It is believed that any one drug works on only 30%-40% of the population.  Further, a large percentage of patients stop taking whatever cytotoxic therapy they are undergoing due to side effects (nausea, peripheral neuropathy, pain, etc.)

It seems logical then that cancer suvivors currently undergoing chemotherapy would want to learn about complementary therapies that might help reduce the side effects that they experience and also possibly increase the efficacy of the chemotherapy they are taking.

To learn about chemoresistance click here:

Below is an article from the Cancercompass newsletter referring to comments made by Mayo hematologist S. Vincent Rajkumar, M.D.

Dr. Rajkumar raises the central issue in myeloma treatment today.  Should mm patients be trying to cure their myeloma or just control it?

Over the past several months improvments in content, useability and interactivity to the beating-myeloma.org website have taken place.  The daily digest now carries all new content went it is created before it is placed on the website itself- subject pages, articles, blogs and forum posts.  Improvements will continue.

Today you may have noticed that the digest was written in a more readable typeface.

The Galen Foundation continues to improve the experience of mm survivors and caregivers alike.

I read a post on one of the myeloma forums yesterday that (paraphrase) "dexamethasone makes all conventional therapies work better..."  I can't site studies but I think this statement is true.

The important thing to keep in mind is that the dose of dexamethasone, how much you take each day or each week is critical.  Below is a link to a study on the greater effectiveness of thal/dex high dose vs low dose as well as forum comments about low dose dex.

http://beating-myeloma.or...

Looking back on my conventional treatment for my myeloma, the local radiation that I underwent in my neck (C5) and to my iliac crest and sacrum (hip bone and tail bone) was both a blessing and a curse.

It is clear from studies on the subject that exercise is important for those with cancer. Not only do studies indicate that exercise helps during chemo but after chemotherapy as well.

Many of us have begun taking supplements and improved our diets but we just can't regulary exercise.