[Andie1789]

Sudden weight loss and myeloma

by Andie1789 on Mon Sep 09, 2013 12:23 am

Hi All.

My mom, who was officially diagnosed 10 days ago, has suddenly dropped 11 lbs in one month. We don't know the staging yet, but we were told it's "low" grade with 40% Myeloma cells in her bone marrow. Her weight is down from 145 to 134. She has not started any treatment yet, but the past month has been stressful for her and the whole family with all the tests and talk of cancer. She insists that she is not stressed and says she has been eating well.

My question is: based on your experience, is this sudden weight loss due to emotional factors causing lack of appetite or is the Myeloma itself causing the weight loss? Thanks.

[Booker44]

Re: Sudden weight loss and myeloma

by Booker44 on Mon Sep 09, 2013 7:50 pm

I would think it is stress. My husbands bone marrow biopsy was 80% and he is in his second round of chemo and so far has not lost any weight.

This weekend my husband came down with the shingles!!! Caused by stress and low immune system. He has to stop chemo until he is over this.

You might to talk to doctor about shingles shot before she starts if she hasn't had one.

Stress can do a lot to a person.
Good luck to you.

[Andie1789]

Re: Sudden weight loss and myeloma

by Andie1789 on Mon Sep 09, 2013 10:49 pm

Thank you for this good info.
Since no one else has responded saying that they too lost weight before starting treatment, I agree that it's probably caused by stress over the past month and NOT the Myeloma itself. Yes, she has had the Shingles vaccine already and Pneumonia vaccine too, but thank you for the tip and best of luck to you and your husband as well

[Ajamormio]

Re: Sudden weight loss and myeloma

by Ajamormio on Sun May 18, 2014 10:07 am

My husband, who is a 12 year survivor, has recently lost 15 lbs and been diagnosed with skin cancer. I'm trying to find out if anyone out there has seen skin cancer or weight loss signal the recurrence of multiple myeloma. His BUN is 38, his creatinine is 2.4. His kappa light is 27. He has had two transplants, the last one in 2007.

[Wayne K]

Re: Sudden weight loss and myeloma

by Wayne K on Sun May 18, 2014 10:19 am

I've had some bouts of weight loss, but mine have been related to treatments. Could it be your husband has cut back on the quantity due to stress and preoccupation with the disease?

[PegB]

Re: Sudden weight loss and myeloma

by PegB on Sun May 18, 2014 4:55 pm

I was diagnosed in March and started losing weight in January when all the testing began. I was trying to eat very healthy. I cut out almost all sugar, pasta and bread and tried to eat more green vegetables, meat, chicken and fish. I went from 145 down to 130 and sometimes even down to 127. Two years ago I weighed 155. The weight came off slowly without my thinking too much about it. I wonder if something was going on at that time. I don't think it was the stress. I have lost a lot of muscle tone. That could be part of it, along with changing my diet.

[Tawby]

Re: Sudden weight loss and myeloma

by Tawby on Mon May 19, 2014 12:13 am

I registered here just so I could answer your question. My 91-year-old mother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma last month and in the six months prior to that she lost 30 pounds, going down to a scary 105.

The primary reason was that she was in so much pain she couldn't eat. She had seven fractured vertebrae and described her pain level as a constant 10. Once she started dexamethasone she was able to eat again and has gained back almost ten pounds.

[Annamaria]

Re: Sudden weight loss and myeloma

by Annamaria on Mon May 19, 2014 10:08 am

The very first sign that something was wrong with me, two years ago, was weight loss. From a healthy 54 kilos ( about 120 pounds) I lost 6 kg (13 pounds) in just a few months. I would not call it a drastic loss but it was substantial. I had the impression that the amount of food I ate was the same as before, so I did not understand what was going on. Soon after came fatigue, fast heart beat due to anemia and mental confusion due to the calcium "escaping" the bones, and finally I was diagnosed and the carousel began!

[Ajamormio]

Re: Sudden weight loss and myeloma

by Ajamormio on Mon May 19, 2014 11:43 am

Thank you for your feedback. He is thinking he has a little skin cancer. I am the one who is suspecting that the myeloma is back. His first sign of myeloma in 2001 was with a huge 40 lb weight loss. Ten months later he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. He relapsed four years later and also presented with sudden weight loss. So, right now he's lost 15 lbs.

But other than the skin cancer diagnosis, he's not in pain or showing the usual myeloma symptoms. I wonder if there is a blood test that would show more evidence, because the one he just had doesn't really show enough change to alert his onco doc.