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.
In my experience CIPN is one of the, if not THE most difficult of all long-term side effects to live with. I say this because there are many therapies that help some of the CIPN patients but no therapy that is universally helpful.
The list of therapies below is beneficial for some, not all CIPN patients.
According to studies, 30%-40% of cancer patients develop CIPN. The pain, tingling and numbness of this nerve damage often does not heal but in fact worsens over time.
While the study linked below is conservative in it’s promotion of laser therapy for CIPN, I will say that cancer patients who live with this nerve pain suffer endlessly and should not wait for conventional medicine to bless laser therapy before they act. Don’t wait for FDA approval…
Unfortunately, the second article linked below reads like a paid commercial for laser therapy. So I have to add caution to the reader. You’ve heard of the term “snake oil?” Well, unfounded medical claims is the reason why the FDA was founded in the first place.
“Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy can experience severe side effects that persist long after treatments end. A new study has found a novel pathway for understanding why these debilitating conditions happen — and why scientists should focus on ‘all of the possible neural processes that deliver sensory or motor problems to a patient’s brain’ and not just those that occur away from the center of the body…
A new study by Georgia Tech researchers in the lab of Timothy C. Cope has found a novel pathway for understanding why these debilitating conditions happen for cancer patients and why scientists should focus on all of the possible neural processes that deliver sensory or motor problems to a patient’s brain — including the central nervous system — and not just the “peripheral degeneration of sensory neurons” that occurs away from the center of the body…”
“Massage therapy can provide symptomatic relief for chronic chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), a new study suggests.
The number of weekly massage sessions that a patient received made a difference in symptom control.
A statistically and clinically significant improvement in scores on the Pain Quality Assessment Scale (PQAS) was seen among patients who received massage therapy three times a week as opposed to those who received it twice a week.
A sustained improvement in CIPN was observed at 10 weeks in the group that received the most intensive regimen…”
“Background and Objective- Low level light (or laser) therapy (LLLT) is a rapidly growing modality used in physical therapy, chiropractic, sports medicine and increasingly in mainstream medicine. LLLT is used to increase wound healing and tissue regeneration, to relieve pain and inflammation, to prevent tissue death, to mitigate degeneration in many neurological indications. While some agreement has emerged on the best wavelengths of light and a range of acceptable dosages to be used (irradiance and fluence), there is no agreement on whether continuous wave or pulsed light is best and on what factors govern the pulse parameters to be chosen…
Conclusion-There is some evidence that pulsed light does have effects that are different from those of continuous wave light. However further work is needed to define these effects for different disease conditions and pulse structures…”
“. Results: Compared to baseline, patients receiving any amount of active treatment showed significant improvement at 8 weeks in NTX, BPI, function testing, and SF36 Mental score. Those receiving 4 weeks of placebo treatment showed improvement in only BPI, NTX and SF36 Mental score.
At 2-month follow up, all 20 patients showed a significant improvement in walking and SF 36 mental score, suggesting 4 weeks of active treatment improved function. No significant difference in monofilament testing was observed throughout the study in either group. Direct comparison between 4 or 8 weeks of treatment vs. placebo showed a statistically significant difference in walking function at 2-months. All patients tolerated therapy well without side effects.
Conclusions: Low-level laser light therapy improved functional test over placebo and may be a viable option for non-medical management of CIPN. Further study of LLLT in CIPN is warranted.”
““The pain was so bad, I didn’t think I could take it anymore. I was at my wit’s end!” So said Cheryl Greenawalt of the excruciating foot and lower-leg neuropathy she’d been battling for nearly a decade and a half. The burning. The numbness. The “pins and needles” sensation…
These days, she maintains her miraculous results with a periodic one-hour treatment every few months…”
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) seriously affects the quality of life of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) as well as the response rate to chemotherapy (RVd)-
Hi David- I trust you are well. Thank you again for all of the information you share through your Closed Online Support group and guidelines. It has certainly helped me support my father. As mentioned earlier, my father was diagnosed with multiple myeloma-MM (IgA, kappa) on April this year. His haematologist/oncologist prescribed 3 cycles of revlimid, velcade, dexamethasone (RVd).
After the third cycle his biopsies showed complete remission, or at least a very low percentage.
On August-September he underwent a succesfull autologous stem cell transplant as indicated by his doctors. His bloodwork showed everything went well too. His X-ray studies showed that his osteo bone lesions are healing as well. Next week he will have another biopsy and after that, the doctor said he will begin a 2 year maintenance treatment with Revlimid probably starting on November or December this year. From everything I’ve read, this is a very standard treatment.
