Her Various Symptoms Seemed Unrelated. Then One Doctor Put It All Together.<br />The patient didn’t have multiple myeloma either, though<br />that test, which measures levels of one part of the immune system known as antibodies, was abnormal; one antibody, known as IgM, was high.<br />In Schnitzler syndrome, according to current thinking, the most primitive part of the immune system — a type<br />of white blood cell known as the macrophage — goes wild and instructs the body to act as if it is infected.<br />“When I see people suffering and I know that if I took the time<br />and effort, I could figure it out,” he told me, “then I have to do something.” He looks for unexplained pathological findings — in this case, the high level of IgM.<br />The body responds with fever and chills, a loss of appetite, flulike body aches, hives and high levels of one specific type of antibody: IgM.<br />She also sent off a test to look for a type of blood cancer called multiple<br />myeloma, which attacks the blood and bones and is seen in patients over 50.
