Once upon a September and October, I began having a few strange symptoms with my Keytruda doses including weight gain that didn’t match my calorie intake, loss of pubic hair, some hot flashes. I mentioned them after discussing them with a nurse practitioner here. I had my estrogen levels tested and menopause was ruled out. Yay!

At my November appointment, my oncologist had taken a look at my symptoms and labs and diagnosed me with metabolic disorder. I certainly have a family history of these symptoms, although I don’t know if anyone in my family has actually discussed the overarching diagnosis of metabolic disorder with a doctor in the past.

My oncologist believes these symptoms are probably something that eventually would have been diagnosed with age, but the clinical trial medications or perhaps just the stress of this cancer journey have brought on the symptoms on a good 20 years early. Thankfully they are treatable and may not need medication but sweat therapy (aka exercise!)

It was after I finished with the doctor that my triglyceride levels came back from the lab and were high enough to rate a grade 3 adverse affect which meant I couldn’t get treatment that day. I came back the next day for fasting blood work which reduced my levels from 400 to 300, but not low enough to get me off the hook for a medication. I began meds and had beautiful blood work and dose 21 two weeks late on November 21st. It went without a hitch, thank God! Now I wait to see an endocrinologist to treat medication induced metabolic syndrome.