Spike in tumor markers due to a cold?

Options
Husband11
Husband11 Member Posts: 2,264
edited March 2018 in Stage IV/Metastatic Breast Cancer ONLY

Is it possible for tumor markers to make a jump when someone has a bad cold? My wife's tumor markers were declining steadily, down in the teens, but took a sudden 4 point jump when she had them tested earlier this week. She was suffering from a bad cold that day. 4 points isn't much when you tumor markers are high, but seems like a lot when they are low.

Anyone have personal experience with this?

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • Goodie16
    Goodie16 Member Posts: 446
    edited February 2018

    Are they still in the normal range? My tumor markers can fluctuate 3-5 points from one blood draw to the next, but always well within the normal range. Good luck!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Husband11
    Husband11 Member Posts: 2,264
    edited February 2018

    CA-15 is within normal range, and has a fairly wide "normal range". CEA is just above normal range and always has been.

    Naturally hoping this isn't a sign of failing treatment. The two tumor markers fell every test for the last 4 months, and fell the most last month, which should be a good sign, but then 4 weeks later they jump up by around 4 points. We haven't really seen any anomolies before, but of course hope thats what this is. Only explanation I can think of is that she was really suffering from a cold badly that day. The cold is now just about gone. But, now we wait another 3 1/2 weeks for another test.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Husband11
    Husband11 Member Posts: 2,264
    edited March 2018

    Good news. Tumor markers are now down again four weeks later. No idea why they went up when she had a cold, but they did. CEA is now lower than ever. Perhaps just normal variance?

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Iwrite
    Iwrite Member Posts: 870
    edited March 2018

    I read on another thread that colds and flu can cause TM spikes. Glad to hear they have come back down

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories