Tag Archive for: physical activity

Recovering From CAR T-Cell Therapy | What Can Myeloma Patients Expect?

/in , , , , , , , /by

Recovering From CAR T-Cell Therapy | What Can Myeloma Patients Expect? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What can myeloma patients expect after undergoing CAR T-cell therapy? Myeloma expert and researcher Dr. Beth Faiman discusses returning to life after the CAR T process, advice for physical activity, and immune system concerns during recovery.

Dr. Beth Faiman is an Adult Nurse Practitioner in the department of Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders at the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about Dr. Faiman.

See More From Thrive CAR T-Cell Therapy

Related Resources:

Advice for Myeloma Patients Undergoing CAR T-Cell Therapy

Advice for Myeloma Patients Undergoing CAR T-Cell Therapy

 What Side Effects Are Possible Following CAR T-Cell Therapy?

What Side Effects Are Possible Following CAR T-Cell Therapy?

 CAR T-Cell Therapy | Care and Monitoring Post-Treatment

CAR T-Cell Therapy | Care and Monitoring Post-Treatment

Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Beyond monitoring of any issues, what can someone expect related to returning to life as they knew it before the diagnosis? Is there a timeline for resuming lifestyle and activity?   

Dr. Beth Faiman:

Yeah. So, I should say I because it’s from my perspective. I am a real strong advocate. I tell people to do what you feel like you can physically do. We know that myeloma can affect the bones and put your bones at risk for breaking and so we give you medicines to protect it. So, I do put some restrictions however on physical activity in terms of, “I don’t want you to bench press 40 pounds or 20 pounds,” in most cases. And depending on what the bones look like on x-ray, I’ll even restrict it to about five to 10 pounds.  

If you think about it, that’s a bag of potatoes. So, you don’t want to put too many restrictions on for everybody. But talk to your healthcare provider about what your specific restrictions are with physical activity. Because I don’t really put any restrictions on but I encourage things like riding a bike, especially a stationary bike in your own home, so that if you fall off – hopefully, you won’t fall off a stationary bike. But if you injure yourself, then you’re able to be in a place that somebody can help you.   

But riding a bike. Also, exercising in water. Water therapy is a great weight bearing exercise and there are times of day where you can go when the YMCAs or YWCAs aren’t as busy – or community centers. So, you’re less at risk for bacterial or other illnesses. But during that first month, I try to limit their exposure to people because you’re at risk for the different viruses that are all over the place, the bacterial infections.  

So, that first month is the critical period where I try to say, “Okay, try to lay low. Let’s get you through this period. Your immune system will start getting stronger on its own after this period.” And then, that month two you start feeling like doing more. You go to the grocery store. You maybe go to eat out at a restaurant but pick a time of day that’s less busy. So, go for an early dinner. There’s no shame in eating at 5:00 p.m. if you want to go out. And then, get a table in the corner with your own wipes. And so, that’s where your immune system is getting stronger. 

And then, by month three, I think most people will feel much, much better and much, much stronger. And if you can keep moving throughout this whole time, then you’ll be stronger on the way out.  

Can Lifestyle or Supplements Impact CLL Treatment Response?

/in , , , , , , , /by

Can Lifestyle or Supplements Impact CLL Treatment Response? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Can chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients use supplements or lifestyle changes to impact treatment response? Expert Dr. Danielle Brander shares her perspective and information from other cancer studies.

Dr. Danielle Brander is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies & Cellular Therapy at Duke University Medical Center. Learn more about Dr. Danielle Brander.

Download Resource Guide   |  Descargar Guía en Español

See More from START HERE CLL

Related Programs:

BTK Inhibitor Treatment Side Effects: What CLL Patients Should Know

 Can CLL Patients Take a Break From BTK Inhibitors?

 Empowering CLL Patients for Treatment and Survivorship

Empowering CLL Patients for Treatment and Survivorship

Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

So we have another patient who is concerned about chances of relapse and is asking if there are any lifestyle changes through diet and supplements or anything that you can speak to that may enhance their response or their duration response to the treatment?

Dr. Danielle Brander:

Yeah. So a very very great question to bring about. And this is the one area, understandably where many of us feel frustrated because we can’t tell patients specifically that this trial has been done and says this specific diet is helpful or this specific lifestyle change is helpful to make the treatment work for longer. I think some of that is because some of the general advice we give meaning maintaining daily activity or a well-balanced diet sound non-specific or simple, but I think do help in patients staying in an overall general health wellness so that they can benefit from the treatment and potentially have less side effects from the therapy. 

