Multiple Myeloma: Its projection and its approximation

We are sorry to say that you have multiple myeloma

These words can shake the core of anyone’s foundation. They can even complete obliterating any of the emotional strength. Regardless of how are prepared for this particular news, you are going to be devastated.

However, you cannot ever be prepared for less. To that end, throughout the course of this article, I am going to touch upon the stages of how multiple myeloma progresses, what is its life expectancy and how can you cope with this news.

What is Myeloma?

Multiple Myeloma is a blood disorder. It is a type of cancer that creates abnormalities inside the bone marrow making it unable to produce healthy blood cells. Its symptoms start out as nothing more than a hassle. However, this “hassle” soon becomes a detriment to the entire body to the point at which everything would hurt.

With this segway, let us not go into the progression of this disease.

The progression of multiple myeloma

When it comes to the matter of progression of this particular type of blood disorder, it is subjective from person to person. However, there is still a common route to progression and we are going to touch upon that. To that end, let us touch upon the stages of this disease and as the stage progresses; we are also going to delve into its symptoms:

• This is what you might call, The Stage 0: smoldering stage. It is the stage where there are no symptoms at all. The cancer is benign at this particular stage with no particular threat to the life of a person.

• this is the stage when the disease actually starts to happen. However, it is extremely difficult to detect it as there The Stage 1: are no symptoms present.

• This is The Stage 2: stage where the disease truly starts to show its face. And it shows its face in droves. There is not one, but multiple symptoms that start to reveal themselves at this moment.

Disease Progression: As we have already discussed, that the disorder causes a severe lack in the production of healthy blood cells. To that end, you can assume that the following symptoms start to take hold:

• As the production of red blood cells is low, you would have a feeling of constant lethargy at all times. You would feel weaker and the food you eat won’t be able to give you a significant amount of strength.

• As you don’t have sufficient strength, you also don’t have enough strength to fight off the infections. Your body would now be vulnerable to infections of several sorts.

• You would also suffer from sickness, constipation, and dehydration.

4. This is the stage where The Stage 3: cancer spreads to most of the major organs of the body and the symptoms to those will be extremely dire.

Disease Progression: At this stage, the bones, the liver, the lungs and even the brain might suffer the plight of cancer.

• The Bones would become weaker and weaker with time. As time goes by, the calcium of the bones would have displaced in the blood and this causes weakness of bones. Consequently, fractures would be prominent.

• Extreme pain the joints would also be common.

• As time goes by, the disease would become more fatal and you would eventually find that you are not able to move.

Read more: - How is Multiple Myeloma Detected

Coping with the disease

Once you have received the news that you might have multiple myeloma, it is going to be extremely hard to gather your thoughts. Out of care for others, your first thought would be to keep all of it inside and do not tell your loved ones about this. However, it would suit you to completely ignore this feeling. We say this because getting a shoulder to cry on in this situation is most important to you:

• Make sure that once you get home, you tell your loved ones about your condition.

• Talk to a psychiatrist if you need to. This would make sure that you are mentally balanced.

• Talk to the doctor immediately about the options. This would act as an emotional safety net for you to consider.

• The treatment is going to be a long and enduring affair. To that end, patience and relying on others would ensure your survival.

These are the emotional and social measures that are needed to be taken to cope with the news of this disease. To get the gist of it, just make sure that you learn to let yourself be helped.

The approximation of life expectancy

It all falls down to your life expectancy after the disease. Well, the good news is, with the medical advancements of the current age, the life expectancy has radically improved. However, as the disease’s progression can be a bit subjective, there is no way to tell by how much the life expectancy is improved. Therefore, the best option for you to is to assume the following:

1. If you are diagnosed at stage 1, you would live for 5 years.
2. In the latter stages, the life expectancy can decrease. Although, not by a significant amount.

 blood cancer Hematology