PSA: About 6 months ago a blood test identified that I had mild MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance), considered a potentially pre-cancerous condition that can sometimes progress to myeloma or one of the lymphoproliferative cancers. I saw a haematologist this week and I’m now on “watch and wait” status. It surprised me to hear that 5-10% of people my age (68) have MGUS. It would seem prudent that when you’re having blood tests in the near future that you ask the doctor to add “check for MGUS” to the pathology request. Better to know. In my opinion this should be a standard investigation given the high proportion of people with the condition.
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What specific biomarkers point to MGUS? Why did you initially check for that? Did you have any unusual symptoms or biomarkers?
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Was just about to start a thread on this – as my husband is now being worked up and has been referred to hematology. His major symptom has been increasingly profound fatigue. No pain, nor any other symptoms, really. The tells in the blood have to do with an out-of-balance ratio between blood proteins. The test is for Kappa and Lambda light chains (the names of the proteins) and the ratio between the two. His ratio is abnormal, with high Kappa, but not off-the-charts. Kidneys can be involved and creatinine and urine analysis get tested for that. My husband’s numbers were suggestive, but equivocal, but his fatigue is so great that we are going to go to a hematologist, even though in most cases there is no therapy. Actually, the incidence of progression from MGUS to myeloma are low. So the good news is: probably will not become cancer in his lifetime. The bad news: no therapy for the fatigue.
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Thank you for sharing the details. Did you try to research it more through AI? Whenever I use Ai to figure out a new symptom or change in blood biomarkers, it does pretty good job by asking detailed questions that allow to eliminate many things from an initial diagnosis. Hope it gets resolved for your husband.
The doctor was investigating why I’ve been bruising easily on my arms (for about a decade I’d say - usually doctors have been disinterested when I’ve shown them the bruises). He didn’t specifically request a check for MGUS but the pathology lab noticed it. Apparently most MGUS is discovered accidentally when blood tests have been ordered for something else - just like in my case. My blood showed a monoclonal band in IgM. Best to ask Dr Google to explain that. Interestingly, re the bruising, it has almost completely disappeared since I started taking vitK2 for my bones a couple of months ago. VitK is involved in blood clotting.
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Was there a common blood test (in CBC, etc.) that provided a hint of MGUS @lynn247 @Deborah_Hall or did the routine tests appear normal.
My red blood cells were slightly enlarged and my white blood cells were slightly low.
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