Has anyone else had a blood test for CA-125?

[Trying4ever]

As the title suggests has anyone else been checked for this? I went to see the nurse specialist who wanted to have a look if everything was ok with my cyst. It had grown from 11mm to 17 mm in about one week. The dr put me on clomid for the next cycle and said he wasnt worried about it. But she wants me to have another blood test. When I looked at the form it said for ca-125. I did a quick google search and that is a tumor or ovarian cancer marker. I know the nurse is doing the right thing checking ...better safe than to be sorry...but I really havent prepared myself if it turns out to be something worse! To make it more confusing, I read some people with high CA-125 levels dont have cancer and some with low levels do have cancer!

Going to give blood now to check the levels....

 

[BizyBee]

Hmm, never heard of it. Good luck with your test.

 

[sugarpuff]

hi, i've been tested for ca-125 and cea as i have a 3cm solid tumour on my ovary. all results were normal - but as you say you can get false negatives and positives. apparently they tend to use it as a diagnostic tool - so if you get the cyst removed for example or it grows even more, they can retest you to see if the ca-125 level has changed

x

 

[CareBear]

Good luck with the results

 

[Trying4ever]

hi, i've been tested for ca-125 and cea as i have a 3cm solid tumour on my ovary. all results were normal - but as you say you can get false negatives and positives. apparently they tend to use it as a diagnostic tool - so if you get the cyst removed for example or it grows even more, they can retest you to see if the ca-125 level has changed

x

Hi everyone thanks for your msgs. Sugarpuff, how did you know it was a solid tumor and not just a cyst? I take it a cyst is not solid....I dont know if I would want surgery ..would it affect my TTC chances?

 

[sugarpuff]

they can tell from an ultrasound whether the cyst is solid, cystic (containing fluid) or mixed. a solid tumour shows up greyish white and a fluid containing cyst will show up black. chances are that a small fluid filled cyst will either go away on it's own or maybe by using birth control pills to shrink it.

some cysts can affect pregnancy chances but others don't cause a problem. my consultant just called me in today to do a beta blood test for hcg as he is concerned that my tumour may be producing hcg

 

[Trying4ever]

Exactly these cysts are a pain sending the wrong signals to the body! Are you going to have your tumor removed? I think mine was black when the nurse showed it to me on the monitor with loads of smaller black 'pearls' inside the ovary but then this one big one. I hope you get on ok. Let me know what comes of your blood test.

 

[sugarpuff]

have they considered maybe pcos for you ? since you also have lots of little follicles.

they were originally planning a lap and dye with possible extension to a laparotomy to remove the tumour this month, but my consultant decided to try me on 2 more clomid cycles with an hcg trigger. i had a bad reaction to the last hcg injection though which is why he has considered the tumour to be hcg producing, so he wants to make sure it's ok for me to have another trigger this month. if i'm still not pregnant after these 2 cycles they plan to do surgery

why is life so difficult ?? how long have you been ttc ?

 

[Trying4ever]

Yeah the FS said I have pcos but i have a low BMI...just in the bracket of normal now and dont have hirtuism or acne...so they said i ave polycystic ovaries but not the syndrome if that means anything! Been TTC for 2 and half years now!

 

[Vestirse]

You can have PCO without having PCOS - I'm hoping for the best for you!

 

[pixielou]

Hi Tryingforever, I had a CA125 a little while ago. Mine was done to tset to see if I had Endometriosis. Aparantely they can detect it through blood. Hope all is well!
X

 

[Trying4ever]

Thanks everyone. I haven't been called back so hopefully the test was ok. xx

 

[Trying4ever]

Ohmygod i have just got the results ........i got someone to look them up and tell me what the figure of Ca-125 was. It's higher than the normal range. I think normal range is supposed to be between 0.2 and 3 and my figure was 5.7. I just couldn't take it in...I thought it was nothing....what if it is worse than i thought??? i just couldnt stand it if it means i have to stop treatment for TTC.

I'm going to ring the clinic and get her to go throughh the results with me properly.

 

[sugarpuff]

do you know what they were measuring in ? from what i could find out under 35 U/ml was considered normal. even a higher ca125 doesn't necessarily mean something awful, things like endometriosis can give a higher than normal reading. i hope things go well when you get to speak to them

 

[pixielou]

Hope everything is ok!

 

[Briss]

ladies, I know this thread is old but I am facing this issue now and would appreciate your advice. I was about to start my IVF but they discovered I have a cyst on my ovary and from the scan it seemed like there was some solid mass in there. I was sent to do CA125 and unfortunately it came at 45, I repeated it a few days later and it came at 34. I also did a few other tumopur markers and all came negative. I am quite distressed but from what I read on the internet there are lots of benign conditions that can elevate CA 125. I am due to do MRI later this week to check on the cyst but would be grateful for any info