So here it goes. I’m a 25-year-old female who had blood work done in February. Long story short, I had a health scare so bloods were done. My first draw showed my total protein at 8.9 and my calcium at 10.7. I immediately freaked after googling. Doctor said protein probably from inflammation and calcium was because my vitamin D was entirely too low.
Took vitamin D supplements and my calcium went down to normal at 9.3, so yay.
However, a week later my protein was 9.1! Doctor said my labs all looked fine but then I got home and saw that. I am talking about total protein not c reactive either. This time I really freak and go back to the doctor a week or two later. At this time it is March. I felt better because it had gone down to 8.2 so I felt like it was finally getting better, no worries.
Well, I have another follow up, this time with an oncologist (my health scare was lymphoma, but biopsy was negative, so that’s good), and labs showed protein at 8.5! So back up. Ugh! Oncologist said labs unremarkable on my portal.
In the midst of this, I’ve seen quite a few of doctors who have seen my protein and none have brought it up. Even when I asked them they blew it off, saying it was inflammation or something. My albumin has ranged from 4.6-5.1. So high normal and globulin has been borderline high. I think max is 3.5 and mine has been 3.6.
I’m so concerned. It’s like I want to be tested to see if I have MGUS because if I don’t have it I can stop worrying but then again I don’t want to know if I do because my anxiety will be so bad. I’ve seen people say it doesn’t progress but 1-2% a year, but I’m 25, so that’s a long time for it to progress. I also see people with smoldering myeloma and actual myeloma in their 20s, so I’m just so concerned.
If it was MGUS would protein go up and down like that? 9.1-8.2-8.5?
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Re: Total protein is high and I feel I may have MGUS
Hi Cab9792,
Protein levels due to MGUS can fluctuate over time. I have smoldering myeloma and my total protein level has bounced between 8.2 and 9.6 g/dL over the past five years (primarily due to changes in my serum free light chain numbers).
Only you can answer the question of whether you would rather not test for MGUS. Personally, I am one of those individuals that wants to know the results of all my tests (including genetic tests that will indicate whether I might be more likely to develop a certain disease or not). The downside to not testing for MGUS is that your doctors would not be on the lookout for serious skeletal issues and other things such as anemia or kidney failure that you might develop later in life. A lot of folks are diagnosed with myeloma by first having an unexpected major skeletal issue such as a collapsed vertebrae that could have been easily avoided if they had only known that they had MGUS at an earlier stage in their life.
Testing for MGUS is very simple. Any one of your doctors can order a serum immunofixation, serum protein electrophoresis, and a serum free light chain test. Additionally, if your protein level is being elevated due to inflammation, the serum free light chain test can help verify if that is indeed the case.
I would think that with a high protein level and a borderline high globulin level that a doctor would want to run the aforementioned tests just to be on the safe side. If you do decide to pursue the testing, I might recommend going to a hematologist.
Protein levels due to MGUS can fluctuate over time. I have smoldering myeloma and my total protein level has bounced between 8.2 and 9.6 g/dL over the past five years (primarily due to changes in my serum free light chain numbers).
Only you can answer the question of whether you would rather not test for MGUS. Personally, I am one of those individuals that wants to know the results of all my tests (including genetic tests that will indicate whether I might be more likely to develop a certain disease or not). The downside to not testing for MGUS is that your doctors would not be on the lookout for serious skeletal issues and other things such as anemia or kidney failure that you might develop later in life. A lot of folks are diagnosed with myeloma by first having an unexpected major skeletal issue such as a collapsed vertebrae that could have been easily avoided if they had only known that they had MGUS at an earlier stage in their life.
Testing for MGUS is very simple. Any one of your doctors can order a serum immunofixation, serum protein electrophoresis, and a serum free light chain test. Additionally, if your protein level is being elevated due to inflammation, the serum free light chain test can help verify if that is indeed the case.
I would think that with a high protein level and a borderline high globulin level that a doctor would want to run the aforementioned tests just to be on the safe side. If you do decide to pursue the testing, I might recommend going to a hematologist.
