Blood result anxiety

[Elsie89]

Hi all

I wondered if you would be so kind to offer your thoughts/guidance/advice.

My mum was diagnosed with MBL in January this year . We seem to have been lucky as our haematologist thought there was a low chance of progression to CLL. He’s actually discharged her with a suggestion for annual bloods

Fast forward 7 months and my mum has had bloods for gout. Likely will include a full blood count, kidney function and urate level. She’s had a letter this weekend saying they’d like a repeat in 2-4 weeks.

Now the logical part of my mind is thinking it could be a variety of things. It could be nothing to do with mbl. Her white cell count might have gone up but again- this could be gout. She is well. If there was anything major I would have expected her GP to call to check she has no b symptoms and is well etc

The other side of my brain is frantic. What if her lymphocyte count has doubled? What if her haemoglobin or platelet count has dropped and it’s progressed to richter’s.

My mum is very calm about all this, very circumspect feeling that she can’t change the outcome and again, it might be nothing or even urate level related. It makes me feel very selfish that I’m the one in a state but I honestly don’t know how to cope with this level of anxiety and uncertainty.

Thank you all so much for taking the team to read this. I’d appreciate any wisdom on this.

Elsie

[Jm954 Administrator]

Elsie,

I think you can take some reassurance that they only want a repeat in 2-4 weeks. That tells you that there is nothing that is immediately concerning but that there is something slightly out of range but that it might be nothing at all. Blood results can change and one slightly abnormal result is not generally worrying as there is a possibility that it will be back to normal the next time or, possibly, that it has got worse.

There's nothing you can do, the time interval between the tests needs to be that long to detect changes. Let us know how your mom is.

Jackie

[lankisterguy Volunteer]

Hi Elsie,

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Jm954 knows much more about lab testing than I do, but I would add a few suggestions to help you deal with the anxiety and uncertainty.

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When the next lab tests are performed, we trust they will include a CBC+ diff (Complete Blood Count with differential) that means the results will expand the WBC (White Blood Count) to show Neuts# and Lymphs# separately .

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Since your Mum has MBL her WBC is mostly Neuts, and they can vary significantly whenever there is infection or injury. So if the WBC is changed, it probably will be caused by the Neuts# changing, not the Lymphs#. MBL and CLL primarily cause the Lymph# to increase.

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Also with MBL, your mum's Lymphs are likely well below 10, and doubling time is ignored until the Lymph# exceeds 30 .

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So I hope this can help you pause the anxiety to wait for that next blood tes.

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Len

[haposwald]

RELAX deal with gout for now mum will be better if she sees you doing better! Mum (mom) to me here in the states has the right idea stay positive kick it’s butt whatever the problem might be ! I’ve told many many members this every morning I get up and tell my CLL I’m kicking your butt again today and every night as well. Sure there are some tough days wanted to race my dirt bike this weekend got everything ready even visited gp doc for a b12 shot but the fatigue got the better of me! I was able to still have a pint with my son so not a bad weekend at all you and mum will be in my prayers you to relax and mum just to feel ok!!

[LeoPa]

Elsie, did they say how to cure the gout naturally? Complete elimination of fructose from the diet will take care of it. I took pills for 20 years for it. Kicked all fructose to the curb (including hidden fructose which is just about in every processed food) and of course fruits (except 1 piece a day max. and it's not a whole water melon lol) and voilà, no gout and no pills anymore.

[LeoPa]

marksdailyapple.com/high-ur...

this is a link with lots of references . I don't think most people eat enough read meat, shellfish or organ meats to cause gout. Fructose overload on the other hand is everywhere but few are aware of it. In my case fructose was the culprit.