Does CLL CAUSE skin cancer? bone loss? pneumonia? skin issues? low Vitamin D3? Autoimmune issues like AIHA & ITP ?

[lankisterguy]

The title above is click bait and I hope you will forgive me for using it.

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The answers from many CLL experts would be that causation has not been proven by clinical trial data since there are ethical and statistical problems with designing the studies.

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We had an interesting discussion today on Coincidence vs. Causation and I thought I would post the YouTube videos I found.

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There are many symptoms & problems that appear more frequently among CLL patients, but the purist researchers will respond that "Correlation does not imply causation"

see : youtube.com/watch?v=XoLxQfi...(Not working as expected?)

youtube.com/watch?v=GtV-VYd...(Not working as expected?)

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To me that is similar to saying that both your CLL and your skin/ back / infection/ etc. issues were "both at the scene of the crime"

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Your hematologist could be correct that no one has proven that CLL causes the problem , but there are statistics that show that CLL patients have more of the problem. But whether the cause is a direct result of CLL or indirectly related via some undiscovered cause that damaged your immune system allowing the infection or cancer to develop undeterred.

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So like skin cancer problems with CLL, and that patients with low Vitamin D3 do worse, no clinical studies have proven the actual causes, but the statistics are like heavy smoke indicating a fire / cause somewhere yet to be discovered.

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Len

[cllady01 Former Volunteer]

Very nice illustrations.

BUT--I could have done without the reminder that ice cream is available to me if I will give in to the craving I have developed and go get it. At least I am convinced I won't neccesarily commit a crime if I consume it--- I may, though, if I don't get it? 😀

[JigFettler Volunteer]

Click bait worthy!

👏Jig

[AussieNeil Administrator]

Thanks Len,

I've referenced this valuable post in our pinned Welcome post

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

Actually one of the silver linings of having CLL, which can ironically result in us finding out that we have other health conditions, is the closer monitoring of our health. Many of us (usually coincidentally) discovery these, when normally we'd never become aware of them, or might find out about them much later. There's a wealth of information that can be derived from blood tests and scans, but most unusual results don't warrant further investigation unless they could indicative of what could become a health threatening matter. It's a matter of risk vs reward as to whether further investigation is warranted, generally after an out of the ordinary result has been confirmed in a follow-up check, or when a concerning trend becomes apparent.

Neil

[beanlake14 in reply to AussieNeil]

Absolutely true. When my CLL returned 2 years after FCR, I had a CT scan. Stomach cancer was found. I had surgery, but it was early enough that it hadn’t spread. That was December 2019. Had I not had that scan, I probably wouldn’t be here now.

[RogerPinner]

So Neil has just introduced another variable...testing. Very interesting. Thanks.

Roger

[LeoPa]

These relationships could be like obesity and metabolic syndrome or diabetes mellitus. Obesity isn't the cause of these, but they do have a common underlying cause.

[Notmuchenergy]

I think having CLL is like running your car on rubbish oil. It’s ok for a while, then stuff happens. I’m convinced it causes all sorts of problems at a younger age than for people who haven’t got it

[janvog]

Most CLL patients are elderly. This means other aging-issues will coincide. The only basic advice: Keep walking if there are no impediments !