When it comes to myeloma, I’ve got the lowdown information overload blues

For seven years, I have kept up on developments in multiple myeloma research.

I follow the latest treatments, the newest studies, and updates on clinical trials. My inbox overflows with emails from the International Myeloma Foundation, HealthTree, and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. And then there are the newsletters from different academic journals and medical societies, some of which are often a bit beyond my comprehension. But I take them anyway, for those occasions when I do understand the headlines.

I do all this because I believe knowledge is power, including the power to make informed decisions about my care. Knowledge is also hope, for living with myeloma and living into a cure.

I always try to share that hope here and in support groups. I comb through all of these sites and sources to find nuggets of hope to share. But sometimes I just need a break. Don’t we all?

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June 9, 2026 by Marisa Wexler, MS

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News fatigue, myeloma-style

Have you heard of news fatigue? It’s that feeling of being overwhelmed by the 24-hour news cycle. It’s an easy trap to fall in, especially the way social media is designed. You interact with one post, and the algorithms present you with more and more variations of the same theme.

I’ve been feeling that a bit with the myeloma news cycle. There’s been a lot of news from the latest conferences in the U.S. and Europe. In May, I was really excited about the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting coming up because there was news about a lot of new treatments. But by early June, I felt overwhelmed by all the information that was presented, and I’m still in that mode right now.

Have you ever had that feeling? That there’s so much to absorb, but you have only so much capacity to take it in? Especially when your oncologist is presenting you with a menu of treatment options. You want to make informed decisions, but it can feel really difficult to weigh all the pros and cons, particularly if they’re presented in clinical language. Sometimes there comes a point where you want to stick your fingers in your ears and sing, “La la la la la!”

And that’s OK. It’s all right to hold up your hands and tell the doctor, “Hold on! I’m suffering from information overload!” It’s especially OK to ask the doctor to present your choices more simply.

Time for some beach reads!

I think I’m feeling this way because life has been pretty busy for me in the past month or so. As ASCO ended, I was helping cover a primary election. And on the home front, there were the health insurance issues I wrote about a few weeks ago. Fortunately, the insurance company reached agreements with my primary care group and my cancer care system. So that’s one worry handled!

But just as I have only so much physical energy, I have only so much mental energy, too. So for right now, I’m just skimming the newsletters and the websites, rather than digging into them and trying to parse clinical terminology. Next week, I’ll share my tips on navigating a pop culture convention with a rare disease – just in time for San Diego Comic-Con!

Sometimes you have to know when to save the heavy stuff for later.

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