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.

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Post SCT Question from Laarissa

Noodle65
Noodle65
Dear All,

I spoke with Laarissa yesterday who is +80 days and she asked that a pose a question to you mighty SCT warriors. Overall, she is doing well; however, she is struggling to eat. Her question relates to this difficulty. She is not experiencing nausea but rather a discomfort in the middle of her stomach. She is sure it is not heartburn-in fact when she lays down she feels relief. She describes it as almost a tightening or constriction, not pain. She prepares food but when it gets to the point of actually eating, she can't seem to muster the desire mainly due to the "feeling" She is very curious to see if others have experienced this symptom. Thank you in advance for any and all advice.

Blessings,

Julie
mtnbyker
mtnbyker
Her docs will know best, but it may be gvhd of the stomach. I was tested for it and do have it. That was not stopping me from eating, I just had no desire to eat, only eat cause I knew I had to, to survive. They did an upper gi on me to take biopsy for testing for gvhd. It has gotten better with time for me.
DaveJ
worriedmom2014
worriedmom2014
Happy to read an update on Laarissa as I have been thinking about her (and others that we haven't heard from in a while).

She should talk to her dr about the stomach problems as DaveJ says it may be GVHD and they can help her with it.

Karen
borist
borist
As mentioned above, her docs should check/monitor for GI gvhd. However I'd not panic. Patience. It was said here many times, but recovery takes time, long time. My case: I had my BMT in late January ('13), so 80+ days would put me in April. My appetite did not improve until late May to June that year, so well past 100 days. Worst time for eating was in May, by which time I was down to 142lbs from my original 200. Mentally this was very tough for me. It did get better eventually, but it was almost a year after BMT that I've felt that my appetite was normal.
xuelan
xuelan
I agree with Dave J, that Laarissa might have some GvHD of the stomach at this point. After my transplant, I lost my sense of taste. Everything tasted terrible, and that made it hard for me to eat. I did not have any pains, however. Nevertheless, I hardly ate anything but grapefruits, linguini, and orange juice. When my sense of taste returned, so did my appetite. This AML stuff requires time to resolve, but it will. It is hard to be patient when we have gone through so much, but a "tincture of time" is all that we've got here.

Cliff
LoraBerg
LoraBerg
I had stomach discomfort up until last week. On Monday I talked to my doc about it more and he decided to start treating me for GVHD and then I'm scheduled to get an upper GI next week. However, since I started to taking the steroid, my stomach feels so much better and I'm able to eat and enjoy food, instead of forcing a few bites down with my Ensure. I hope that her docs can determine the issue and make her more comfortable. That feeling is awful... I would dread mealtime.

Lora