[averyt13]

19 years old, have all symptoms of multiple myeloma

by averyt13 on Sun Dec 18, 2016 8:46 pm

Hi everybody,

So I am a 19-year-old and am absolutely paralyzed with fear that I certainly have multiple myeloma, I have pain in my right rib cage and upper back that gets worse with movement, I have a total protein level of 8.2 and calcium of 10.2, I have a bilateral pars at L5 (stress fracture), also have had tingling in hands and feet. I also have a carpal boss on the top of my right hand. I have noticed that cracking sounds come from almost all places of my body when I move especially in my shoulders and sternum.

I have had 3 sport-related knee injuries in the last two years as well as a summer of manual labor. I also take part in rather sporadic intense weight lifting. My rib pain initially caught my attention as I was shooting a basket and felt a pain that immediately caused me to stop.

I know I am extremely young to have this disease but that really is the only thing I have going for me. I've spent countless hours on the Internet researching and have not been able to come up with one thing that would point me to something else. I am pretty confused as I have even experienced pain in places like my fingers and elbows which I know is not typical with multiple myeloma. I have also experienced hand tremors.

Just blown away how I could be this young and this symptomatic. Looking for any support/feedback.

[Multibilly]

Re: 19 years old, have all symptoms of multiple myeloma

by Multibilly on Mon Dec 19, 2016 8:06 am

HI Averyt13,

Welcome to the forum

I would very strongly suggest not jumping to any conclusions regarding a self-diagnosis that you've made by scouring the Internet. I would instead suggest going to your doctor, discussing your situation and possibly have him run a couple of very basic screening tests for myeloma (and tests for whatever else your doctor may attribute to your symptoms).

Keep in in mind that some simple things like dehydration or chronic inflammation can elevate serum protein levels. Also, your serum calcium level isn't that high. Eliminating myeloma from consideration would be prudent - and myeloma can occur in teenagers. But again, I wouldn't assume that you have myeloma without first seeing a doctor and running some basic tests.

If the doctor wants to eliminate myeloma as a possibility, he/she would run a serum immunofixation test, at a minimum. If he/she truly suspects myeloma, then he/she would also include a serum protein electrophoresis test, quantified immuoglobulin and serum free light chain test - along with the standard comprehensive metabolic panel and CBC blood tests.

Let us know what happens and good luck

[averyt13]

Re: 19 years old, have all symptoms of multiple myeloma

by averyt13 on Mon Dec 19, 2016 10:54 am

Multibilly,

Thank you for the response. I have had multiple CBC and CMP's run, which have all come back within normal limits but with some ambiguous results (my concern is my age may be masking my elevated values), but it is worth noting I just had a colonoscopy due to rectal bleeding that found chronic inflammation.

I came to my doctor specifically with concerns about multiple myeloma, but was reassured that I did not have any "real symptoms" and should not be worried. She did order the tests you mentioned and I get the results back tomorrow morning.

[Multibilly]

Re: 19 years old, have all symptoms of multiple myeloma

by Multibilly on Mon Dec 19, 2016 1:05 pm

Well, try not to jump to any conclusions or freak out until you have the results of the tests tomorrow. I bet the tests will come back negative for myeloma.

[averyt13]

Re: 19 years old, have all symptoms of multiple myeloma

by averyt13 on Tue Dec 20, 2016 12:33 pm

It turns out my internist only ordered an SPEP with the following results:

Albumin 5.24
Alpha 1 0.19
Alpha 2. 0.65
Beta. 0.70
Gamma. 0.92
Total protein A/G 2.13

Everything back normal and x-ray showed displacement but no lesions. Thoughts?

[Multibilly]

Re: 19 years old, have all symptoms of multiple myeloma

by Multibilly on Tue Dec 20, 2016 2:49 pm

If the SPEP had detected any monoclonal protein (aka paraprotein, M-spike, abnormal protein band, etc), there would have been a mention of that fact somewhere on the SPEP report. Also, if the sum of all the protein components (albumin, alpha1, alpha2, beta and gamma) that you listed below add up to your total protein count that should have been listed on your SPEP, then you also know that you don't have any monoclonal protein that was measured by the SPEP.

Additionally, given your imaging results didn't reveal any lesions and your blood numbers are normal, this makes it extremely unlikely that you have a disorder such as myeloma.