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.
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Pause Myeloma Treatment Safely?
The question then becomes one of patient choice. Some MM patients feel like death warmed over while on treatment, and others can manage treatment with relative ease.
Your oncologist may encourage you to undergo treatment continuously. But if you can’t handle continuous treatment, then you can’t handle continuous treatment.
I linked this video to give you some idea of how different oncologists answer the question “When can you pause myeloma treatment safely?”
When Can You Pause Myeloma Treatment Safely?
I believe the answer to” When can you pause myeloma treatment safely?” begins when the MM patient is first diagnosed. If the patient’s MM is early stage (stage 1), the MM patient will probably respond well to a low dose of induction therapy. Meaning, 2-3 courses of RVDd or RVD lite kind of thing.
By taking a low-dose approach to your therapy, you are reducing the need for treatment-free intervals.
If the patient’s MM is advanced with disease involvement, such as bone fractures and kidney damage, they might need aggressive induction therapy just to stabilize their health. Taking a low-dose approach to therapy will be difficult.
I am a long-term MM survivor. I continue to undergo many of the evidence-based complementary therapies that I first learned about as an MM patient- nutrition, supplementation and lifestyle therapies.
Your oncologist’s treatment plan for you will not include evidence-based non-conventional therapies like these. Experience has taught me that these therapies can support your management of MM.
Email me at David.PeopleBeatingCancer@gmail.com to learn more about managing MM with both conventional and non-conventional therapies.
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
What are some risks of stopping treatment for multiple myeloma?
The risks of stopping multiple myeloma maintenance therapy include quicker disease progression and a shorter survival time. People may stop due to medication side effects, such as tiredness…
What are some risks of stopping treatment for multiple myeloma?
Shorter overall survival
Researchers in a 2022 studyTrusted Source compared the 5-year overall survival of people with multiple myeloma who stopped maintenance therapy after stem cell transplant at a later time with people who stopped it early.
There were 238 participants in the late group. They stopped treatment after 3 years. There were 102 participants in the early group. They stopped treatment before 3 years.
Researchers found the 5-year overall survival rate of the group who stopped maintenance therapy after 3 years was 96%.
The overall survival rate for the group who stopped maintenance therapy before 3 years was 79%…
Shorter progression-free survival
The same studyTrusted Source also compared the 5-year progression-free survival rate between people who stopped maintenance therapy after stem cell transplant early and late.
Researchers found the 5-year progression-free survival rate was 80% in the late group and 50% in the early group.
Increased risk of complications
The risk of complications increases with no treatment to prevent or slow progression. CommonTrusted Source complications include:
- hypercalcemia, which is higher blood calcium levels
- skeletal disease, which can manifest in bone pain and fractures
- kidney insufficiency, a condition that involves some degree of kidney failure
- anemia, a deficiency of red blood cells or hemoglobin, which is a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen
- infection
- neuropathy, which is dysfunction in one or more nerves
Reasons people may stop maintenance therapy after a stem cell transplant include:
Side effects
In the 2022 study discussed above, 50%Trusted Source of people who stopped maintenance treatment after stem cell transplant early did so because of side effects from medication. This was by far the most common reason.
Most side effects involved atypical blood counts, particularly neutropenia and febrile neutropenia.
“Neutropenia” denotes a low count of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that fights infections. “Febrile” refers to the presence of a fever.
The most common side effects unrelated to blood counts were diarrhea and tiredness.
Desire to try alternative treatments
Some people may prefer to try alternative medicine treatments.
Alternative medicine encompasses interventions such as:
- vitamins and herbs
- acupuncture
- certain diets
- massage
While some of these treatments may help reduce symptoms, research has not provenTrusted Source the effectiveness of many of them.
Additionally, some alternative medicine treatments may be unsafe.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)Trusted Source also does not regulate dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness.
Treatment stops working
Some people may stop a specific treatment course for multiple myeloma if they feel it no longer benefits them or for other reasons. In this case, a doctor can best advise on the next steps.
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