Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia

Lymphoma

Many lymphoma symptoms are like symptoms of other, less serious diseases. Having these symptoms doesn’t mean that you have lymphoma. But you should consider talking to a healthcare provider whenever you have changes in your body that don’t go away within a few weeks.

Symptoms common to Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma can include:

• Painless swelling of one or more lymph nodes in your neck, armpits or groin that doesn’t go away within a few weeks.
• Persistent fatigue, when you feel very tired day after day even after getting enough sleep.
• Fever stays above 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.5 degrees Celsius) for more than two days, or a fever that comes back.
• Drenching night sweats, sweating that are so intense that you wake up to find your pajamas and sheets soaking wet.
• Shortness of breath (dyspnea), when you feel as if you can’t get enough air in your lungs.
• Unexplained weight loss, when you’ve lost 10% of your total body weight over six months without dieting or exercise.

Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma causes many symptoms, but bone pain often is the first symptom people notice. Other symptoms include:

• Weakness in your arms and legs and/or a sensation of numbness in your arms and legs. Multiple myeloma can affect the bones in your spine, causing them to collapse and press on your spinal cord.
• Having fatigue — feeling so tired you can’t manage daily activities — and feeling weak. These are signs of anemia.
• Nausea and vomiting. This may be a sign of hypercalcemia.
• Not having an appetite and/or feeling thirstier than usual. These may be signs of hypercalcemia.
• Unexplained weight loss.
• Unexplained fever. This may be a symptom of a bacterial infection.
• Bruising or bleeding more easily. This may be a sign abnormal plasma cells prevent your body from producing enough platelets. Platelets help your blood to clot.
• Feeling confused or “foggy.”

• Here are some of the conditions linked to multiple myeloma and their causes:

  • Anemia: You don’t have enough red blood cells because multiplying abnormal plasma cells don’t leave room for your red blood cells.
  • Bacterial infection, particularly pneumonia: Like red blood cells, abnormal plasma cells are multiplying and crowding healthy white blood cells that fight infection.
  • Thrombocytopenia: You don’t have enough platelets — the cells that help your blood to clot — because abnormal plasma cells crowd out those platelets and keep your bone marrow from making enough platelets.
  • Bone pain/bone fracture: Bone pain and/or fracture can happen if abnormal plasma cells destroy bone tissue, causing a soft spot in your bone. These are osteolytic lesions.
  • Kidney problems/failure: Your kidneys filter waste and toxins. Abnormal plasma cells make M proteins that block the filtering process and damage your kidneys.
  • Amyloidosis: This disease happens when abnormal proteins (amyloid proteins) build up in your organs.
  • Hypercalcemia: This condition happens when damaged or weakened bones release too much calcium into your bloodstream.
  • Hyperviscosity syndrome: M proteins — proteins made by abnormal plasma cells — thicken your blood. Your heart has to work harder to pump blood through your body.
  • Cryoglobulinemia: Multiple myeloma can make proteins in your blood clump together when it’s cold.

Leukemia

Symptoms depend, in part, on the type of leukemia. For instance, if you have a chronic form of leukemia, you may not have noticeable symptoms in the early stages.

Common signs and symptoms of leukemia include:

• Fatigue, tiring easily.
• Fever or night sweats.
• Frequent infections.
• Shortness of breath.
• Pale skin.
• Unexplained weight loss.
• Bone/joint pain or tenderness.
• Pain or full feeling under your ribs on the left side.
• Swollen lymph nodes in your neck, underarm, groin or stomach, an enlarged spleen or liver.
• Bruising and bleeding easily, including nosebleeds, bleeding gums, a rash that looks like tiny red spots in skin (petechiae) or purplish/darkened skin patches.