Itchiness After Immunotherapy

Mine is Nivolumab and I am 3 weeks into the first treatment. The itching is honestly unbearable and keeps me up all night.

No rash for me, just unbelievable itching 😭

Yesterday, my oncologist prescribed Triamcinolone Acetonide Cream 0.5% (Aristocrot), it is wonderful! You can apply it 4x/day. He suggested I apply before bed to my hands and feet, I had zero itch last night and a teeny, teeny hint of an itch when I got up. At 5:30am this morning I reapplied the cream, no itch until 10am, I plan on waiting until 6 hrs pass between doses before I reapply. So far the itch is bearable. What is really odd is when I applied the cream to my hands this morning the slight itch in my feet went away on its own. This cream is amazingly cheap, under $4 for 45 gm, cheaper than OTC hydrocortisone. I so am thrilled to not need an antihistamine today:)

That's wonderful 😊. A friend of mine mentioned rubbing castor oil on my skin that is itchy. I had some so I gave it a try. Will see how it works, but so far it seems have stopped the itching.

Castor oil sounds great, I will try it in the place of the Aristocrot cream and see how it goes. I have noticed that I need to get the cream on when the itch first noticed for it to work quickly and last.
Thanks for the tip!

So glad to hear that the Aristocort suggestion was helpful!

A heads up that we were advised:

1) frequent, thin layers are recommended instead of a heavy application only once or twice a day; and
2) do not use it for more than seven days without consulting the prescribing doctor

I had to apply it to my mother, since the rash was on her back (she couldn't reach the areas). I always washed my hands well afterwards; my guess is that would make sense when self-applying too.

My itch is on the hands and feet so I have to apply the cream on my hands after I wash my face in the morning and apply sunscreen to my face/arms. In the evening I apply it to my hands and feet at bedtime. During the day I am going to try the Castor oil and see if that gets me through the mid-day itch without using hydroxyzine Rx anti-histamine. I am really trying to limit its use at it makes me tired and crosses the blood brain barrier. My oncologist has me taking famotidine in the morning and night to help with the itch. Famotidine is a H2 inhibitor, I thought it only worked on stomach gas, but what do I know!
I had to use Rx Kenalog cream, then hydrocortisone since age 3, eczema got better when I gave up milk as an Adult. It feels like the Carboplatin and Keytruda, (my oncologist said they both cause itching), are attacking the areas where the eczema was the worst. It all is very odd.

It is not odd. It is logical. Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) boosts your immune system. It also removes PDL1 blockage from malignant cells. Because it boosts your immune system and prior autoimmune issues like eczema are exacerbated. Perhaps carboplatin has a similar effect on your preexisting autoimmune issues.

So far I rarely have itching. I do experience dry skin that I started noticing last week. With tiny flakes on my arm and feet. And interestingly in the lines on the inside of my hands. My other nivolumab side effects are fatigue, back pain, shoulder pain, headaches, abdominal pain and I had diarrhea a couple of times. A CT on 4/11 did not find colitis. My second nivolumab is on 5/1.