What is the Life Expectancy of Multiple Myeloma?

Multiple Myeloma

It is a cancer of mature plasma cells in the bone marrow. This can cause bone pain in the chest or spine, nausea, fatigue, frequent infection, constipation and weight loss. It is a very common disease in India and treatable by medicines and other medical ways. It is common in people at the age of 60 years and above. It is common in male and is a life-threatening problem.

Also, it is recommended to see the doctor as soon as one feels that he is suffering from this. The exact cause for the same is unknown but family history and exposure to certain radiation are two reasons. Few times it is asymptomatic but mostly, it shows one or all the symptoms. Symptoms are hypercalcemia, anemia and bone problems.

Cause for multiple myeloma

The specific reason for multiple myeloma is obscure. Nonetheless, it begins with one strange plasma cell that quickly increases in the bone marrow by a larger number of occasions than it ought to. The subsequent harmful myeloma cells don’t have a typical life cycle. Rather than duplicating and afterward in the end kicking the bucket, they keep separating endlessly. This can over power the body and impede the development of solid cells.

Life expectancy of someone having multiple myeloma

There are different stages in multiple myeloma. There are basically three stages of myeloma.

• If it’s in stage 1, then there is a chance for a person to survive up to 62 months
• In stage 2, the chance of survival is 44 months
• And in stage 3, person can live up to 29 months

Generally, people are able to live for 5 years after getting diagnosed. To diagnose multiple myeloma, physicians diagnose with bone marrow aspirations or biopsy. To determine bone lesions, there are two other tests such as blood monoclonal immunoglobulin and radiology test. This is not it. There are several other tests at different stages of multiple myeloma.

Medication

This disease is life threatening and once we fall trap to this, there is hardly any going back. You can just delay things but cannot avoid them. There are different medicines for this to be treated. One of them is Bortezomib whose brand name is Bortenet. This medicine is especially used to treat multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma. This medicine is unsafe during pregnancy and shouldn’t be taken without the consultation of the doctor. This medication is given by injection into a vein.

So, the bortezomib injection has to be taken almost since the day you get diagnosed. So, one should be mindful to change the place of injection every time to protect skin. This injection should always be given by a trusted medical professional and the number of doses will always be decided by the doctor. Taking it the wrong way or the wrong number of doses can have serious effects on the body and can affect your life too. The medicine is slow to react and it may take years sometimes to see the effects of medicine on oneself. So, have patience and trust your doctor.

Conclusion

To conclude, there is no concrete understanding about this even to health care professionals. It is a life-threatening problem and non-avoidable and non-preventable. Currently there is no concrete cure. But bortezomib injection is one thing that can help a bit and doctors are using it. But no one should use it without a doctor’s permission. Doctors should always be consulted before using this as it has some of the worst side effects.