Living as a Multiple Myeloma Survivor

Multiple myeloma can often be treated effectively, but it is very hard to cure. Even if your myeloma is in remission, you may get regular treatment with medicines, radiation therapy, or other treatments to help keep it in check.

Learning to live with cancer that doesn’t go away can be difficult and stressful. But no matter what your situation is, there are steps you can take to live well, both physically and emotionally.

Follow-up care

During and after treatment for multiple myeloma, it’s very important to go to all follow-up appointments. At these visits, your cancer care team will ask about your symptoms, examine you, and order blood or urine tests or imaging tests such as PET/CT or MRI scans.

This follow-up care is needed to monitor your cancer, see if more treatment is needed, and help check for side effects. This is the best time to ask questions and talk to your cancer care team about any concerns, problems, or changes you notice.

Managing side effects

Almost any cancer treatment can have side effects. Some side effects last for a few days or weeks, while others might last longer. Don’t hesitate to tell your cancer care team about any symptoms or side effects that bother you. They can help you manage them.

To learn more, see Managing Cancer-related Side Effects.

Asking your doctor for a survivorship care plan

Talk with your doctor or cancer care team about creating a survivorship care plan for you. This plan might include:

• A suggested schedule for follow-up exams and tests
• A schedule for other tests you might need in the future, such as early detection (screening) tests for other types of cancer, or tests to look for long-term health effects from your cancer or its treatment
• A list of possible late or long-term side effects from your treatment, including what to watch for and when you should contact your health care team
• Diet and physical activity suggestions
• Reminders to keep your appointments with your primary care provider (PCP), who will monitor your general health care

Keeping health insurance and copies of your medical records

Even if you’re not getting treatment, it’s very important to keep health insurance. Tests and doctor visits cost a lot, and even though no one wants to think about their cancer progressing, this could happen.

At some point, you might find yourself seeing a new doctor who doesn’t know about your medical history. It’s important to keep copies of your medical records (or have access to them) so you can give your new doctor the details of your diagnosis and treatment. Learn more in Keeping Copies of Important Medical Records.

Can I lower my risk of multiple myeloma growing or progressing?

If you have multiple myeloma, you probably want to know if there are things you can do that might lower your risk of the cancer growing or progressing, such as exercising, eating a certain type of diet, or taking nutritional supplements.

Adopting healthy behaviors such as not smoking, eating well, getting regular physical activity, and staying at a healthy weight might help, but no one knows for sure. Still, we do know that these types of changes can have positive effects on your health that extend beyond your risk of myeloma or other cancers.

You can learn more in Cancer Risk and Prevention.

About dietary supplements

So far, no dietary supplements (including vitamins, minerals, and herbal products) have been shown to clearly help lower the risk of cancer progressing or coming back. This doesn’t mean that no supplements will help. But it’s important to know that none have been proven to do so.

In the United States, dietary supplements are not regulated like medicines. They don’t have to be proven effective (or even safe) before being sold, although there are limits on what they’re allowed to claim they can do.

If you’re thinking about taking any type of nutritional supplement, talk to your health care team. They can help you decide which ones you can use safely while avoiding those that might be harmful.

If the cancer progresses or comes back

If your multiple myeloma does progress or recur at some point, your treatment options will depend on where the cancer is located, what treatments you’ve had before, and your health. For more on how progressing or recurrent multiple myeloma is treated, see Treatment Choices for Multiple Myeloma, by Stage.

For more general information on recurrence, see Understanding Recurrence.

Second cancers in people with myeloma

People with multiple myeloma can still get other cancers. In fact, multiple myeloma survivors are at higher risk for getting another, second cancer.

Survivors of multiple myeloma can get any type of second cancer, but they have an increased risk of:

• Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
• Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)

Can I lower my risk of getting a second cancer?

There are steps you can take to stay as healthy as possible and lower your risk of getting another cancer. For example, multiple myeloma survivors should do their best to stay away from all tobacco products and tobacco smoke, because smoking increases the risk of many cancers.

To help maintain good health, multiple myeloma survivors should also:

• Get to and stay at a healthy weight.
• Keep physically active and limit the time you spend sitting or lying down.
• Follow a healthy eating pattern that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and limits or avoids red and processed meats, sugary drinks, and highly processed foods.
• Avoid or limit alcohol. If you do drink, have no more than 1 drink per day for women or 2 per day for men.

These steps may also lower your risk of some other health problems.

See Second Cancers in Adults for more about causes of second cancers.

Getting emotional support

Some amount of feeling depressed, anxious, or worried is normal when multiple myeloma is a part of your life. Some people are affected more than others. But everyone can benefit from help and support from other people, whether friends and family, religious groups, support groups, professional counselors, or others.

To learn more, see Life After Cancer.