Hi heapsreal, I forgot to mention that back in April 2021, my electrophoresis showed elevated polyclonal gammopathy but it didn't show a value. The doctor didn't follow up on thet because she said "it's not monoclonal so you don't have Multiple Myeloma." I had two more globulins tests as part of the comprehensive metabolic panel and they came back normal then I got into an argument with my brother (felt like he was gaslighting me around 10/18/21), and when I went to the ER, my globulins was elevated.
It's kind of weird that My WBC with diff were almost always lowl/very low normal but yet I had too much gamma globulins.
As you had mentioned, polyclonal gammopathy means I'm still fighting an infection of some kind, right? I'm thinking EBV and remnants of COVID-19
I have found an internist and he seems to be very open minded so I'm hoping he will order immunology levels among other tests (for ANCA vasculitis). What other important blood tests should I ask for? Lymphocyte subset panel, NK cells, immunoglobulin levels. Igg4 for pancreatitis (my recent Fecal Elastase was just 100 (ref range 200+) so pancreas is damaged but I don't have severe pancreatic pain like most people with chronic pancreatitis experience
I've had alot of things tested but the tests I recall as abnormal, that I followed/keep track of were, initially total lymphocytes were high, this was 7 yrs after cfs onset. The first 7 yrs I didn't really get to see blood work as my dr would just say something was good or bad basically.
When I saw a descent cfs dr he would explain results and give me copies. So those total lymphocytes were high a few times over 6 months or so as well as my lymphocyte T subset cells. My total lymphocytes came down to normal in my next blood test after starting antivirals, so probably within 3 months. Lymphocyte sub sets have gone down over the Years on antivirals but not totally within normal range until the last couple of years.
The other immune test, which is on all full blood panels is my neutrophils. It was mostly low. Until a couple of years ago, I was getting blood work every 3 months. Again the last couple of years they have been in range. I think what's helped is antibiotics and then continually taking antibacterial herbs commonly used in lyme disease, has helped. No idea if I have lyme or some other bacterial infection but it's common in bacterial infections to have low neutrophils. Lyme testing in Australia is very debatable and probably because the govt refuse to acknowledge its existence, even though many Australians have sent blood overseas and tested positive. We have hundreds of poisonous snakes but supposedly no poisonous ticks etc???
My nk function testing I could only get done cause I was in a cfsme study that testing nk function every 6 months for 18months. It was very low every time it was tested. Nk cells are a sub type of lymphocyte. Out of curiosity I was able during this time, to get my dr to get me a lymphocyte function test. It's commonly done in children. I would have thought it would have been abnormal, but it came back normal. I'm not sure how accurate it was because the cfs study I was in did test cd8 lymphocyte function, although we didn't get individual results for this, the overall result of cfs people in the study was that cd8 function was low too, as well as nk function. Why I have doubts on the lymphocyte function test my dr was able to send me for. This was all around 2009/2010??
Also around 2007-2010 time frame I can recall I had a few tests dome on my igg, igm and iga subclasses. My igg was high, maybe also indicates my immune system is fighting something??
That's the immune tests that were abnormal for me. I did have more immune testing done but they were OK, I just can't recall everything that got tested.
The other thing that was low from when I started seeing the cfs dr, which was 7 yrs after my cfs onset in 2002 is my dhea levels and they continue to be below range. I supplement with 25mg a day.
My morning cortisol was low normal until last couple of years. Morning cortisol should be high normal. Now my levels are midrange.
The other hormone that has slowly tracked south is my testosterone. My free testosterone was always below the normal range but my total testosterone was ok but dropped below normal in about 2017. Started testosterone replacement then and it had made an impact on me, as well as the antivirals and antibacterial treatments. It's possible testosterone could have helped increase my low neutrophils as testosterone can help all blood cells both red blood cells and white blood cells.
Even though this is abit of a rant, that's me in a nutshell from 2002 until today.
Cheers.