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.
- You are here:
- Home »
- Blog »
- Multiple Myeloma »
- Iron Deficiency in Myeloma?
Iron Deficiency in Myeloma?
Iron deficiency in myeloma patients can result from multiple causes- both conventional and non-conventional causes.
As I dug deeper into the topic of anemia, I realized that anemia, red blood cells, hemoglobin and iron were all related to each other.
What conventional therapies cause iron deficiency in myeloma treatment?
- Chemotherapy:
- Myelosuppressive Chemotherapy: Treatments like melphalan, cyclophosphamide, and others can suppress bone marrow function, leading to reduced production of red blood cells, which can cause or exacerbate anemia.
- Platinum-based Chemotherapy: Drugs like cisplatin can lead to anemia through nephrotoxicity, which affects erythropoietin production, a hormone crucial for red blood cell production.
- Stem Cell Transplantation:
- The conditioning regimens (high-dose chemotherapy) used before stem cell transplants can damage the bone marrow, leading to decreased red blood cell production and subsequent anemia.
- Radiation Therapy:
- When used in areas involving the bone marrow, radiation can reduce the marrow’s ability to produce red blood cells, contributing to anemia.
- Bisphosphonates:
- While primarily used to treat bone disease in myeloma, bisphosphonates can occasionally lead to renal impairment, which in turn can reduce erythropoietin production, causing anemia.
- Immunomodulatory Drugs (IMiDs):
- Drugs like thalidomide, lenalidomide, and pomalidomide can cause myelosuppression, leading to reduced red blood cell production and anemia.
- Proteasome Inhibitors:
- Bortezomib and carfilzomib, used in myeloma treatment, can cause anemia through bone marrow suppression.
- Monoclonal Antibodies:
- Agents like daratumumab and elotuzumab can sometimes lead to anemia, either through direct effects on the bone marrow or by immune-mediated mechanisms.
What nutritional supplements can cause iron deficiency?
- Calcium Supplements: High doses of calcium can interfere with iron absorption. It’s generally recommended to take calcium and iron supplements at different times of the day to avoid this interaction.
- Magnesium Supplements: Similar to calcium, magnesium can compete with iron for absorption. Taking high doses of magnesium may reduce iron absorption.
- Zinc Supplements: High doses of zinc can interfere with the absorption of iron, especially when taken on an empty stomach.
- Phosphate Supplements: These can bind with iron and make it less available for absorption in the intestines.
- Certain Fiber Supplements: Some fiber supplements, especially those containing phytates (found in grains and seeds), can inhibit iron absorption by binding to iron in the digestive tract.
- Antacids and Proton Pump Inhibitors: While not traditional supplements, these medications can reduce stomach acid, which is necessary for optimal iron absorption.
- Polyphenols in Green Tea Extracts: High amounts of polyphenols can inhibit iron absorption, especially non-heme iron from plant sources.
Both conventional and non-conventional therapies can lead to reduced red blood cell which can lead to reduced hemoglobin all of which can lead to iron deficiency in myeloma patients. Low iron can negatively affect velcade.
Thinking about what MM patients are doing/taking month in, month out, it is impossible for me to tell MM patients how to manage their iron levels. All I can say is to encourage you to monitor your RBC, hemoglobin, anemia, iron all in an effort to manage your immune function.
Do you have low RBC, hemoglobin, iron levels in your blood? Email me at David.PeopleBeatingCancer@gmail.com
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Iron deficiency anemia
“Anemia is a condition in which the body does not have enough healthy red blood cells. Red blood cells provide oxygen to body tissues. There are many types and causes of anemia.
Iron deficiency anemia occurs when your body does not have enough iron. Iron helps make red blood cells. Iron deficiency anemia is the most common form of anemia…
Iron chelation by curcumin suppresses both curcumin-induced autophagy and cell death together with iron overload neoplastic transformation
“Iron overload, notably caused by hereditary hemochromatosis, is an excess storage of iron in various organs that causes tissue damage and may promote tumorigenesis. To manage that disorder, free iron depletion can be induced by iron chelators like deferoxamine that are of increasing interest also in the cancer field since iron stock could be a potent target for managing tumorigenesis.
Curcumin, a well-known active substance extracted from the turmeric rhizome, destabilizes endoplasmic reticulum, and secondarily lysosomes, thereby increasing mitophagy/autophagy and subsequent apoptosis. Recent findings show that cells treated with curcumin also exhibit a decrease in ferritin, which is consistent with its chemical structure and iron chelating activity.
Here we investigated how curcumin influences the intracellular effects of iron overload via Fe-nitriloacetic acid or ferric ammonium citrate loading in Huh-7 cells and explored the consequences in terms of antioxidant activity, autophagy, and apoptotic signal transduction.
In experiments with T51B and RL-34 epithelial cells, we have found evidence that curcumin-iron complexation abolishes both curcumin-induced autophagy and apoptosis, together with the tumorigenic action of iron overload…”
Iron Deficiency Anemia Due to High-dose Turmeric
“Turmeric is increasingly studied as an anti-inflammatory and anti-neoplastic agent. It binds to ferric iron in the gut and causes iron deficiency in mice. We report here a possible case of iron deficiency anemia in a human taking turmeric…
A 66-year-old physician treated himself for an osteoarthritis flare after steroids with six turmeric extract capsules (538 mg) daily, to help with inflammation. During this time, his hemoglobin never rose above 12 and his iron and ferritin levels were consistent with iron deficiency.
Upper and lower endoscopy and Hemoccult™ studies were negative. Two weeks after stopping the turmeric and continuing his usual iron supplement, his hemoglobin had returned to normal, with normalizing iron studies.
Turmeric was associated with significant iron deficiency anemia, consistent with the binding of available iron in the gut and the prevention of absorption. This resolved after the turmeric was stopped, consistent with animal studies.
This may be the first case of documented iron deficiency anemia in people due to turmeric supplements. Given the widespread use of turmeric and curcumin supplements across many illnesses, further attention is warranted…