Tumor markers

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lmcclure4477
lmcclure4477 Member Posts: 180
edited October 2014 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned

I Went for my three month follow-up with my oncologist. He told me that my tumor markers were at the upper end of the normal range. He said normal was 42.6 and mine were 41.3. Of course immediately I started freaking out.  Then he looked at my tumor marker history and noticed within the past year I was at 38 then 31 then 36 and 32 now 41. He said the jumping up-and-down is actually a good thing and he wasn't worried about these being 41.  He said he would be more concerned if the number doubled or if I gradually kept going up with my tumor markers. Did anyone else ever have higher tumor markers and everything was okay? Of course my head is going to the darkest place and I'm starting to get anxiety again. I'm going to get my tumor markers recheck in six weeks.

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  • bevin
    bevin Member Posts: 1,902
    edited October 2014

    I hope you are holding up okay. Keep us posted on your progress. 

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  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited October 2014

    Tumor markers are notorious for being erratic, and are affected by inflammation.  Mine were at 65 when I was done with chemo - I had a lot of swelling, and they gradually came down to a normal (for a cancer patient) range, but it took a few months.  Mine now bounce around in the 30's and have bumped up against the high end of normal.  I think if you have any joint pain it can drive them higher, and if you are on hormonal therapy you might.  My onc looks for an upward trend - I think that yours go up and down, but don't exceed the high end in a continuously climbing number, which is good.

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  • lmcclure4477
    lmcclure4477 Member Posts: 180
    edited October 2014

    I do also have fibromyalgia and I was in the middle of a flare up when I went for testing (due to anxiety of my testing). So I was having muscle and joint pain that day. 

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