There are various stages of CLL. Some patients may have early stages and do not have any symptoms. Patients may live with CLL without treatment for long periods of time. This is what is called watch-and-wait management. However, a proportion of patient may present at or progress to higher stages and have symptoms such as fatigue, loss of weight or appetite, lymph node swelling or bleeding. This may indicate the disease has affected your normal well-being and bone marrow function. On some occasions, the lymph node swelling may compress on vital organs. This is the time when treatment is needed.
