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Comment by EspadaV9 | Hacker News Reader

I donated some blood a couple of years back and they came back saying there were proteins present. Having follow up tests at the moment, but none of the other markers are present that would normally be there if there was cancer. Still waiting to get further follow up tests, but no one seems to be worried enough to rush things along.

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Where did you donate? The only feedback I usually get is a certificate every 8 trips.

I donate platelets with the Red Cross every month and I've got an app where they give me the blood pressure and hemoglobin level, and which used to tell me if I had Covid-19 antibodies before everybody did via vaccine or infection.

Before I donate I have to sign something that says, among other things "We're going to test your blood for AIDS and tell you if you have it, so if you don't want to know don't donate". I hadn't thought about the other things they test for but of course they don't want blood with Leukemia in it either.

Why wouldn't someone not want to know they have AIDS? Given the disease is not a death sentence anymore and the earlier you know better your chances of survival. The warning probably deters a lot of people who could have otherwise been saved by timely treatment.

You still need to get consent for that. Like, you can’t just assume.

Maybe it's part of the whole bug chasing phenomenon

This was with the Red Cross in Australia. I'm original from the UK and was not allowed to donate before due to CJD worries. The first time I was able to donate, they ran a full test (not sure if they do that for all donations or not) and I got a call back saying they had found markers for blood cancer. As mentioned, follow up tests haven't shown any other markers, and the levels of protein hasn't changed over that time, so have a 6 month wait now for the next follow ups.

> Still waiting to get further follow up tests,

I hope all will turn out good for you, and wishing you the best of luck.

> they came back saying there were proteins present.

I think probably there is a bit of a Chinese whisper kind of misunderstanding here. Your blood will contain proteins. It must. Everyone's blood does. For example hemoglobin is a type of protein which makes your red blood cells able to carry oxygen.

What they probably told you is that they found the wrong quantity or the wrong kind of proteins.

Wishing you the best!

Yes, sorry, it was hightened levels of proteins. Checking the report and it has these highlighted in red

    Total Protein Initial Screen (g/L): 87 (normal range 61-84)
    Immunoglobulin IgA (g/L): 4.9 (normal range < 4.8)
    Immunoglobulin IgG Initial Screen (g/L): 18.5 (normal range 5.0 - 15.0)

And thank you. There's been a lot of Dr Googling about it, and it all sounds a bit scary, but will be jumping on whatever treatments are needed should the worse happen.

Wikipedia in Spanish says https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inmunoglobulina_G

> con una concentración de 600-1800 mg por 100 mL

IANAMD. It looks like most of the time the increase can be produced by many common infections that are not dangerous. I strongly recomend to get a second opinion before starting some invasive procedure.

Which proteins?

The only information on the report is the following

    Total Protein Initial Screen (g/L): 87 (normal range 61-84)
    Immunoglobulin IgA (g/L): 4.9 (normal range < 4.8)
    Immunoglobulin IgG Initial Screen (g/L): 18.5 (normal range 5.0 - 15.0)

Just the IgG that seems to be significantly above the normal range. Not sure how accurate the tests are, but the first 2 feel like they could be within margin of errors.

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