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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What is Myeloma?
What is multiple myeloma (MM)? Your oncologist has told you or someone you love of a diagnosis of multiple myeloma. What does this mean???
MM is a blood cancer. Though it is normal to have 3-5% of plasma cells in your bone marrow, MM occurs when plasma cells multiply in the bone marrow uncontrollably. If you’ve been diagnosed with myeloma, your first two important steps are to get a thorough work-up which will indicate your stage of MM. Your stage will give you insight into your possible therapy plans.
Myeloma is a complicated blood cancer. Lots of info, terms, etc. for you to learn. But let’s start with testing and staging your MM and go from there. Let’s first determine what we’re working with…
The short videos below explain two simple but important questions about MM.
What is multiple myeloma?
Is multiple myeloma the same as myeloma?
I was diagnosed with MM in early 1994. I am fortunate to have seen the good, the bad and the ugly of MM and lived to talk about it.
Email me at David.PeopleBeatingCancer@gmail.com with your questions about either/or/both conventional or evidence-based non-conventional therapies to manage your MM.
Hang in there,
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
What Is Multiple Myeloma?
MM is a complex type of cancer that affects the white blood cells in the bone marrow.
Other names for this rare type of cancer include:
- Kahler disease.
- Myelomatosis.
- Plasma cell myeloma.
Plasma cells are white blood cells — part of the immune system that protects the body from infection. They grow in the soft tissue inside bones, called marrow.
The marrow can make too many plasma cells or grow abnormal cells. The cells can clump together and form tumors.
The abnormal plasma cells make an unwanted antibody protein known as monoclonal protein or M protein. M protein doesn’t serve a purpose in the body, since diseased myeloma cells are the only ones that make it. High amounts of M protein can damage the body.
Myeloma is the most common type of plasma-cell cancer and the third most common blood cancer (after lymphoma and leukemia). Even so, doctors consider it a rare disease.
About 35,000 people in the U.S. receive a myeloma diagnosis each year.
Types of Multiple Myeloma
MM is a plasma cell disorder. These related conditions often progress from noncancerous (benign) to cancerous (malignant multiple myeloma).
Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS)
MGUS is when plasma cells make too many copies of the M protein. It’s a benign condition that can turn into multiple myeloma.
Almost everyone who has multiple myeloma had MGUS first.
Smoldering multiple myeloma
These plasma cell tumors don’t cause any symptoms.
It can become full-blown MM, so your doctor will watch you closely.
Isolated plasmacytoma (or single plasmacytoma of bone)
This type of blood cancer is a single mass of plasma cells in the bone marrow.
It may turn into myeloma.
Extramedullary plasmacytoma
This type occurs when plasma cell tumors grow outside the bone marrow.
Multiple myeloma
This type occurs when there are two or more plasma tumors in the bone marrow.
What Is Multiple Myeloma?
“Your immune system is made up of several types of cells that work together to fight infections and other diseases. Lymphocytes are one of the main types of white blood cells in the immune system. They include T cells and B cells. Lymphocytes are in many areas of the body, such as lymph nodes, the bone marrow, the intestines, and the bloodstream.
When B cells respond to an infection, they mature and change into plasma cells. Plasma cells make the antibodies (also called immunoglobulins) that help the body attack and kill germs.
In general, when plasma cells become cancerous and grow out of control, this is called MM. The plasma cells make an abnormal antibody (immunoglobulin) known by several different names, including monoclonal immunoglobulin, monoclonal protein (M-protein), M-spike, or paraprotein.
There are, however, other plasma cell disorders that have abnormal plasma cells but do not meet the criteria to be called active multiple myeloma. These other plasma cell disorders include:
- Monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance (MGUS)
- Smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM)
- Solitary plasmacytoma
- Light chain amyloidosis
These conditions are described below. To learn more about the criteria used to diagnose the different plasma cell disorders, see Tests for Multiple Myeloma…”