[HuskerFan]

symptoms prior to diagnosis

by HuskerFan on Sat Mar 19, 2011 12:14 am

My husband was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in June 2010, at age 55. During the summer of 2009, for several months, he had scaly/dry spots on his head. Also, during the year previous to diagnosis, he had recurring nosebleeds. I am curious if anyone else had these symptoms.

[Myeloma_Doc]

Re: symptoms prior to diagnosis

by Myeloma_Doc on Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:01 am

These are not typical symptoms seen in most myeloma patients. However, some people can have nose bleeds either because of low platelets from marrow involvement, or because the M-protein, if very high, can interfere with blood clotting. As for rashes, there are a number of different types that can be seen with myeloma, but the ones your husband had were more likely unrelated.

[guest]

Re: symptoms prior to diagnosis

by guest on Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:13 am

Hi I had a lot of symptoms for a few years. When I was finally diagnosed was already stage II.

I had nosebleeds, but it was not a "main" symptom. I had what is called hyperviscocity from a really high m-protein in my blood, which caused a lot of symptoms, (bleeding being one of them, bowel bleeding, bleeding gums, nose), vision problems were a big one, some nerve issues, and frequent migraines! (weekly) My doctor says only about 5% of myeloma patients develop this hyperviscocity, and it gets better with treatment as the m spike comes down.

Then I had the more common cancer symptoms like night sweats, frequent infections, low hemoglobin, weight loss, nausea, and developed fainting spells which led to my diagnosis.

[csmith102]

Re: symptoms prior to diagnosis

by csmith102 on Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:14 pm

I wasn't diagnosed until stage 3 in August of 2007.. I had been having night sweats (but thought that was from my entering menopause) . What finally stopped me in my tracks was unbelievable rib and back pain. I was more tired than usual but I wrote that off to being a working mom and from the stress I was under from helping take care of my invalid mother. My rib pain was from 5 fractured ribs that apparently happened from having had the dry heaves.. I actually went to Norris Lake right before my diagnosis and was swimming and pulling myself into the boat with my fractured ribs.....Guess I had a high tolerance for pain or was just in denial. I also was bruising really easily which again should have triggered my concern but I didn't think much of it. When they checked my blood work and urine, I was slightly anemic and my protein count in my urine was over 12,000. My oncologist sent me right from his office into the chemo department where I started on Velcade, Doxcil, and Dex. Within 3 months my protein counts were down to 700 and I scheduled a stem cell transplant in December of 2007. Never got into clinical remission but my counts are down to where they are not measurable. On a Velcade/Dex. maintenance for the last two years and doing well.

[boliviababe]

Re: symptoms prior to diagnosis

by boliviababe on Tue Mar 22, 2011 7:31 pm

My diagnosis took place 16 months ago and was a complete surprise. I had gone for a yearly checkup and was called back for another blood test because I was anemic. Sure I was tired , but isn't everyone? That was followed by further tests that showed 90% of the cells were involved and there were some lesions in the right hip and skull. Still no overt symptoms ,yet within a couple of weeks (psychosomatic?) I had some hip pain and weight loss. I started on rev/dex/ Velcade immediately and had a stem cell transplant in July. I am currently in remission (yahoo!) , exercising religiously and (trying) to eat healthy. Night sweats continue but not to the same degree. I previously attributed them to menapause. Good luck on the journey!

[Linda]

Re: symptoms prior to diagnosis

by Linda on Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:57 pm

I had nosebleeds, bruising, and several pneumonias before I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

We were out of our state on vacation when I went to the ICU with what they called a "big" pneumonia. It was in this hospital that they first saw that my blood work was out of whack.

[janner]

Re: symptoms prior to diagnosis

by janner on Tue Mar 29, 2011 1:10 pm

My most noticeable symptom was exceptionally swollen feet, for several months prior to diagnosis. Doctors thought it was most likely a kidney issue, so I went from primary care dr. to internist to nephrologist, then to oncologist....the latter mostly to rule out myeloma ; but bone marrow biopsy confirmed Stage 4 myeloma with amyloid kidney. I was diagnosed in 2000, at the age of 47.
Still in remission and doing well !

[Nan and Dom]

Re: symptoms prior to diagnosis

by Nan and Dom on Tue Apr 12, 2011 6:33 pm

With Dominic, it was a case of the Shingles.... a couple of weeks later, his GP ran his twice yearly bloodwork and sent him to an Oncologist. Thankfully, we caught it quickly and he's 21 months in Complete Remission/Response post SCT.