My primary audience for these columns is the myeloma pa­tients and their care­givers who frequent The Myeloma Beacon. But, as I am sure is the case with my fel­low col­um­nists, I share my column with friends and rela­tives by email and by post­ing links on social media. For that reason, I try to make the subjects – although always myeloma-related – somewhat uni­versal.

At the risk of alienating my non-myeloma audience, this month I write about a very specific myeloma-related issue: diarrhea.

And not just any diarrhea, but diarrhea brought about by the myeloma …

The results of a small British study may lead to fewer myeloma patients suf­fer­ing from diarrhea while taking Revlimid.

In a short article published last week, researchers from the Royal Marsden Hospital in London report that a condition known as “bile acid mal­ab­sorp­tion” appears to be a frequent cause of the diarrhea experi­enced by some patients during treatment with Revlimid (lena­lido­mide).

The researchers also found that the bile acid mal­ab­sorp­tion and re­sult­ing diarrhea in these patients can be addressed in two ways.

For some patients, reducing consumption of fatty foods …