This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

I'm new here but have been reading up on posts on here for awhile. I (think) MS being hereditary has been not really decided (right) but my two great uncles have it (one passed away from it and the other has been wheel chair ridden for decades and can't hardly move or speak).

I have pretty much every symptom and it's only been getting worse and worse for like 4 months. I have a VEP test Wednesday, had a visual field test, EMG, etc. coming up at the end of the month but had 10 tubes of blood drawn to rule out other things, too. A brain MRI in April showed no lesions but it's been awhile, never got a spinal tap or MRI of my c-spine. My blood work came back very interesting. A couple things I noted is:

My cholesterol is very, very high: 272 (normal is < 200)
LDL is 191 (normal < 100)
Non HDL is 219 (normal is < 130)
My CRP is very high: 6.77 mg/L and normal is < 3
Albumin is 5.6 and normal is 3.5-5

B12 and Folate are normal. Negative Lyme, Platelets tend to be on the lower end or low. Is the fact that "NO MONOCLONAL PROCESS DETECTED" a good thing?

I apologize for the long post but I'm miserable and talking with you nice people will help no matter what. The waiting game is hard but I honestly feel relief that someone is finally listening to me and taking action to find answers, no matter what that may be. I just want something to help me feel a little more me and function a bit better.

Thank you for any response!

Christina

StarryChristina wrote:I'm new here but have been reading up on posts on here for awhile. I (think) MS being hereditary has been not really decided (right) but my two great uncles have it (one passed away from it and the other has been wheel chair ridden for decades and can't hardly move or speak).

I have pretty much every symptom and it's only been getting worse and worse for like 4 months. I have a VEP test Wednesday, had a visual field test, EMG, etc. coming up at the end of the month but had 10 tubes of blood drawn to rule out other things, too. A brain MRI in April showed no lesions but it's been awhile, never got a spinal tap or MRI of my c-spine. My blood work came back very interesting. A couple things I noted is:

My cholesterol is very, very high: 272 (normal is < 200)
LDL is 191 (normal < 100)
Non HDL is 219 (normal is < 130)
My CRP is very high: 6.77 mg/L and normal is < 3
Albumin is 5.6 and normal is 3.5-5

B12 and Folate are normal. Negative Lyme, Platelets tend to be on the lower end or low. Is the fact that "NO MONOCLONAL PROCESS DETECTED" a good thing?

I apologize for the long post but I'm miserable and talking with you nice people will help no matter what. The waiting game is hard but I honestly feel relief that someone is finally listening to me and taking action to find answers, no matter what that may be. I just want something to help me feel a little more me and function a bit better.

Thank you for any response!

Christina

Welcome to This is MS, Christina. We are glad you've joined the website. We don't have all the answers, but we are good listeners and are ready to listen to your experiences, opinions, and questions.

You have made a good start with your testing. At first glance, I focus on the test for C-Reactive Protein (CRP), which measures the level of general inflammation, as being very high because MS is an inflammatory disease – but so are many others... heart disease, for one.

From my reading, I don't consider your cholesterol (272) to be "very, very high."); 200 is quite desirable (Lower is not better because our bodies need cholesterol, especially for making the myelin around nerves.). In my opinion, 400 or higher would be "very, very high."

I look forward to your contributions to our discussions. All the best to you.

Thank you for your response! I was more curious about the non HDL being so high. Anyway, I'm not scared I'll deal with whatever comes my way but I'm just trying to be patient and hopefully find a way to start feeling a bit better.

My neurologist said I have optic papillitis and tomorrow I'll get to find out my visual field results and get images done. My Neuro had a family emergency out of state so that's why my EMG isn't until 9/30. We shall see. I the meantime, I appreciate your thoughts! I know no one has the answers but it certainly helps to be surrounded with people with experience, politeness, and to be so uplifting.

Take care!