Blood test results?

[Gymbabe]

Got copy of letter to my Gp after Rheumie visit 2 weeks ago. Results are

ANA positive 1.640 homogenous, IgA 4.37 increased,C4 0.39 increased, CRP<4, LFT (N) GFR 73.5, ESR 17 increased.

In English please?

[poodlegal]

best thing to do is go back to your gp and ask him/her to go through all your results with you and if you are like me ask what the "normal" levels are and ask why yours are above or below,i know GFR is how well your kidneys work and ESR is inflamation levels in the blood xx

[Carolha]

Poodlegal is right you should ask your doctor to explain.

I do know that the GFR is the glomerular filtration rate, as I have been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (stage 3) which is steadily getting worse. There are lots of websites that explain the GFR and it also depends on your age as a persons GFR does decrease with age. The thing is not to worry, one thing I have learnt about you kidneys is high blood pressure can damage the kidneys and damaged kidneys can cause high blood pressure, a real catch 22 situation. If your blood pressure is ok, that's a good sign to.

nhs.uk/Conditions/Kidney-di...

Good luck and try not to worry

[clarelicastri]

Sorry to but in what does GFR 70 mean and I am 40 years old and have had lupus for 10 years thanks

[Heatheric]

It would be really helpful to have a chart which showed the normal range for each of the tests we commonly have so that at least we are aware of being above or below and can ask more targetted questions - anything available from Lupus UK?

[Paul_Howard Partner LUPUS UK in reply to Heatheric]

It wouldn't be possible to provide a list like this because many results are unintuitive by themselves and need to be considered with the rest of the panel. If you look at any result in isolation you won't get a true answer.

It is always best to discuss your results with your GP or consultant.