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Like all of us, I’m constantly asking myself how I came down with MM, at 64, just prior to retiring? My career as a petroleum geologist, environmental chemist and plastic polymer specialist has brought me in contact with many hazardous chemicals and wastes products. For decades, I’ve dealt with samples coming from EPA’s most hazardous waste and clean up sites. But through all of this, I’ve felt very confident in my use of PPE equipment and felt my direct exposure to these wastes was very… read more
When I say I drank A LOT out of the hose while gardening during the summer ( for decades) I’m not exaggerating. I didn’t start to study BPA (now banned in baby bottles and drinking containers), plasticizers like phthalates and pvc until I started in R&D in plastics in my 50’s. Plasticizers, from rubber gaskets and washers will quickly migrate and crack certain plastics in a matter of hours. It’s the number one cause of broken plastic shields and windows. Heavy metals were known to me for years, as that was one of my jobs identifying them in drinking wasted and hazardous waste for federal and state agencies. I’m not really interested in the metals, but the organic compound exposure really has me wondering.
I drank out if the garden hose alot too. I was also around a lot of second hand smoke. They usually just dont know what starts myeloma mutations. I did learn that the mutations can start when we are much younger. It takes a long time to show up.
Several chemical exposures you mentioned could be linked to myeloma development. Long-term pesticide exposure, including herbicides like Roundup, has been associated with increased myeloma risk. Studies show that people with over 10 years of exposure to agricultural chemicals have twice the risk of developing myeloma. Your Show Full Answer
@A MyMyelomaTeam Member I too wonder how I came to have this diagnosis at 53. My family has no known history and my grandparents lived well into their 90s and my mother, in her mid 80s still works part time. I’ve always been active, didn’t smoke, rarely drink - there’s no reasonable explanation, but here I am. I have always done a lot of gardening and while I did use some roundup, I tried to avoid it. As a child I grew up with a farm field behind our house and for 23 years as an adult we had a farm field behind our house - could that have caused enough exposure? Who knows? I am a thinker, and I like to understand why/how things happen, but I’ll probably never know. Right now I’m trying to focus on getting through my treatment and living my best life now. I’m grateful for the days when I feel good and am able to go about my life in a somewhat normal fashion. I’m also grateful for this group where we can share what we’re going through with others who actually know what it means to deal with this disease.
From 1985 until 2023
My hubby is getting lower back pains. What is a good home remedy or pain killer. He is not on zometa
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