What is Multiple Myeloma?
- Bone Marrow is in the ribs, sternum, vertebrae, and pelvic bone. This substance is about 5% of our body mass and it is responsible for producing healthy cells: red blood cells, white blood cells and other cells. Those cells are responsible for delivering oxygen or other chemicals to every section of the human body, and others are responsible for protecting it against invasion.
- Plasma cell is a type of cells that belongs to the white blood cells category, and they are responsible for making antibodies to kill viruses, bacteria.
- Multiple Myeloma is a form of cancer that attacks the plasma cells. After a normal cell’s lifespan, the cell is usually recycled but it does not happen when they take the form of a cancer cell, they accumulate in the bone marrow. Unfortunately, those cancer cells do not produce antibodies and it weakens the immune system and increases the risk of infections.
Treatments:
There are many options today to help the patient from target therapy, chemotherapy, corticosteroids to bone marrow transplant. In certain instances, those treatments are going to be combined. The oncologist will choose the best strategy based on the aggressiveness of the cancer.
Side effects:
There are many symptoms that are reported on the different medical and pharmaceutical websites. Please, check the website according to your treatment or call your physician if you are not feeling well.
Acupuncture as a complementary therapy:
We currently have many patients in our facilities that are receiving acupuncture therapy to help counter the side effects of cancer treatments or just to help decrease anxiety, depression and/or improve sleep.
One of the main side effects of chemotherapy or some prescription medicine is neuropathy, a condition where the nerves are affected by the cancer treatment, and it causes tingling, numbness and pain in the hands, feet, and other areas. It is not a life-threatening condition, but it makes cancer patients extremely uncomfortable and sometimes they find it difficult to walk.
Our cancer patients often suffer from this condition. It is important to note that acupuncture is not a drug, so it does not interact with the medications provided by the oncologist. Acupuncture helps to reduce neuralgia (nerve pain), tingling and numbness.
Herbal medicine is safe if it is prescribed for the prescribed condition however there are no studies about the interaction between herbs and cancer treatments, so our clinic has a policy that we never prescribe herbal medicine to our cancer patients, and we do not treat cancer.
Acupuncture helps address the side effects of conventional therapies treating Multiple Myeloma and supports cancer patients suffering from other cancers while they are undergoing therapy.
