[WinnieMT]

MGUS with very little information

by WinnieMT on Fri Oct 31, 2014 3:22 pm

Hello all. I was recently going through a battery of tests to diagnose issues with fatigue, recurrent low fevers, general ill feelings, and musculoskeletal pain. The idea being to rule out MS, RA, and lupus. In the process, the doc ran an SPEP with IFE. She mentioned that my SPEP was abnormal and, when asked what was abnormal, she rushed through a litany of technical terms of which I caught very little.

She mentioned kappa light chains and that I had to be retested in March. I didn't ask her to repeat or explain, getting the feeling she didn't really want to address it.

In short, there is a band on IgG kappa and some abnormality in the "gamma zone." I'm fine with waiting for a follow-up SPEP / IFE, and I understand (I think) the band on IgG kappa, but I'm really not sure what an abnormality in the "gamma zone" could be.

Can anyone offer insight?

Thank you very much.

[Multibilly]

Re: MGUS with very little information

by Multibilly on Fri Oct 31, 2014 4:45 pm

Hi WinnieMT,

Welcome to the forum.

These are kind of sketchy details to go on. It's too bad that your doc didn't elaborate a bit more on all this.

Do you have copies of your lab tests? If not, you can request copies from your doctor's office or just swing by and pick up a copy. You can also ask for a copy of the doctor's summary of that visit. You have the right to copies of all these docs.

Specifically, it would be helpful to know the following:

• Paraprotein level (aka M-protein, M-spike or monoclonal protein) level from your SPEP. This might appear as a separate entry on that lab test.
• Kappa and lambda free light chain values from your serum Freelite assay test (if they ran that test).
• Calcium and creatinine levels from your metabolic test
• Hemoglobin level from your CBC test.
• Results of quantitative immunoglolbulin tests (IgG, IgA, etc levels) ... if they ran those tests.

This introduction may help you better understand myeloma and why I am asking about the above test results.

http://myeloma.org/pdfs/Patient_Handbook_2013.pdf