Multiple myeloma is a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cells called plasma cells. The disease causes cancer to build up in the bone marrow, which then pushes out healthy blood cells. This is a relatively uncommon type of blood cancer; the American Cancer Society estimates that 30,770 new cases of multiple myeloma will be diagnosed in the United States in 2018. We asked Dr. Nina Shah, a hematologist at UCSF Medical Center, to discuss some of the symptoms of multiple myeloma, and what happens when a person thinks they may have the disease.
“It’s very common for someone to say, ‘You know, I’ve been feeling very tired,” or ‘You know, I notice I had a few more infections last winter than I remember,'” Dr. Shah says. “But at the first sign of something abnormal, it’s important to then take that to the next step and say, ‘OK, what am I missing? Is there something else maybe that could be causing this?’ And that’s often when we see a diagnosis of multiple myeloma.”
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