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Multibilly - Name: Multibilly
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Smoldering, Nov, 2012
Re: Total protein is high and I feel I may have MGUS
Thanks for the response. Something I’ve come to learn is the maximum amount for albumin
Is 5.0 and for globulin is 3.5 but can also vary. I’ve been on the lookout recently since I work at a doctor office. And I’ve been peaking at labs in other people. It seems like a lot of people have elevated globulin. I saw plenty today with globulin in the 3.7-4.3 levels but since their albumin was on the lower end, their total protein wasn’t elevated.
For instance, I had a test recently where my globulin was normal (3.4) and my albumin was also normal, 4.6, but my total protein was “high” since the reference range stopped at 8, my total was 8.2. It’s all so confusing to me. How can you have “normal “ levels of both, but when they are added up together, your total is “high”?
I looked at my labs from last year and my protein and everything was in normal range, so I guess that’s good. I will see if the oncologist will run my labs again next month and if still high I will see what she thinks about further testing.
Is 5.0 and for globulin is 3.5 but can also vary. I’ve been on the lookout recently since I work at a doctor office. And I’ve been peaking at labs in other people. It seems like a lot of people have elevated globulin. I saw plenty today with globulin in the 3.7-4.3 levels but since their albumin was on the lower end, their total protein wasn’t elevated.
For instance, I had a test recently where my globulin was normal (3.4) and my albumin was also normal, 4.6, but my total protein was “high” since the reference range stopped at 8, my total was 8.2. It’s all so confusing to me. How can you have “normal “ levels of both, but when they are added up together, your total is “high”?
I looked at my labs from last year and my protein and everything was in normal range, so I guess that’s good. I will see if the oncologist will run my labs again next month and if still high I will see what she thinks about further testing.
Re: Total protein is high and I feel I may have MGUS
Hi Cab9792,
This is in response to your question of "how can you have “normal “ levels of both, but when they are added up together, your total is “high”? ".
The total protein value in a comprehensive metabolic panel test is the sum of your albumin and total globulin levels. If you look at the reference ranges of each of these protein types, you will see that it is not that hard to have situations where if one or both of the albumin and globulin counts are pushing towards the higher limits of normal, then you could easily have a total protein count that is registering as high.
On my comprehensive metabolic panel tests, these are the following normal ranges for my various proteins (note that different labs use different reference ranges):
Albumin: 3.6-4.8 g/dL
Globulin: 1.5-4.5 g/dL
Total Protein: 6.0-8.5 g/dL
As you can see from the ranges above, one can have a situation where the albumin and globulin levels are in range at 4.8 and 4.5 g/dL respectively, but their sum of 9.3 g/dL(4.8+4.5) is way over the normal 8.5 g/dL limit for a total protein count. You will run into a couple of situations similar to this when looking at the ranges of various protein levels that are tracked in myeloma patients, including serum free light chains and their ratio.
This is in response to your question of "how can you have “normal “ levels of both, but when they are added up together, your total is “high”? ".
The total protein value in a comprehensive metabolic panel test is the sum of your albumin and total globulin levels. If you look at the reference ranges of each of these protein types, you will see that it is not that hard to have situations where if one or both of the albumin and globulin counts are pushing towards the higher limits of normal, then you could easily have a total protein count that is registering as high.
On my comprehensive metabolic panel tests, these are the following normal ranges for my various proteins (note that different labs use different reference ranges):
Albumin: 3.6-4.8 g/dL
Globulin: 1.5-4.5 g/dL
Total Protein: 6.0-8.5 g/dL
As you can see from the ranges above, one can have a situation where the albumin and globulin levels are in range at 4.8 and 4.5 g/dL respectively, but their sum of 9.3 g/dL(4.8+4.5) is way over the normal 8.5 g/dL limit for a total protein count. You will run into a couple of situations similar to this when looking at the ranges of various protein levels that are tracked in myeloma patients, including serum free light chains and their ratio.
-
Multibilly - Name: Multibilly
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Smoldering, Nov, 2012
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