Just got the results of my most recent blood and urine tests (taken on April 23). These refer to the experiment with EGCG (in addition to the usual dose of curcumin and, in my case, flaxseed oil) that Sherlock and I conducted for almost two months.
Some things went up a bit, some things went down a bit. But let’s proceed in the usual order. If a value shows little or no change, I won’t bother reporting it.
Good stuff. My white blood cells are back within the normal range, phew. On Biocurcumax they had gone way down, below the minimum. My platelets have also gone up, from 254 to 281.
Serum calcium is still within the normal range but dropped to 8.8 from 9.4 (max is 10.7 mg/dL), which is good.
My inherited high cholesterol is way down. It’s not normal yet but it has gone down 10 % for the first time since last November. Yeah!
Total protein is down from 9.3 to 8.7. Still a bit on the high side (slightly above normal, that is), but going in the right direction.
Uric acid is down from 5.3 to 4.6.
Total IgG is down from 35.3 to 34.
M-spike has varied only a teensy weensy bit, from 2.45 to 2.44. But at least it didn’t INCREASE.
Bence Jones protein: negative.
Beta-2 Microglobulin went down from 2.0 to 1.8.
Bad stuff. My ferritin (iron stores) is back down to 7 from 13; the minimum is 10. Oh, bother. And my serum iron has gone from 57 to 43 (minimum is 60 ng/mL). Dear, dear. At this point, I may have to take an iron supplement. 
I will talk this over with my doctor.
I will talk this over with my doctor.Albumin went down, from 49 to below the normal range (minimum is 48%). It is now 45.6. But I see that it has been lower in the past, well, on one occasion, so I guess that doesn’t worry me…too much. Hmmm.
Gamma globulin went up, from 27.9 to 31. The top end of the normal range is 22.8 %. It’s never been this high. Uffa.
The albumin/globulin ratio has dropped to 0.84 from 0.96 (minimum is 0.99).
Monoclonal component went up from 26.4 to 28.1. Drat. Not sure what this means, since the M-spike remained stable. Another question for my doctor.
I admit, I would have preferred more of a drop in the M-spike in particular. In fact, I would have liked all of my immunoglobulins to have returned to normal. 
But what’s the point of wishing for the impossible? After all, upon examining the good and bad list, there are more positive than negative items. I am still stable, and things seem to be moving (slowly) in the right direction…
You are not wishing for the impossible. You are slowly changing it into an infinite possibility! Good going.
Hi Margaret!
I also got my latest tests back. Now, I know that different labs use different measures, but some things really are very different (or is it just me not getting it right…). In our lab they measure M-spike in percent, in my case it varies from 4 – 6% with total protein at about 64 g/l.
BUT – I don’t know why my hematologist doesn’t check it regularly on my 8-week controls. Besides blood cells counts for her the only important indicators are Ig kappa light chains and Ig lambda chains and their ratio that she calculates from the lab results and it should be less than 5:1 (mine is 2,7:1). She’s also interested in urea (uric acid) and creatinin. I wasn’t checked for the beta-2 microglobulin, nor for albumin or gamma globulin. Those were last checked in February.
As I work in the hospital I get serumprotein electrophoresis done every now and then from a friend that works in the lab. But it’s not ordered officially from my hematologist.
For now, thank God, my MGUS seems to be stable. But I hope that monitoring “only” with these tests is enough to get the picture. Any suggestions?
Congratulations on your good list! 🙂 May it be longer next time.
Best wishes, Robert
Hi Robert, it’s hard for me to comment on anybody else’s test results since at times it’s hard for me to figure out my own results!
I find it a bit frustrating that there are so many differences between labs. Even within the city of Florence, different hospital labs have different normal ranges. Doesn’t make any sense to me. It should all be standardardized. Oh well.
Your 64 g/L of total protein would be equivalent here to 6.4 g/dL unless my math is off. So that may help in your comparison to my results, that are quite a bit higher. What’s your normal range? Here it is 6.0-8.6 g/dL.
Interesting that your m-spike is calculated in %. Here the m-spike is g/dL. I seem to recall that in the U.S. it is also g/dL. It’s the monoclonal component here that is a percentage.
I wish I could give you some useful suggestions. Hard to do, though, for obvious reasons. In my case, well, I am very lucky because if I want to have a new test done I just have to ask my family doctor and he (usually) writes out the request. But some doctors aren’t as lovely and understanding (and smart!) as mine.
I suppose in your case I wouldn’t worry about things too much. With MGUS, I had blood tests every 6 months, and now, if I were not experimenting with different supplements (but I am!), I wouldn’t have tests done every 2 months. That is to say, if you have B2M and other markers tested every 6 months, that’s fine. Just my opinion! 🙂
Take care!
Margaret
I too find it difficult to compare my test results with others. My M-Spike is measured from the urine sample. Is that how yours is determined? I live in the U.S. and my onc measures M-Spike mg/dl with a Kappa/Lambda ratio. Normal ratio range is 0.26-1.65. I have SMM and my ratio has remained stable at 0.02. I have Bence-Jones, so that’s probably not so good. My serium light chains are measured mg/L with a Kappa/Lambda ratio of 0.26-1.65. Is this the same thing? It appears in a different place on my test results. On my last test results was a statement that read “No momoclonal protein detected.” That sounds good to me! How significant is that? I’d appreciate your feedback. Thanks, Donna
Hi Donna,
No, my M-spike is measured from a serum sample, and I don’t have a kappa/lambda ratio.
Curious thing: I used to think that leukaemia was leukaemia (period), and of course I had never even heard of myeloma (my..what?)! But once you are diagnosed, things change, don’t they? I have to confess, though, that I know very little about other types of myeloma. My type is IgG kappa.
That said, even though I am not a medical doctor, I agree with you about the lovely sound of “no monoclonal protein detected” and think that is worth a huge celebration! Good for you!
🙂 Margaret
Thanks for your reply Margaret. I definitely agree with you about standardization. Wouldn’t that be much better and easier for everybody, professionals and non-professionals? Hm, well – something globalisation haven’t touched yet…
Robert
Well Halleluja! Looks to me like STABLE is indeed the word. Down would be better, but every stable interval is a blessing. Go Margaret!
Dear Margaret, two months ago I was terrified, loosing my hair. My dermatologist ask for a blood test and my ferritin was 3, since then I´m taking one iron pill with a just squeezed orange juice, empty stomach. It´s working.
I have a good new about my curcumin experience, I few months ago y had a toxic hepatitis, because of the interferon, so I stopped taking the 2 gram curcumin (I took it during the treatment). Once my liver was recovered, I began with the curcumin protocol again, I´m taking 3 grams at this time. My recent blood measure indicates that my liver is ok, even better than my last measure (April 4th). I´m going to the U.S.A. in 3 weeks…..I´ll buy my curcumin for one year!!! I can´t find it in Spain.
A big kiss!
My ferritin is 3. Hgb is at 9.
I was referred to an oncologist because the iron supplements didn’t help.
I don’t know where to start. *sigh*
But… thanks for blogging because I just came across it.
Did anyone say that if you take iron, take it with vitamin C. Very important!