage in 6 of my 7 tumors in my lungs. Most of the side effects stopped after I came off the combo and just got opdivo. He may actually feel a difference. Right before I was diagnosed I had a little dry cough, never smoked, and had a sharp pain in my upper right side which happened to be where the largest tumor was. After the second week the cough and pain had both went away and I knew it was working.

I’m sorry your husband is experiencing side effects. For hiccups, there are multiple medications that can be tried. Chlorpromazine is often used for uncontrollable hiccups. I’ve also seen haloperidol used with success. Also could try metoclopramide, baclofen or gabapentin. These are all from different drug classes, but don’t be bothered by the fact that some of these drugs are antipsychotics, muscle relaxants or whatever. Most physicians will know about the appropriate dosing to get relief from hiccups.
Best wishes to your husband and to you as his caregiver,
Linda

It might yet work.
I was stag 4 this past July. Opdivo / Yervoy made me very sick… After 1 treatment I spent around 15 days in hospital.. nausea all the time… Ugh.. Lost 45 lbs. Doctors removed the yervoy but kept me on opdivo. After steroid treatment to stabilize mw…I received 15 infusions of opdivo alone (1 every other week). After 15 infusions my scans are clear. (I had more masses than you could count!). I seemed sick, weak..like I was fading fast… Hang in there.