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.
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Myeloma Chemotherapy Side Effects are Cumulative?
Are myeloma chemotherapy side effects cumulative? Why? The short answer is that oncology doesn’t really know why. The long answer is that oncology has many theories, but like many aspects of managing myeloma, oncology just can’t prove many things.
While the article linked below presents 4 useful things to know before treatment begins, my MM experience and research is compelling me to qualify “What I wish I’d know…” a bit.
- Don’t cling to any one test result or prognosis.
- Don’t freak yourself out with chemo horror stories. Each chemo experience is unique.
- Don’t plan your chemo response until you’ve gone through your first infusion.
- The effects of chemo are cumulative. They get worse with each cycle.
I agree with all the above. MM patients must pay attention to all CRAB symptoms. Not only one or two. Don’t freak out when someone posts about a nasty or debilitating side effect. Every MM patient is different.
“Don’t plan chemo response until you’ve gone through your first session.” I disagree with this one. Every newly diagnosed MM patient must prehabilitate as best they can, including enhancing their gut health.
And lastly, yes, the effects of chemo are cumulative. All the more reason to eat nutritiously, exercise moderately, get as much sleep as you can and generally take care of yourself.
Is Chemo Cumulative? – Oncology Support Network
Living with and studying MM treatment since 1994 has taught me that oncology usually treats MM aggressively. The FDA “safe and effective” treatment plan of induction therapy, an autologous stem cell transplant followed by low-dose maintenance therapy, is a LOT of toxicity. Most MM patients will have a difficult time managing all of the short-term, long-term and late stage side effects.
Have you been diagnosed with multiple myeloma? What stage? What symptoms? Scroll down the page, post a question or comment, and I will reply to you ASAP.
Good luck,
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
What I Wish I’d Known When Chemo Started
Don’t cling to any one test result or prognosis.
Cancer cases tend to change. Doctors may give you a prognosis and treatment plan after the first image or biopsy, but then change the prognosis or treatment after gaining more information about your cancer from further testing. After diagnosis, I kept telling myself that my cancer was stage I, no chemo needed, so no big deal. I was angry, then, when further tests revealed that the genetics of my cancer made it more serious, and that chemo would need to be added to the treatment plan. Looking back, what I saw at the time as “bait and switch” was simply medical professionals responding to new information. That’s just the way medicine progresses sometimes. Expect it.
Don’t freak yourself out with chemo horror stories. Each chemo experience is unique.
First, I flipped out because of the portrayals of chemo that I’d seen in the movies. Then, I flipped out again when I went to a support group meeting and met women already going through chemo. As they discussed their suffering and fear and side effects, I felt sure that my chemo experience was going to be just like that.
It wasn’t. Everyone’s chemo experience is completely different. In that support group meeting, I listened to a woman who had endured multiple hospitalizations because their immune system had been compromised. They were so sick that sometimes the docs had to postpone their infusion to give them time to get a little stronger. Another woman said they didn’t want to eat because everything tasted like metal to them. Yet another said they were struggling with itchy skin rashes.
None of these things ended up happening to me. Different things did, and they weren’t fun. But they weren’t as bad as I’d feared, either. Remember that each body reacts differently to particular drugs. You may have a tough time, or you may not. The best thing to do is wait and see.
Don’t plan your chemo response until you’ve gone through your first infusion.
My reaction to a cancer diagnosis was to dive into what my husband calls “biblio-therapy.” As a journalist, I researched it to death. As I drove to my first infusion, I felt armed with information to vanquish chemo. I’d planned out everything. (If only.)
I was sure I’d get sick immediately. Instead, I went home from chemo and had dinner with friends. The second day, I felt tired. The third day, I felt completely sick and immobilized. That lasted for 3 or 4 days. Then, gradually, I got better. When I felt almost normal again, it was time for the next infusion.
I expected to throw up all the time but hardly did. I didn’t expect chemo brain, but my thinking got so fuzzy, I could barely read a book. I imagined that I would end up in the hospital at some point during treatment, but I didn’t.
Everyone’s pattern is a little different. Wait to see what yours is before you make a lot of plans.
The effects of chemo are cumulative. They get worse with each cycle.
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