Relapsed indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
If you’ve relapsed with indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), you may be starting to experience symptoms again. Alternatively, you may be feeling generally healthy but, during a routine check-up, your doctor may have noticed that you’ve relapsed.
Either way, you will probably be starting, or have already started, treatment again.
You should remember that nothing you’ve done has caused your NHL to relapse. It’s normal for people with indolent NHL to experience a relapse, and maybe even several of them, throughout their life.
The treatment you receive is designed to help combat these relapses and give you as much symptom-free time as possible.
You may feel discouraged that your remission from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma has moved into relapse, but there are reasons to stay positive
Many people who have relapsed with NHL have concerns about facing treatment again, and about what will happen this time round. This is completely understandable as you could be starting to feel ill again – and hearing that you’ve relapsed can be quite an emotional blow.
However, try not to be too discouraged. Indolent NHL is a slow-growing disease that responds very well to treatment. So, even though a relapse can be a setback, you now have another opportunity to treat it. Although indolent NHL is very rarely cured, most people with NHL can successfully live with the disease for a long time, and as the symptoms have been noticed, the disease can be treated appropriately.
For some people, relapsing will bring back bad memories of their initial treatment and the unpleasant side effects of therapy. However, it is possible that you will find treatment less difficult the second time as you now have more knowledge and experience of the hospital, the disease and the treatment than you did the first time round.
What will happen to me now I’ve relapsed?
This question will probably be at the top of your mind if you have found out that your indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) has relapsed. But, as you probably know by now, there are no easy answers to questions like this when you are dealing with cancer.
Everyone is different, and your experience of indolent NHL will be unique to you.
It’s therefore important to be open with your doctor and healthcare team about any worries that you may have, and to ask them for any information that you need. They are the people who know the most about your situation and will be able to give you the best advice. However, here on Lymphoma Life, we can give you a good overall picture of what happens to people who experience a relapse.
Most people with indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma will eventually have several rounds of treatment, but spend long periods of time in remission
People with indolent NHL may need to undergo several rounds of treatment throughout the course of their illness. All NHL treatments are designed to help you live as normal a life as possible. So, although treatment periods themselves can be physically and emotionally demanding, the amount of time that you spend in treatment will usually be far outweighed by the periods of symptom-free remission that you experience in between.
Although you may experience many relapses, periods of remission generally last for as long as 1.5-4 years, or even considerably longer
Overall, people with NHL typically live for between 7 and 10 years after diagnosis, but this might be considerably longer with newer therapies. But you should remember that these figures will depend significantly on your age and general health.