Can you live with leukemia without treatment?
People with CLL can live a long time, even without treatment. Most often, CLL is discovered when a person has a routine blood test that shows elevated levels of lymphocytes. Over time, this type of leukemia can require treatment, especially if the person has infections or develops a high white blood cell count.
What happens if you don’t treat cancer?
Cancers can grow into and damage blood vessels in a vital part of the body. This can cause bleeding. For example bleeding in the brain is a stroke, which can be fatal if the body can’t control it.
What happens when leukemia spreads to the brain?
Sometimes leukemia can spread, or metastasize. If it spreads to the brain, symptoms may include headaches, seizures, balance problems, or vision problems. If it spreads to the lymph nodes in the chest, symptoms may include breathing problems and chest pain.
What happens if you choose not to have chemotherapy?
If you decide to stop chemotherapy, be sure you’re still getting relief from symptoms such as pain, constipation, and nausea. This is called palliative care, and it’s meant to improve your quality of life. Medications and other treatments, such as radiation, are part of palliative care.
What is the most common cause of death in cancer patients?
Lung cancer was the leading cause of cancer death, accounting for 23\% of all cancer deaths. Other common causes of cancer death were cancers of the colon and rectum (9\%), pancreas (8\%), female breast (7\%), prostate (5\%), and liver and intrahepatic bile duct (5\%).
What is the life expectancy of someone with leukemia without treatment?
Even without treatment you are good to live for a least 6 months but you will not be totally without symptoms . If your leukemia burden becomes high then you might feel some dizziness or bone pains but you will still live and function normally or near normal.
What happens when leukemia gets worse?
If your leukemia burden becomes high then you might feel some dizziness or bone pains but you will still live and function normally or near normal. Sooner or later these chronic leukemias will progress and this is when you start getting worse and your time clock starts ticking.
Why is it important to learn more about leukemia?
As you learn more about leukemia, you may become more confident in making treatment decisions. The term “leukemia” can be confusing because it refers to a group of cancers that aren’t all that similar except for the fact that they affect the bone marrow and blood.
What is the most common cause of death in leukemia patients?
Studies show that for leukemia patients, infections were the most common cause of death, most often bacterial infections but also fungal infections or a combination of the two. Bleeding was also a fairly common cause of death, often in the brain, lungs or digestive tract.