Most likely the lupu, autoimmune disease makes the body do weird things. (Speaking from experiance), with all autoimmune disease you can go through flare ups, and periods remission. So test results can be different at differentvtimes, if your really worried ask her Dr.
Brenda, you just might be "jumping to conclusions", indeed.
The doctor is probably taking a wait and see approach, as there's likely
nothing specific and definite arising from the results, yet.
A sustained high Anion Gap, would be indicative of a chronic situation resulting in acidosis. There are various factors and conditions which would
cause this,however, there's suspicion of some transient event, since her levels went down from 13 (high) to a baseline normal low of 3, but please post lab ranges to verify accuracy of my observations.
On the other hand the (sub-clinical) low Anion Gap, warrants Anion Gap
levels to be monitored closely and possibly further investigation, as there would be a suspicion of kidney involvement, mainly because of her Lupus dx.
Of course, there are other possibilities, like multiple myeloma, which should be discussed with the treating doctor, specially when Immunoglobulin G is elevated and there's presence of monoclonal or M proteins.
Which means further testing, might be required, before anything can be determined.
I should also mention something which could be of great importance:
When I had been studying Dr.Barnes work, one particular finding stayed with me.
From ALL the thousands of patients he treated for Hypothyroid
(using natural desiccated thyroid ) NONE of these patients developed Lupus!
The ones who had been already diagnosed with Lupus, NONE developed any new signs of organ involvement, while being treated by Dr. Barnes for hypothyroid.
Hypothyroid can be easily missed by doctors, when standard serum thyroid tests are used. Instead of T3, T4 and TSH which only indicate serum levels, people should be asking for Free T3 (fT3), Free T4 (fT4) and Reverse T3 (rT3) tests, which are more indicative of Thyroid function.
I hope this helps, however, please note that my comments and suggestions are not intended as a substitute for medical advice.
Best wishes.
Niko