CLL Symptom Management: How to Reduce CLL-Related Fatigue
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Published on February 27, 2019
Patient Power community member Lulu from Armenia writes in, “While I’m in watch and wait, is there anything I can do to make the white cell count go down and alleviate fatigue?” Dr. William Wierda, from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, responds by giving expert recommendations for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) symptom management. CLL expert Dr. Wierda discusses clinical trial data-based tools to help decrease the lymphocyte count and treatments available for CLL patients struggling with fatigue to help boost energy levels.
Please remember the opinions expressed on Patient Power are not necessarily the views of our sponsors, contributors, partners or Patient Power. Our discussions are not a substitute for seeking medical advice or care from your own doctor. That’s how you’ll get care that’s most appropriate for you.
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Transcript | CLL Symptom Management: How to Reduce CLL-Related Fatigue
Please remember the opinions expressed on Patient Power are not necessarily the views of our sponsors, contributors, partners or Patient Power. Our discussions are not a substitute for seeking medical advice or care from your own doctor. That’s how you’ll get care that’s most appropriate for you.
Andrew Schorr:
Dr. Wierda, we got this question in from Lulu Grigg, who is in Armenia and is in watch and wait, and his question is, is there anything he can do while he's in watch and wait to make the white cell count go down and to alleviate fatigue.
Dr. Wierda:
That's one of the challenging clinical features that we do struggle with. Patients who have some fatigue but not enough to warrant treatment who are in the watch-and-wait period, and so there are a couple things we do. Some—the Mayo Clinic Group has tested green tea, and those clinical trials or that clinical trial that was done with green tea has shown that it can reduce the lymphocyte count, doesn't get patients into remission. There may be some clinical benefit from green tea extract, EGCG, epigallocatechin, has several different terms, so that's something to try.
We also have had patients go on methylphenidate (Ritalin) or amphetamine-dextroamphetamine (Adderall). That's a drug that's a stimulant. It's used in hyperactive children, because it has the complete opposite effect for individuals who have hyperactivity attention deficit disorder. It calms them down and helps them focus. For patients with CLL sometimes it is helpful in giving more energy and boosting patients' energy level.
So if I have a patient who is just really struggling with fatigue that hasn't responded to Adderall or Ritalin and doesn't have a large bulk of disease, I might try giving them some CD antibody to bring down the amount of disease. And that also sometimes will improve temporarily the fatigue that the patients have. Now, it's sort of a temporary fix. It's not is good treatment for the CLL itself, and it's likely that the disease will need to be treated eventually, but that's something that I have had some success with at trying and improving the fatigue.
Please remember the opinions expressed on Patient Power are not necessarily the views of our sponsors, contributors, partners or Patient Power. Our discussions are not a substitute for seeking medical advice or care from your own doctor. That’s how you’ll get care that’s most appropriate for you.