But getting back to the question we just talked about, I think certainly trials or studies really need to be continuing to look at this, because I think there likely are things that we can be more specific to patients about. There are studies looking at physical fitness and exercise regimens not necessarily specific to CLL, although there are studies being done in that space, but to other cancers showing that physical activity and exercise can help even for patients not on treatment maintain control of their cancer. So general daily activity and exercise are important in studies that look at how do you tailor that to an individual I think are important too.

Share Your Feedback

Create your own user feedback survey

Can Diet and Exercise Reduce MPN Symptoms?

/in , , , , , , , /by

Can Diet and Exercise Reduce MPN Symptoms? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo. 

What can YOU do to make a positive impact on your overall MPN care? Researchers Dr. Jennifer Huberty and Ryan Eckert review the latest research on how movement and diet can benefit people living with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).

Dr. Jennifer Huberty is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University. She focuses her research on the use of complementary approaches to manage symptoms and improve quality of life for patients living with myeloproliferative neoplasms. More about Dr. Huberty here: chs.asu.edu/jennifer-huberty.

Ryan Eckert currently works at Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center. Ryan is the Research Coordinator for the MPN QoL Study Group and assists in research related to complementary health approaches in myeloproliferative neoplasms and other hematological disorders. More about Ryan here: mpnqol.com/research-team.

See More From the The Path to MPN Empowerment

Related Programs:

Am I Meditating Correctly? Getting the Most Out of Mindfulness

Expert Tips for Managing MPN-Related Anxiety

Improving Life with MPNs: The Latest Research and How to Get Involved

Transcript:

Ryan:

So, as far as the benefits of exercise for MPN patients, there’s many, and so, I guess starting with cancers as a whole, there’s a lot more research that’s been done in recent decades that looks at the effects of various forms of exercise and physical activity on other cancers. They just tend – researchers tend to do a lot more of that work in breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, et cetera.

And so, the research in exercise for MPN patients is actually really new, and nobody outside of Dr. Huberty in conjunction with Dr. Mesa and a few other researchers have done any research related to exercise specifically in MPN patients. Our yoga studies that we’ve done have been the first venture down that route for MPN patients. But, what we do know in general is that exercise has obviously systemic effects across the whole body.

So, you’re gonna get health benefits just in general from exercise, but as far as for MPN patients specifically, some of the things that we’ve seen with our yoga studies, which is obviously a form of physical activity, is that we’ve seen sleep improve in MPN patients, so we’ve seen a reduction in sleep disturbances or disruptions in their sleep, a quicker time to fall asleep, and then, less waking up throughout the night – so, just better sleep in general.

We’ve seen some reductions in fatigue that have been reported by MPN patients who have gone through our yoga studies, and then, we’ve also seen a few other reductions in some other symptoms, such as anxiety and reduced depressive symptoms, a little bit of reduced pain is another one we’ve seen. So, just in general, we’ve seen some of those effects on MPN patients through some of our yoga studies.

Dr. Huberty:

So, in terms of adding to what Ryan just said, I would just say that exercise – maybe yoga or walking – is good for your body. It’s good for your health. It’s a recommendation that we get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity every week. The more that MPN patients can be achieving that goal towards 150 minutes – yoga counting at that – the better off they’re gonna be, and it doesn’t have to be going for a run.

It can simply be going for a walk around the block. It can be standing at your desk when you’re working instead of sitting all the time. That’s not necessarily activity per se, but it is moving your body and less sedentary. So, I think just focusing on the more that patients can move their body every day, the better off they’re gonna be.

Dr. Huberty:                

So, yeah, the role of diet in MPN patients – so, this is the beauty about the quality of life study group, because we have all these wonderful investigators that are part of the team, and we do have Dr. Robyn Scherber, who’s at Mays with Dr. Ruben Mesa. She’s doing some work with keto diet right now, so it’s very new, so I don’t know if you’re familiar with the keto diet, but it’s very high-fat and very low-carbohydrate, extremely low levels of carbohydrates. I wouldn’t tell any patient to go start doing those things unless they’ve talked to their physician for sure, but we do know that based on how you eat does certain things to your body.

So, MPNs have high inflammatory markers, and so, we wanna decrease inflammation; we probably wanna eat foods that are going to be anti-inflammatory. So, berries, let’s say, is a good example of fruits that are anti-inflammatory, almonds are anti-inflammatory, and I’m not a dietitian by any means, it’s just that things that I know to be true for my own diet because everybody should be thinking about having an anti-inflammatory diet.

Processed foods are not healthy. They are higher-inflammatory. Breakfast foods, eating out, and the foods that you get when you eat out a lot are going to be more inflammatory than not. So, just those small things – lots of vegetables. Vegetables are very good. Lots of greens. But, there is research going on – again, just like exercise and yoga, it’s in its infancy because MPN has been an under-studied population for years, and we’re trying to power through and make that difference.