[angieevangelou]

New to this site, have many questions

by angieevangelou on Fri Aug 22, 2014 10:08 am

Hi,

I was told I had MGUS three years ago when I was diagnosed with MS. We don't get much explained to us in the UK, as we often see different doctors every time we go to hospital appointments and rarely get appointments with our general practitioners (just phone consultations mostly). I go every three months to see a heamatologist, but they are not always a consultant and now I go every two months since I had three embolisms in my arm this year.

On my last UK blood results it says

Paraprotein concentration
IgA 7.44g/l
IgG 5.29 g/l
IgM 0.76 g/l

Serum electrophoresis paraprotein concentration (previously characterised as IgA lambda 5g/l).

So my m spike is 5? What would that be in U.S. M-spike results?

As most of you seem to be in the USA, I get confused when reading about your test results, which I find really interesting. Thank you for this really helpful and informative website

Also my last blood test in June said:

MGUS-raised platelets-a few circulating lymphoblastic lymphs some nucleoated underlying LG NHL.

Said discuss with doctor who ordered tests but that was one of the consultants in haematology at my hospital who was not there when I went to appointment in July. He was doing some specialised tests to see why I had high platelets and had blood clots in artery in arm in April.

Any ideas anyone? I know NHL means non-Hodgkin lymphoma as my friend suffers from it. Thanks.

Have also got FLC results:

Kappa 12.23 units
Lambda 63.18 units (normal 5.71-26.30)
KAPPA/LAMBDA RATIO 0.19 (normal 0.26-1.65)

Just feel very left alone due to lack of continuity of care in the UK and am eager to educate myself as much as I can.

Thanks for reading, Angelina.

[Nancy Shamanna]

Re: New to this site, have many questions

by Nancy Shamanna on Fri Aug 22, 2014 10:46 am

hI Angelina, I live in Canada, and in general, our tests are also measured in g/l. If you are comparing results to American results measure in g/dl, then you should divide by 10. I think that this may also be true for Australian results (not sure).

Thus if your 'M' or monoclonal protein, or paraprotein, were 5 g/l, then in the US it would be 0.5 g/dl. It's a factor of 10 for many lab results.

Hope that helps, and hope you get to see your consulting haematologist on your next 2 month appointment too.

Sometimes, if my regular doctor is away on holidays or whatever, I am seen by a different person. I can ask them about my myeloma too, and get their perspective on it. But they always do say that if I experience any problems between appointments, I should call in immediately for an urgent appointment.

[angieevangelou]

Re: New to this site, have many questions

by angieevangelou on Sat Aug 23, 2014 5:51 am

Thanks for responding Nancy.

Still keen to know if anyone else has any idea about the rest of my results and whether they are good?