How does My doctor decide I need treatMent?

If you’re diagnosed with WM and don’t need treatment right away, you’ll be regularly monitored by your healthcare team through consultations and blood tests. This is called Active Monitoring, and it helps your doctor to understand how your WM is behaving. Because WM is a low-grade form of lymphoma, it grows very slowly and some people will remain on active monitoring for years. However, the abnormal cells that cause your Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinaemia may gradually increase over time. When this happens, symptoms related to WM will become more noticeable, and you may get new symptoms and start to feel more unwell. By monitoring your symptoms and looking at the levels of certain cells in your blood tests, your doctor can see whether your WM has grown to a point that it needs to be treated. Although blood test levels can indicate to your doctor that you might need treatment, the decision is very individual. Two people can have the same blood test result, but one person may feel well, whilst the other feels unwell. The second person may go on treatment, with the first staying on active monitoring. This is why it’s important to talk openly about your symptoms and how you’re feeling with your doctor. When looking at treatment options, your doctor will take into account many different factors to make sure you’re getting the best therapy for your individual circumstances. These include:

• Your age
• Your general health
• Your fitness
• Your symptoms and any related conditions you may have e.g. neuropathy, Bing Neel Syndrome
• Whether you have had treatment before and what response you had.