SLL with unexplained history

[AlexanderP]

Hi, I was diagnosed this past November, 42yo male. I have the SLL variant. My story is that I experience classic B symptoms 18 mo before my diagnoses. For 8 weeks I has low grade fever with occasional spikes, serious fatigue, a little itchiness, no other symptoms. It went away, I developed an enlarged lymph node shortly thereafter, and I was diagnosed over a year later.

Currently my numbers are virtually normal. Anyone else out there experience this type of progression. Two specialist did not have a ready explanation.

Thanks

[AussieNeil Administrator]

Hi Alexander and welcome to our community, which no one wants to join, but where we find mutual support and tips on how to live better with this chronic leukaemia/lymphoma.

I was diagnosed with stage 4 CLL/SLL 8 years ago (but met the SLL criteria of a lymphocyte count under 5) and had similar symptoms to you before and after diagnosis. Before diagnosis I had occasional night sweats, then a CMV infection shortly after diagnosis left a legacy of low grade fevers with occasional spikes and serious fatigue. Unfortunately my blood counts were not normal and I've had neutropenia for the last 8 years. My SLL became CLL 18 months after diagnosis. Encouragingly I'm still in watch and wait and my fatigue is manageable unless I overdo it.

Everyone's journey with CLL/SLL is different. Fatigue doesn't correlate with lymphocyte count, a fact I can well verify.

Are you experiencing B symptoms or serious fatigue now? Hopefully you'll escape the need for treatment as about 30% of us do.

Neil

[AlexanderP in reply to AussieNeil]

Thanks for the reply. Not experiencing any B symptoms. Managing fatigue and inflammation is basically it right now.

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SLL Husband has fatigue, itchy skin, bulky lymph nodes and many infections during last 10 years