Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) Support Group
Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), also known as acute myeloid leukemia, is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells. Patients with AML usually present with symptoms such as fatigue, bleeding, infection, prompting medical attention. An abnormal blood test reading will then result in further testing in a hospital with a hematologist to determine AML.
TFD on another thread wrote: "I had read it takes about 7 years after radiation exposer for leukemia to show up." This was something I had not heard and it got me to thinking that we might want to put our heads together and see what we might all have in common. that might cause AML.
The only thing I keep hearing is that benzene exposure might do it. I would guess the first thing we need to do is to start a list of all possible causes. There must be some scientific basis for the benzene thing since it is stated in so many places as an established fact. TFD added the radiation possibility, which is in my mind a completely different animal. I have also heard that AML can be a side effect of chemo.
If benzene is a major cause, then how long does one need to be exposed to it, in what way, and how long after this exposure would it show up.
One thing that seems to be a complicating factor is the average age of AML victims. Seems to be somewhere around 70, so it would seem to me that it would be a very thin chance that all of these oldsters (I am 69) would have been exposed to it recently. It would seem like their systems just cannot handle it once they get to an older age. Could it be an accumluated thing over a lifetime. Or perhaps something that we have been exposed to on a regular basis but now that we are hitting the older ager we just cannot handle it?
Anyway -- if you are interested in this and know anything about it or just have a hunch and want to jump in, here is a forum for it.
Thanks in advance -- dave
The only thing I keep hearing is that benzene exposure might do it. I would guess the first thing we need to do is to start a list of all possible causes. There must be some scientific basis for the benzene thing since it is stated in so many places as an established fact. TFD added the radiation possibility, which is in my mind a completely different animal. I have also heard that AML can be a side effect of chemo.
If benzene is a major cause, then how long does one need to be exposed to it, in what way, and how long after this exposure would it show up.
One thing that seems to be a complicating factor is the average age of AML victims. Seems to be somewhere around 70, so it would seem to me that it would be a very thin chance that all of these oldsters (I am 69) would have been exposed to it recently. It would seem like their systems just cannot handle it once they get to an older age. Could it be an accumluated thing over a lifetime. Or perhaps something that we have been exposed to on a regular basis but now that we are hitting the older ager we just cannot handle it?
Anyway -- if you are interested in this and know anything about it or just have a hunch and want to jump in, here is a forum for it.
Thanks in advance -- dave
You amaze me, you always know how to take a topic and let us all learn something.How do I know if I was exposed to benzene (besides smoking), it looks like it could found in most anything?
Dx: age 35, non-smoker, have always lived in a smoke free home, non-drinker, female, lives in a community sorronded by chemical and nuclear plants. I did work in an optical surfacing lab for a couple of years using different chemicals. I would need to sit in a lab and read labels to see what I was exposed to. Prior medical history was uneventful with kidney stones being my only reason visit to the ER. No family history of any blood cancers. Dave, like you I also have MDS.
What other info do you think we need?
Trish
Trish
No, all I wanted for this thread to be is a way that we might be able to pull some others in who are interested and who might have personal information or suspicions about their own surroundings. It would be nice if we could get a few case studies going here, and I will try to do some research on AML/MDS causes over the next week or so. Thanks for joining me in getting things going -- dave
An old next door neighbor called during the holiday season. He had heard about my diagnosis. Turns out, he was treated for ALL 5 years ago. The first thing my husband said was "I wonder if there is something underground?" We both had radon remediation done in our homes. The only other factor was that my neighbor spent his entire life in the paint/staining industry. He owned his own business, so I threw it out a a coincidental factor that we were neighbors, though these days it seems there is a reason for everyone to get anger and there also seem to be food choices to help us live to be 150. I just stop listening- it can make you crazy, but I figured I would add some food for thought.
Andrea
Andrea
Ed
Margaret
In Spain, doctors asked about my contact with paint. Well, I love doing crafts, and for 3 to 4 years (2002-2006) I used canned paint a lot, during weekends. Is this enough to get AML? WOW. Well, I have to say I used it without any protection. I was breathing it and touching it all the time (no gloves, no mask while painting). But my husband remembers those times and thinks it was little contact.
I asked my father's doctors what causes AML and mostly the answer I got was that it was purely bad luck. I asked about radiation and they said it would have to be radiation on the level of Chernobyl to even possibly be considered a cause. When you think about the small number of people who get this disease a year, it makes you wonder if it is simply bad luck; otherwise, wouldn't there be more cases each year? Whatever the cause, let's just hope they find a simple cure soon so this disease can be a thing of the past. Love to all. xo
Of course, there's therapy induced AML.
In my case, I never smoked.
My mom had cancer twice, most recently she had lymphoma just a few years before my AML.
I asked an expert about this very unlikely coincidence. There's obviously cancer in my family. They don't think the lymphoma and AML are related, but who knows?...
Benzene is known to cause cancer, based on evidence from studies in both people and laboratory animals. The link between benzene and cancer has largely focused on leukemia and cancers of other blood cells.
Studies in people
Rates of leukemia, particularly acute myeloid leukemia (AML), have been found to be higher in studies of workers exposed to high levels of benzene, such as those in the chemical, shoemaking, and oil refining industries.
Some studies have also suggested links to acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in children and to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and other blood-related cancers, such as multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, in adults. However, the evidence is not as strong for these cancers.
END OF QUOTE
So, no doubt this COULD be the cause in those of you who were exposed to benzene. Of course, we all are to some small degree. But the workers show that the more of it, the higher the chance of contracting leukemia, and AML seems to be the one most often.
This has to only be part of the puzzle though. All of the workers did not get it -- some did and some did not. So, there must be some resistance within our bodies to it that some of us have and others do not (or it is probably a matter of degree).
I cannot see any patterns emerging yet, but hopefully we will have more join this thread, and maybe some of what others say might trigger additional thoughts in those who are already here.
Thanks to all for taking the time to contribute -- dave
I did some furniture refinishing about 30 years ago in an unventilated apartment building basement. Who knows? I can't turn back the clock, so I am not going to think about the whys and wherefores.
Cliff