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- Stage 1 Multiple Myeloma- Continue Non-toxic or Go Low-dose Chemotherapy?
Stage 1 Multiple Myeloma- Continue Non-toxic or Go Low-dose Chemotherapy?
You appear to be early stage 1 MM. Yes, you have bone destruction- I am surprised that your serum calcium levels are not high.
Good day David- I became a MM CC program member in July 2019. I would like to to ask your opinion if you do not mind, on my case of multiple myeloma (MM).
I am a 49 year old male and was diagnosed with MM in February of 2019. The diagnosis came about after prolonged lower back pain and X-rays revealed a collapsed L3 vertebrae and severe osteoporosis which lead to blood tests and diagnosis of MM by a Haematologist.
The Haematologist recommended immediate Cortisone treatment to ‘buy a bit of time’ as he put it, before chemotherapy. I underwent a 3 day in hospital IV treatment of Dexamethasone.
In March of 2019 after the treatment I decided to postpone chemotherapy in favour on ongoing holistic treatment, for as long as possible. I was at that time already seeing a Naturopath/ chiropractor whose treatment up to now has brought tremendous pain relief, to the extent that I am pain free on L3. The treatment also involved other Eastern medical disciplines and philosophies.
I was following a vegetarian diet and only started introducing animal protein, twice weekly last month. I am not overweight at all, in fact I need to gain a bit of weight!
I am taking the following supplements:
- L-Glutamine,
- D Ribose,
- Spirulina,
- Zinplex,
- Alpha Lipoic Acid,
- Coenzyme Q10,
- Magnesium Oxide,
- Vit C,
- Curcumin,
- Sutherlandia,
- Apricot kernels and a
- 50/50% CBD/TCH oil.
I do Ozone treatment 3x week.
I cycle when possible and do pilates and yoga.
I had an X-ray last week which revealed no significant deterioration of the affected areas in the past 12 months. Lesions still contained to the pelvic area and not spreading.
During the course of the past year, my 3 monthly blood tests showed slight improvements. However, my latest tests from last week presented worrisome results in the Kappa/ Lamba FLC and increase in the K/L ratio with the monoclonal peak (Igg in the Gamma region) not changing much over the course of 12 months.
The liver, kidney and calcium results are all within the normal markers.
RBC is slightly below normal (3.58), and WBC a bit more below normal (2.5)
I am not being treated by a Haematologist and my naturopath practitioner is not very adept with MM
- Do you think the Dexamethasone treatment had such a long lasting effect that that the Kappa/Lamba FLC is only showing the increase now?
- I am including a table of the last 12 month’s K/L reading. Should I seek alternative treatment sooner rather than later?
| S-Free Kappa | 3.3 – 19.4 mg/L | 488.4 | 419.19 | 449.57 | 439.77 | 609.16 |
| S-Free Lambda | 5.71 – 26.3 mg/L | 1.9 | 2.03 | 5.16 | 5.69 | 4.54 |
| S-Kappa:Lambda Ratio | 0.26 – 1.65 | 257.05 | 206.5 | 87.13 | 77.29 | 134.18 |
| Monoclonal peaks | 33.3 9.8 2.6 | 31.7 9.2 1.8 | 31.7 7.7 1.6 | 34.2 8.3 2.0 |
Unfortunately, I am at a crossroad with conventional vs holistic treatment and would really appreciate your wisdom from years of experience with MM- Larry
Hi Larry- You are a young, early stage MM patient. Your prognosis is good. I will address your issues as directly as I can.
1) “I am a 49 year old male and was diagnosed with MM in February of 2019. The diagnosis came about after prolonged lower back pain and X-rays revealed a collapsed L3 vertebrae and severe osteoporosis which lead to blood tests and diagnosis of MM by a Haematologist.”
“The liver, kidney and calcium results are all within the normal markers.”
