[kjpoppit]

Getting anxious - jump in kappa FLC and RDW

by kjpoppit on Mon Nov 30, 2015 1:02 am

I don't really know for sure what I want to ask, if anything. My husband is getting tired of my pondering and wants me to stop overthinking things. I have been experiencing an overall rash, which now is more like hives or welts, for around 3 months now (see the forum thread I started on the issue, "Bug bites or rash?"). I've stopped Velcade to see if that is the culprit but it was not. The dermatologist has prescribed a med that may be helping, but its not going away. Some blood work has now been done but leaves me unsettled.

My M spike is still stable at 0.2 g/dL (2 g/L), but my kappa light chains jumped.

Serum lambda free light chain 19.91 range 5.71-26.30 mg/L
Serum kappa free light chain 21.55 range 3.30-19.40 mg/L
Serum kappa/lambda ratio 1.08 range 0.26-1.65

It's nice the ratio is still normal, but my kappa light chains had only been 12.15 only 3 months ago. I am wondering if the rise in light chains could be related to my hives/rash issue?

But wait, that's not all folks, because I am pondering the results of some other blood work done. I had complete CBC done by my weight loss doctor. Everything was normal except my A1C is now slightly high at 6%, with the normal range being 4.5-5.6. I feel that result could possibly be a false positive but won't worry about that.

What bothers me is the test said my RDW was high at 16.0 with a normal range of 12.3-15.4, and my MCV was normal at 81 with a normal range of 79-97. Again, this seems only a little out of the norms, but when you have cancer you can tend to over worry things.

I did read of a disorder that is associated with a high RDW with normal MCV and it concerns me. It is called myelodysplastic syndrome. Does anyone know anything about this?

Of course I will be bringing this up with my oncologist when I see her in a week, but in the mean time this will be on my mind.

Thanks for listening.

[cindylouise]

Re: Getting anxious - jump in kappa FLC and RDW

by cindylouise on Mon Nov 30, 2015 8:27 pm

Hi, unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you. But my husband has also recently had a jump in his kappa light chains, and now has a slight M spike again. What I do know is it is too soon to tell, so we are waiting to see if there is a trend. Wish I had more answers for you.

[TerryH]

Re: Getting anxious - jump in kappa FLC and RDW

by TerryH on Tue Dec 01, 2015 11:37 am

Hi Kim,

Given that your free light chain ratio is still within the normal range, I wouldn't get too worried about the change in your kappa level.

Also, your RDW value is just outside the normal range, and from what I've read, it can be out of range for a number of reasons, not just myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). You've probably read it already, but Wikipedia has an article on RDW, and you can find more by just Googling "RDW lab result". I certainly wouldn't assume the reading is the result of MDS unless you're showing other signs of the disease.

Do you graph your free light chain levels and other lab results? Graphing lab results can be really helpful for figuring out whether or not a new reading is part of a trend, or just an unusual, one-off reading.