Elevated C4, elevated immunoglobulin, and positive ANA?

Considering where you had your blood drawn, not knowing your age, I don’t want to scare you with what I’m about to say, Many times blood work can be deceiving, making you think there’s something wrong with you, only to find when you see a doctor, it wasn’t scary. I am not a doctor but have vast knowledge from being sickly since birth and I’m 78 now. All the things you quote could mean your body is trying to fight an invader, virus or bacterial, such as Covid or a variant. When looking at it with your age, 50 or above, you could be at the beginning of a serious problem like I am at 78, discovered at 73.

My blood has a paraprotein in it and was confirmed as being IgM immuglobulin. As you stated, there are IgA, IgG & IgM. IgM is the rarer of the three and the one I have. From much testing, it was determined that I have MGUS( Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance). A mouth full and bad news for me. You see, with more testing I am now classified as having Kappa light chain IgM, a precancerous condition. Simply put, my bad guys are looking for a home inside me to progress into full blown, the big C, cancer. That’s right, I’m already showing signs it’s progressing into NHL, (Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma) or worse, Waldenstrom Macroglobulemia. So you can see, the things your blood test shows, so does mine and the numbers are much higher. It’s strange that your test results weren’t flagged by the lab technician, which could be good, thinking inflammation in your body and not a precancerous condition. So think positive, me, well that’s another story, I’m looking for a grave marker.

Hi there! Thank you for your response. I am only 34, and have rheumatoid nodules in my knees, but they haven't confirmed RA or anything yet. The testing I mentioned was actually flagged red.

Now that you mentioned your age and possible RA diagnosis, that would be the inflammation spikes in your blood. Glad the tech red flagged it for you so the doctor you see will be well aware of you problem. Your doctor will probably do an inflammation blood test that has a range of 0 to 5. To show you how it works, I usually am about a 1 on the scale because of my bad guys. But on May 9th, I went shopping where most people didn’t wear a mask but I do because of my nonexistent immune system. I picked up a Covid Variant and 2 days later, my inflammation marker was a 3. So you see why all your results indicated an inflammation somewhere in your body, your knee in this case. Good luck and have a bowl of your favorite ice cream and relax your leg.

I'm a Cleveland Clinic patient and don't know why you can't speak to a doctor until September. If it's because you need to see a specialist who is booked until September, can you talk to your PCP or the doctor who ordered the tests in the interim?

I can message my doctors at CC through the online My Chart portal and get a reply within 24 hours at the latest. Or can call and speak to the doctor's nurse assistant if something is time sensitive and get a call back the same day. I can also print all test results from the My Chart. I think it's just a basic portal that other facilities also use. I hope you don't have to wait three months for more answers and clarification.

Hi @nellerbrock, I moved your message to the Autoimmune Diseases group (https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/autoimmune-diseases/) and the Blood Disorders group (https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/blood-cancers-disorders/) to help you connect with others.

You mentioned that you cannot review the test results with your doctor until September. That sounds like a long time to have to wait. Might you be able to get an earlier appointment or discuss with your primary care physician?