› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Stomach pain after Opdivo and Yervoy with no other symptoms
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Brian73.
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- January 21, 2018 at 7:30 pm
Hi everyone,
I recently finished my 4th infusion of the Yervoy/Opdivo dual treatment and have tolerated them pretty well — with the only notable side effects being a rash/itching, some fatigue, and a fever after the 2nd and 3rd infusions.My last infusion of both Yervoy and Opdivo was in Dec 27th. For a little over a week though I’ve been experiencing some stomach pain and discomfort. It’s more of a constant gnawing and sometimes burning feeling. The location is mostly right under my rib cage where my stomach is located, with sometimes the discomfort located a bit lower than my stomach.
I have no other symptoms that would indicate colitis, ie diarrhea, tarry/bloody stool, etc. I also am pretty regular when going and all else is normal in that department.
I’m wondering if the discomfort or sometimes pain in my stomach could simply be a stand alone symptom like inflammation. Maybe an ulcer? Have any of you experienced only stomach discomfort with no other symptoms while on Opdivo/Yervoy?
I called the triage nurse last week when I started having the pain and described all of my symptoms and level of pain/discomfort and then spoke to my oncologist a few days later. They both felt it was not bad enough to go to the ER and that it may get better with some time if it was inflammation related.
I just don’t know anymore. Seems like over a week is a bit long and it’s aggravating just feeling like I can’t do much or move around too much without my stomach feeling more discomfort to where I have to lay down for a while to ease the discomfort… which usually works.
Any ideas or advise would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you.
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- January 22, 2018 at 3:34 pm
Maybe have your onc test for lipase and amylase levels on your next set of blood labs. Your symptom description sounds remarkably like what I experienced as my pancreas was getting angry.
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- January 22, 2018 at 9:29 pm
Have you tried anti-inflamatory drugs? I have the same symptoms, (not treatment related, they started before treatment), and the anti-inflamatory drugs work a little bit. Also try to use some easy home remedies like drinking hot drinks after eating. I drink peppermint tea after I eat and usually take a Tums, this works on the mild days for me. On bad days I'm with you, on the couch with rice bags all over my stomach and back in agony. I also saw a post on here from a guy that put a little bit of Jello in hot water, he thought the way the Jello expanded in his stomach was why it worked. I haven't tried it yet but you never know, very scientific, LOL.
I am on Pembro infusions so I can't speak to the opdivo/yervoy but I do think I have seen other posts on here about this exact question in the past.
Good Luck and think positive.
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- January 23, 2018 at 3:52 am
So a couple of things for you here. First, I'm sorry you're experiencing this. I'm about 2 months off 1 year of pembro, and can relate to what you're describing. I did not have the combination therapy, but my thinking here is that the two drugs have doubled down on a pain that I have similarly experienced.
I can describe a similar pain in my stomach and abdominal region, that had no relation to my pancreas, or ulcers, or values in my cbc/comprehensive metabolic blood levels.
For me it was all related to what I ate. In fact, I narrowed it down to dairy. Every time I ate eggs/milk/cheese, say for breakfast I would feel the discomfot where I had to lay down. Sometimes, Gas X/simethicone would do the trick. Very infrequently, I would be sick to my stomach.
So here's what my onc suggested – dairy intolerance potentially relating to the pembro. My immune system was so revved that it impacted my GI system adversely. Pretty odd, and he was not 100% certain this was the case, but I really really reduced dairy and have not experienced it in months.
Your situation may not be related to any food, and testing/talking to your onc and team is without a doubt the first best way to approach this.
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- January 24, 2018 at 8:31 pm
All the above suggestions will help us all. I also have pain by the pancreas and liver. Chewing food more finely seems to help. smoother soups. Also if i don't eat it really hurts like a ulcer. Warm lemon water helps with a few drops of stevia for sweetener. Or apple cider vinegar in warm water.
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- January 24, 2018 at 10:38 pm
Thanks everyone so much for replying!!
So just today I got my amylase and lipase numbers checked. They were all well within range and checked out OK.
Regarding the dairy mentioned above, I don't really eat much dairy besides a little cheese. No milk, creams, or foods with dairy in them. So, I'm thinking it may not be related.
I also have a CT scan set up for next week on Wednesday… the earliest they could get me in unfortunately. If my discomfort turns to pain or get worse in any way I will definitely go to the ER to expedite a scan.
I'm thinking it could still be inflammation, or maybe duodenitis? Or, it could be tumor related. In my abdomen was the largest tumor I had. It was 11 x 6 x 5 cm!! That's the size of a grapefruit! The Yervoy/Opdivo shrunk it down to about 1/5th the size after 3 treatments. So possibly it's discomfort from the shrinking tumor.
Or, another possibility that I just thought of is that my oncologist said that my last scan showed some inflammation in some lymph nodes. The inflammation did not concern him because he said they were almost certainly inflamed from the immunotherapy treatment based on the locations of inflammation. But maybe it's my lymph nodes around my stomach area?
All speculation or guesses. Can't wait to get that scan on Wed!!
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