Eric, As you mentioned, some patients progress with "light chain escape," where they previously had an intact M spike and now progression is only seen with the serum free light chain. That does not appear to be your case. As you have graphed out, it looks like the serum free light chain ab...

maryk, I agree with you. The most common cause of this symptom while on this treatment is the dexa­metha­sone. While dexamethasone is very effective, it is also associated with significant side effects. Options include lowering the dose, or switching to the often better tolerated corticosteroid, pre...

The first thing I would do if there is concern about myeloma is to perform the standard lab tests: SPEP with immunofixation, UPEP with immunofixation and serum free light chain. If all of those are "OK" then you can feel confident that this abnormal MRI is unlikely myeloma. The plasma­phe­...

I don't see any reason why a patient with myeloma in remission couldn't take methotrexate for a different condition. I suppose it's possible (but very unlikely) that any medication that sup­presses the immune system could lead to myeloma relapse. That concern, though, would not prevent me from using...

Jmiller, The others who posted on this forum have made several very good points. Firstly, there are other causes of leg pain that can be serious. So you definitely need to bring this issue up to your hus­band's oncologist at the next appointment. Painful neuropathy can occur after treatment is compl...

Typically, patients who are diag­nosed with multiple myeloma after originally having a solitary plasma­cy­toma do not have different outcomes from patients whose first myeloma-related diagnosis is symptomatic multiple myeloma. For the most part, how you will do depends on the myeloma risk status, st...

Great news that your pain resolved quickly. That is common for patients who are re­spond­ing to treatment. Most of the time, while the pain improves and there is no longer any active myeloma in the bone lesions, the bone lesions themselves may never heal. With treatment and the use of bis­phos­phona...

Bev823, I am sorry that you are dealing with this. It is possible to have neuropathy related to a plasma­cytoma. There are syn­dromes, like POEMS , where neuropathy is directly related to a plasma­cytoma. In these circumstances, without other areas of disease, the neuropathy usually gets better afte...

mdszj, This is a very important question and one that I discuss with all of my patients with newly diagnosed MGUS and smoldering myeloma, as well as with patients with myeloma who are in remission. The issue that we discuss is: What can I do to prevent the development of symptomatic myeloma? What co...

DexMed, This is a very difficult situation and one that I discuss with my patients everyday. You have asked many good questions, many of which remain unanswered and the cause of much debate among myeloma physicians. There is a pair of large clinical trials that are ongoing that I hope will answer th...