“RBC is slightly below normal (3.58), and WBC a bit more below normal (2.5)”
You appear to be early stage 1 MM. Yes, you have bone destruction- I am surprised that your serum calcium levels are not high. An m-spike under 3.0 is pre-MM, not full-blown MM. Other than bone involvement you appear to be early stage. This is good. This is a positive indicator for your prognosis.
2) “The Haematologist recommended immediate Cortisone treatment to ‘buy a bit of time’ as he put it, before chemotherapy. I underwent a 3 day in hospital IV treatment of Dexamethasone.”
In addition to being anti-inflammatory, Dexamethasone is slightly cytotoxic to MM. My guess is that high-dose dex. coupled with your complementary therapies enabled you to live with early stage MM since your diagnosis.
3) “In March of 2019 after the treatment I decided to postpone chemotherapy in favour on ongoing holistic treatment, for as long as possible. I was at that time already seeing a Naturopath/ chiropractor whose treatment up to now has brought tremendous pain relief, to the extent that I am pain free on L3. The treatment also involved other Eastern medical disciplines and philosophies.
I was following a vegetarian diet and only started introducing animal protein, twice weekly last month. I am not overweight at all, in fact I need to gain a bit of weight!
I am taking the following supplements:
L-Glutamine, D Ribose, Spirulina, Zinplex, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Q10 Coenzyme, Magnesium Oxide, Vit C, Curcumin, Sutherlandia, Apricot kernels and a 50/50% CBD/THC oil.
I do Ozone treatment 3x week.
I cycle when possible and do pilates and yoga.
During the course of the past year, my 3 monthly blood tests showed slight improvements. However, my latest tests from last week presented worrisome results in the Kappa/ Lamba FLC and increase in the K/L ratio with the monoclonal peak (Igg in the Gamma region) not changing much over the course of 12 months.
I believe your extensive nutrition, supplementation, ozone, and exercise all contribute to an anti-inflammatory, anti-MM lifestyle. I believe these complementary therapies are not enough to completely cure you of MM but you have done well this past year. Your numbers in the table you supplied, in my opinion, indicate the fight between your body and the MM. As well as your body has managed your MM for however many months since your diagnosis, I think your fears are well founded.
4) “Unfortunately, I am at a crossroad with conventional vs holistic treatment and would really appreciate your wisdom from years of experience with MM”
I think if you could undergo a low-dose of conventional chemotherapy (revlimid or velcade- not both) you could achieve complete remission. It is important for me to point out that you have been “pre-habilitating” for months and research shows that you should respond well to therapy.
To specify what I mean by “low dose therapy-“ it is common for elderly mm patients to undergo what is called “low-dose maintenance therapy.” I am not saying that you are elderly. I am saying that senior mm patients cannot take too much toxicity and therefore have 5-10 mg. of Revlimid.
Let me be clear. Yes, I think you could continue to fight your MM with your nutrition, lifestyle, supplements, etc. And I think it is possible to continue to manage your MM as you have been since diagnosis. The key is the risk/reward equation that you face. Compare the risk of continuing non-toxic therapies with the risk of your MM growing, spreading, causing more damage.
Then compare the risk of low-dose chemo following months of pre-habilitation. The risk of chemo should bring the benefit of remission and knocking your MM back to manageable levels. Then continue with your non-toxic anti-MM lifestyle to hopefully enjoy a long, deep remission.
The choice is up to you of course Larry. Let me know if you have any questions about the above.
Hang in there,
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
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“Dexamethasone and the other steroids are useful in myeloma treatment because they can stop white blood cells from traveling to areas where cancerous myeloma cells are causing damage. This decreases the amount of swelling or inflammation in those areas and relieves associated pain and pressure.
More importantly, in high doses, dexamethasone can actually kill myeloma cells…”
Cancer prehabilitation: One step toward improved outcomes
“Many of the early studies on cancer prehabilitation typically focused exclusively on building strength and stamina through an appropriate exercise regimen; however, more recent research has supported a multimodal approach that encompasses more than one intervention (ie, a combination of exercise, nutrition, and psychological strategies) to better prepare patients for the challenges associated with upcoming cancer treatments.2…”