[heatherdion]

New here, having tests to check for multiple myeloma

by heatherdion on Sun Apr 30, 2017 9:04 pm

Hi.

My name is Heather. I am 46 and the mother of 3. I have not been feeling well since October 2016. I have been to many different doctors to rule out many things. My GP referred me to a hematologist. I did not realize what all she was doing the blood draws for. Just thought she was checking my ferritin and other vitamin levels. I am vitamin D, B-12, and iron deficient.

I decided to check my lab results and saw results for light chains. Did not know what that was so I goggled it. BIG mistake. Myeloma comes up. Cried for 2 days. Called the doctors office and the nurse referred with the doctor, called me back and doctor was not concerned. I have my next appointment Monday May 1.

Through research, I found this forum. It seems I may have some more test to figure this all out. My serum kappa free light chain level was 25.11 (3.3-19:40) and my kappa-lambda ratio was 2.65 (0.2-1.65). No M-spike (blood), IgG, IgM, IgA were all in normal range. My ferritin is low. Also my hemoglobin is 12 (12.5-?) and my HCT is low.

Anyway, I knew I was iron deficient anemic, so with my ferritin low the nurse said to double my iron supplement intake. All of my other blood work was in range: creatinine, calcium, protein, WBC, RBC. My rheumatologist said the numbers could be elevated because of some inflammation from my mixed connective tissue disease.

I have been able to learn so much from this forum. I am going in to the doctor tomorrow with some questions and some good information. Thank you for your time. If you have any suggestions I am open to listen. I do know I have some test to request for further investigation into what I may or may not have.

[Multibilly]

Re: New here, having tests to check for multiple myeloma

by Multibilly on Mon May 01, 2017 9:01 pm

Hi Heatherdion,

Welcome to the forum.

If you had all the tests that you mentioned, you should have also had a serum immunofixation (IFE) test. The IFE test will tell you if a portion of your kappa free light chains are monoclonal or not. Knowing the aforementioned is crucial in determining if you might have a monoclonal gammopathy or not.

[heatherdion]

Re: New here, having tests to check for multiple myeloma

by heatherdion on Tue May 02, 2017 11:59 pm

Thank you for your response Multibilly. I did have the immunofixation test run. No monoclonal band observed.

Went to the doctor Monday and she said no to myeloma, or MGUS. She did say we would run the serum protein electrophoresis (SPEP) test again in 6 months. She has set me up for an iron infusion. She did run my CBC again. Just checked my results and my iron sat has dropped again and now my iron is down. My hemoglobin did go up a little, but still low, as did my HCT. My RDW is a little high and my lymph % and # are low. My Gran % is high. I did have a urine protein test run and it showed no protein, so my doctor did not think it necessary to do 24-hour urine test. Not sure if I should request more test or just leave it that it is my iron deficiency anemia. Thank you for your time.

Heather