Overall I have responded really well, Reached a complete remission after my transplant in 2010 and have been off all chemo drugs since. But I've had infection issues. My new multiple myeloma dr. said since I had a stringent response Myeloma should not be causeing this, But she referred me to a Transplant Infectious Disease Dr.
He said some interesting stuff about Velcade. The research is showing it affects a type of cell (T cells) and permanantly changes them, which is what he think is going on with me. So he looked at blood work history and they tend to run low, then they will drop for a month then come up into normal range. (Lymphocites?)
He thinks the explanation for some of the stuff I've been having this winter is from something called CMV which is a virus many people carry but it doesn't usually act up (like chicken pox/ shingles) we did blood work to confirm that I have it yesterday. Every few weeks I have had fever, headaches, stomach pain and nausea for a few days.
My body has a hard time with viruses like HSV1 (i get infections in my sinus, nose, roof of mouth but never a cold sore go figure), I've had shingles once, but he aslso suspect I had it another time "inside" (no rash)
All these new targeted, myeloma drugs are good, but so much is unknown about the long term side effects. in my case Velcade has permanatly changed my immune system. I will be on famvir or other antivral drugs for the rest of my life.
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