Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of blood disorders that affect how bone marrow makes blood cells. They can lead to low blood cell counts (cytopenia) and the inability of bone marrow cells to develop properly (dysplasia). 

Receiving an MDS diagnosis can be overwhelming as it can affect your life depending on the symptoms you are experiencing and your lifestyle. 

Common MDS symptoms occur because the production of healthy blood cells in the bone marrow is not working properly.
This leads to the reduction of the three types of blood cells: 

• Red blood cells: Low counts can cause a person to feel fatigued easily, feel cold, and have paler lips or cheeks. 
• White blood cells: When levels are too low (leukopenia), the body is prone to infections, or a person can have fever and chills. 
• Platelets: Low counts (thrombocytopenia) can be seen as easy bruising or bleeding in gums, urine, or stool.

Many of these symptoms impact lifestyle. For example, if you’re susceptible to bleeding, you can’t do certain outdoor activities like parachuting, rock climbing, or other activities that put you at a higher risk of injury. If you become injured and start bleeding, healing will be more complicated.  

It’s common for patients to experience fatigue, impacting their daily life since they get easily tired.

We had the privilege of featuring insights from MDS experts, Dr. Matsui and Dr. Feld, who mentioned that studies show that educated and empowered patients often have better outcomes. 

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