Anyone lose hearing and/or sense of taste due to Immunotherapy?

welcome to the group,
i had a nodule that was cancerous and went straight to my brain, which turned into a massive tumor.
removed and they had to go back a second time days later for a bleed. Radiation and a couple infusions chemo and took another radiation to the brain but made me cancer free. i was i guess blessed and lucky- I'm sending you a prayer now-------sent
prayer groups are amazing if you have the faith and the more the better. have a blessed day.

Is your husband doing immunotherapy as a monotherapy or in conjunction with chemo?

There are some things that you might try. It may take some experimentation but try serving him foods that have strong scents. It may help to stimulate the appetite. But some scents may make him nauseous so be patient when experimenting.

Try giving him small portions of foods with different textures and temperatures on a single plate.

If he finds something tolerable but can't focus or has no interest in eating have him work on a project or read a book while eating. Example: Have him read a page then have two bites, read a page and have two bites. Or, do a few crossword hints then eat a couple bites.

There are several appetite stimulants that are available by prescription. Megace and marinol come to mind. Some anti nausea meds help too. I'm thinking of Olanzapine which was developed for something else but does stimulate the appetite. Talk to the oncologist to learn what might be the best options for him.

If you are in a state where medical marijuana is legal, try giving him a gummy or a piece of a brownie.

Calories are more important than a balanced diet right now. I had my hot fudge sundae therapy 3-4 times a week fifteen years ago. It didn't hurt me at all.

Meet with the hospital's nutritionist. They may have other ideas. If you can get him to eat ice cream or smoothies, add a protein powder to it.

Sending hope one of these works for him.

I'm so sorry that your husband is having such a hard time! That must be difficult for both of you. My husband had lung cancer and also got immunotherapy. He reacted badly to it. One of the side effects is Pancreatitis which he got and almost died from it. After that he refused to have any immunotherapy treatments or any other cancer treatments. It worked well for my husband to give those treatments up. He lived with lung cancer for 14 years. He died in 2024. However, that's not for everyone. Everyone is different. You have to decide if the treatment is helping your husband enough to continue with it even with the side effects or not. Discuss it with his doctor and see what he thinks. But in the end, it's your husband's decision. It's his body and his money.

Prayer works wonders in situations like these especially. Just ask God for help and he will be there for you. Prayer and God got my husband and I through a very hard time. Now that I'm alone, God is there for me still and it helps immensely. I will say a prayer for you and your husband.
I wish you the best.
PML

Hello @rockyb922, You've both been through so much. I'm sorry that you are facing this on top of everything else. Loss of taste is hard one. I know when I've had COVID and couldn't taste, I also lost weight. In the past I had lost my appetite as a side effect of the cancer advancing. I would feel full after eating a few bites.
Eating has just become a job for him. One more thing to add to the list of things that he needs to do in order to get healthy. This isn't the time to be losing weight. Hydration can be critical too.
Have you had a chance to speak with his doctor, or an oncology nurse? There may be medications that can boost his appetite, assuming that he still feels a hunger sensation. They may have some good suggestions or remedies.

If he has some sense of taste, this is a link to some tips from Mayo Clinic on making the food taste better during treatment:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cancer/in-depth/cancer/art-20047536

My wife was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer back in January 2025. Three months of chemo and 30 radation treatments later her cancer was label in remission.
After two months of complete down time she was givien her first trreatment of immunotherapy. Turns out it would be her last treatment. Her reaction to the treatment was widespread horrible rash and severe ithching. It has taken the last 5 months to completely rid her of this itching. Massive doses of prednisone finally did the trick.
Now she is dealing with the side effects presnisone. The last one, hopefully, has been extremely high glucose.
She hasn't lost her sense of taste or her appetite.
We were told there could be side effects from immunotherapy, but not what they might be. After her reaction it will quickly decided no further treatnents were justified.
We hope and pray for your husband and that his doctors are guided to the best path of care for him. May God Bless!

@rockyb922, I hope you've seen the helpful posts from @bovic21 @lls8000 @pml @denzie and others. Cancer medications can cause hearing loss and/or loss of sense of taste. As others have mentioned, loss of taste can make eating hard or cause loss of appetite.

What type of immunotherapy is your husband having? Is the cancer found in the lung spread from the bladder cancer?

@colleenyoung now that I have found the responses, they are helpful. However, he has not had any immunotherapy since August. He's receiving chemo directly into his bladder now for rhat cancer but they say that should not cause any issues. Months of not being able to taste anything has been difficult but he still eats. We are just looking for any possible suggestions. Maybe getting a 2nd or 3rd opinion? Thank you all.

@rockyb922 which chemo drug are they giving him? If it's Cisplatin, carboplatin, oxaliplatin, or any other treatment that ends with
-platin, it is most likely causing the hearing issue. Platinum drugs migrate to the tiny bones in the ears. And tastebuds are fast growing cells so chemo causes them to not replace as swiftly as they might which affects taste.

@rockyb922, if you would like to request a second opinion at Mayo Clinic, here's how to get started: https://mayocl.in/1mtmR63