Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission
Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
Click the orange button to the right to learn more about what you can start doing today.
“We found higher-impact and lower-impact multimorbidity clusters among older veterans with newly-diagnosed Multiple Myeloma treated with chemotherapy.”
I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM) at the age of 34. I underwent 6 rounds of a triplet induction chemotherapy and an autologous stem cell transplant in 1995 at the age of 35. I was young, fit and could barely climb the three flights of stairs to my apartment when I came home from the hospital. A multiple myeloma diagnosis is tough enough. The problem is, most myeloma diagnoses come with co-disease or “multimorbidity.”
I cannot imagine what the same therapy that I underwent would do to the average MM patient (69 yr.) much less a MM patient with one or two “comorbidities” aka diseases such as heart disease, kidney failure or diabetes.
If you are a newly diagnosed MM patient, over the age of 60, with one or two other diseases (comorbidities), the article linked and excerpted below is the single strongest argument I can think of for undergoing as little toxicity as possible. Chemotherapy and radiation are toxic. Toxicity kills.
I’m not saying that newly diagnosed MM patients shouldn’t undergo chemotherapy/radiation. While FDA approved MM regimens aka “standard-of-care” regimens are often high dose, there is no reason why your oncologist can’t lower the dose or reduce the number of cycles the patient undergoes.
The studies linked and excerpted below simply document how co-morbidities diminish length and quality of life for the newly diagnosed MM patient (NDMM). I think NDMM patients can choose another way.
NDMM patients with co-morbidities can balance evidence-based toxic therapies such as chemotherapy, with evidence-based NON-toxic MM therapies.
There are a host of evidence-based but non-toxic therapies that MM patients can undergo:
pre-habilitation,
nutrition,
supplementation,
frequent, moderate exercise,
and others can support the newly diagnosed MMer to avoid toxicity.
Have you been diagnosed with MM? Do you have comorbidities? Scroll down the page, post a question or comment and I will reply to you ASAP.
“The majority of older adults carry 2 or more chronic conditions,” researchers said…
Data were gathered from the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. A total of 7815 patients at least 60 years of age who were diagnosed with and treated for MM were identified. Researchers searched for 53 CMS-defined chronic and disabling conditions from claims filed by patients 3 years prior to their MM diagnosis…
Researchers identified 6 multimorbidity clusters at the time of MM diagnosis. Of the cohort,
2011 patients, or 25.7%, had cardiovascular disease
1820 patients, or 23.3%, had diabetes and complications
1302 patients, or 16.7%, had minimal disease
992 patients, or 12.7%, had multisystem impairment
931 patients, or 11.9%, had psychiatric and substance use disorders
759 patients, or 9.7%, had chronic lung disease
Researchers determined that specific comorbidities had varying effects on survival rates of patients with MM:
patients with minimal disease had the highest rates of survival, with a median survival of 4.5 years and a 47.5% chance of surviving 5 years
patients with multisystem impairment had the lowest survival rates, with a median survival of 2.4 years and a 24.3% chance of surviving 5 years
after adjusting for covariates, patients with clusters of chronic lung disease, psychiatric and substance use, and multisystem impairment had higher likelihood of early death than patients with minimal disease
“We found higher-impact and lower-impact multimorbidity clusters among older veterans with newly-diagnosed MM treated with chemotherapy. Unique combinations of chronic diseases may interact with MM itself to drive differences in mortality,” researchers concluded.
“Comorbidities have been demonstrated to affect progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), although their impact in multiple myeloma (MM) patients is as yet unsettled.
We (1) assessed various comorbidities, (2) compared established comorbidity indices (CIs; Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), hematopoietic cell transplantation-specific comorbidity index (HCT-CI)), Kaplan Feinstein (KF) and Satariano index (SI) and (3) developed a MM-CI (Freiburger comorbidity index, FCI) in 127 MM patients.
Univariate analysis determined
moderate or severe pulmonary disease
renal impairment;
as most important variables for diminished OS….
Combination of these risk factors within the FCI identified significantly different median OS rates of 118, 53 and 25 months with 0, 1 and 2 or 3 risk factors, respectively, (P<0.005). In light of our study, comorbidities are critical prognostic determinants for diminished PFS and OS.
Moreover, comorbidity scores are important treatment decision tools and will be valuable to implement into future analyses and clinical trials in MM…”
Overall, 22 empirical studies reported experiences of patients with multimorbidity. Thematic analysis identified 12 themes within these studies. The key overarching theme was the experience of a lack of holistic care. Patients also experienced insufficient guidance from healthcare providers. Patients also perceived system-related issues such as problems stemming from poor professional-to-professional communication.
Conclusions
Patients with multimorbidity experience a range of system- and professional-related issues with healthcare delivery. This overview illustrates the diversity of aspects that should be considered in designing healthcare services for patients with multimorbidity.
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1 comment
Carole Anne Bennett says
3 weeks ago
I started being ill after the second Covid jab. Heart, kidney, and Anaemia. Doctors said the jab had affected my immune system. Extreme exhaustion! I was a Golfer and fit, no other problems but here I am with MGUS although still having tests! Really worried as I care for my husband and it is getting harder!
