[Christina1952]

M-protein not going down

by Christina1952 on Sat Nov 02, 2013 10:53 am

Good morning,

I've been on Revlimid/dex now for 3 months. My M-protein started at 0.6. Went to 0.4, then back to 0.5 and this month again 0.5

So while I'm grateful it's not going up, it's also not going down. So just a question, it's stable but is Revlimid doing much. Should I talk to my doctor about adding Velcade in January.?

Any one else have a similar situation and what did you do?

Thanks, I always appreciate the feedback.

[Ron Harvot]

Re: M-protein not going down

by Ron Harvot on Sat Nov 02, 2013 11:11 pm

Your M spike is relatively low and stable but certainly you would like to see it go down further. It would be proper to discuss this with your Dr. as well as the long term treatment plan. Has a stem cell transplant been discussed? What stage were you diagnosed at? Did you have any abnormal chromosome readings? Have you had a bone marrow biopsy?

All of these would be proper discussion points.

Ron

[Christina1952]

Re: M-protein not going down

by Christina1952 on Sun Nov 03, 2013 2:46 pm

Thanks, I know it's low but I've had a better response with rev in the past.
This is my 3rd time on rev/ dex,
SCT was in 2006
CR for 4 years

[Dr. Jason Valent]

Re: M-protein not going down

by Dr. Jason Valent on Sun Nov 03, 2013 4:25 pm

Good question. I always prefer to get as much effect out of one drug before moving to another. If your kidney function is stable, blood counts stable/improving, and calcium normal, you can consider just continuing on the Rev/dex for now as long as things are not getting worse.

[Barneasada]

Re: M-protein not going down

by Barneasada on Fri Nov 08, 2013 5:43 pm

My mspike did the same on Rev/Dex from 1.4 to 0.9 then to 0.8 to 0.9. Doctor said not to really worry about the up and down. However we added Velcade once weekly after plateauing at 0.9 and it went down to 0.5. Then it plateaued there at 0.5 on once weekly Velcade. Then we added carfilzomib with the rev/dex two months ago. I am down to 0.35 after one cycle of carfilzomib/rev/dex. I get my numbers drawn tomorrow since i just finished my second cycle of carfilzomib/rev/dex on tuesday. Hoping for a complete remission. Im so close.

You can talk to the doctor about adding Velcade, i tolerated it real well on once weekly. However not really well twice weekly which i was on a year ago and i had to take a 4 month break during summer. Then started on Rev/Dex for 3 months and then added Velcade once weekly like i said above. All the best but your in great shape. However I am not a doctor and dont know overall of everything.

[Christina1952]

Re: M-protein not going down

by Christina1952 on Fri Nov 08, 2013 6:38 pm

Thank you Dr. Valent. I appreciate the comment. If I stay steady at .5 , I think I'll just keep with rev/dex and then like you said, Barneasada, if it doesn't go down, or if goes up, ask my doctor about adding Velcade. Pretty much that's what we decided on my last visit. So we will see. Thanks for your experience. I gain a lot just by knowing what others do.