He has been quite well and with positive thinking, he goes to work as usual and does swimming in the mornings in his country club.
His only complaint is the Neuropathy, doctor said Velcade caused nerve damage. I was wondering if you have any recommendation on how he should address his Neuropathy, I told him that time and exercise will help.
Two weeks ago he started taking Curcumin supplement from Life Extension brand. I understand you take 9 supplements and wanted to ask you which supplements you consider the most important, besides Curcumin which he is already taking. Most importantly to help his MM to stay in remission which is everyones priority and secondly to help with his Neuropathy.
Once again thank you very much for your comments and kind support. Louis
Hi Louis-
Yes, all is well with me, thank you. It is good to read that the closed online support group Beating Myeloma is helping you manage your father’s MM. Further, it is good to read that your father responded well to his RVd induction therapy (CR or VGPR) and his ASCT.
Yes, you are correct, induction therapy of RVd, an ASCT followed by low-dose Revlimid maintenance therapy is currently the standard-of-care for (otherwise) healthy MMers. Some MM patients feel the low dose Revlimid a bit but your dad sounds like he weathered his induction therapies well so maybe he won’t feel the low-dose Revlimid.
Curcumin is listed in the “integrative therapies” guide as enhancing Resveratrol.
A positive attitude and frequent, moderate exercise should also help your dad manage his MM. Frequent, moderate exercise will help maintain your dad’s bone health.
As for your dad’s chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), many MM patients experience this side effect of Velcade. According to research, approximately 60-65% of MMers experience grade 2,3 CIPN. I will link possible therapies below.
Regarding MM supplementation, I too take Life Extension Super BioCurcumin. I list the anti-MM supplements that I take in the MM Cancer Coaching Supplements guide. It is difficult for me to choose those supplements that I consider “most important.” However, if you allow me to make some assumptions about your dad, then I will make some recommendations.
My assumptions are that:
1) your dad doesn’t want to take lots of capsules daily (certainly not as many as I do…) and
2) I would assume that the number that your dad is comfortable with is about 4 supplements daily.
All with food I think. The four nutritional supplements that overlap (anti-MM, pro bone health, pro mind-body health) the most in the MM CC guides are
curcumin
resveratrol
omega-3 fatty acids
green tea extract
Louis, it sounds as if all is going well with your dad. Good luck going forward. Let me know if you have any other questions.
“. Results: Compared to baseline, patients receiving any amount of active treatment showed significant improvement at 8 weeks in NTX, BPI, function testing, and SF36 Mental score. Those receiving 4 weeks of placebo treatment showed improvement in only BPI, NTX and SF36 Mental score.
At 2-month follow up, all 20 patients showed a significant improvement in walking and SF 36 mental score, suggesting 4 weeks of active treatment improved function. No significant difference in monofilament testing was observed throughout the study in either group. Direct comparison between 4 or 8 weeks of treatment vs. placebo showed a statistically significant difference in walking function at 2-months. All patients tolerated therapy well without side effects.
Conclusions: Low-level laser light therapy improved functional test over placebo and may be a viable option for non-medical management of CIPN. Further study of LLLT in CIPN is warranted.”
“Treatment options for neuropathic pain have limited efficacy and use is fraught with dose-limiting adverse effects… Exogenous cannabinoids have been demonstrated to be effective in a range of experimental neuropathic pain models, and there is mounting evidence for therapeutic use in human neuropathic pain conditions..”
“After 84 days (three cycles) of therapy, the pain was significantly alleviated in both groups, with a significantly higher decrease in the acupuncture treated group (P < 0.01)…
The present study suggests that acupuncture combined with methylcobalamin in the treatment of CIPN showed a better outcome than methylcobalamin administration alone…”
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1 comment
Fadi Joaihari says
last year
Hi Mr. David, Thank you for the important information you provided, I’m not sure how I classify my case as of now. I just finished the first cycle of Rvd, I have noticed from last week numbness in my feet and hands that are not frequent, it comes and goes, but could be increasing in frequency with time. It’s a bit confusing to judge some times. I will ask my doctor’s advice next week, after knowing some information that you mentioned. But could you please advise me on the diet that is best to follow, doctors never mention anything related to this. I noted the supplements mentioned, took curcummin for some time only but will continue now, and finally do you think there is a good alternative to velcade in the treatment. Any information will help me. Thank you🙂
