MGUS - What You Need to Know
What is MGUS?
Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance (MGUS) is a disorder of the blood. It involves cells called plasma cells which are white blood cells that secrete antibodies. When the plasma cells behave abnormally, they can over-produce an abnormal monoclonal antibody or portion thereof. This is called a myeloma protein or M protein. This can be secreted into the blood stream and sometimes the urine.
This abnormal protein is usually found during standard laboratory blood or urine tests. MGUS is largely considered a benign condition.
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How serious is MGUS?
Recent research suggests that a minority of patients with MGUS appear to suffer from a greater prevalence of recurrent infections, ischemic heart disease, peripheral neuropathy, and renal diseases compared to those without MGUS.
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The biggest risk with MGUS is it's possible progression to multiple myeloma which is a progressive, neoplastic disease that is characterized by significant bone loss and pathological fractures.Other diseases that may develop from MGUS are light chain amyloidosis, Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia and lymphoma.
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Each year there is a 1% chance that your MGUS will progress into a more serious disease.
How is MGUS Treated?
Due to the possibly benign nature of MGUS, medical practitioners advise a "watch and wait" strategy.
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This is a period of time which can be anything from one to more than twenty years where your doctor is likely to recommend periodic check-ups which include blood tests to monitor your health, probably starting six months after your diagnosis. If your blood tests show an increase in certain markers of disease progression, then your doctor may diagnose smoldering myeloma (SMM).
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This can be very worrying and frustrating for patients - living with the knowledge that you have your condition and waiting for it to worsen before something is actively done about it.
Is There a Better Way?
Yes!!!
Early intervention with dietary modification and curcumin has been shown to improve outcomes in some patients with MGUS.
MGUS Therapy's Terry Golombick has been running clinical trials for over 10 years. These trials show that key markers of the disease may improve with curcumin treatment. Patient tolerance has been good and none have developed clinical infections or toxicities. Many patients have been taking curcumin for over 5 years with some of these on curcumin therapy for more than 10 years (up to 15 years).
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New research is showing that dietary modification can improve outcome in some patients with MGUS - see blog!
Book a consultation now to understand your disease better and how it can be treated.