Can someone translate what tests will be done please?

[sharonwei]

I wrote recently that a nurse i opened up to about my self injecting and why i had started doing that had said that . 'you do realize that we cant give you the 3 monthly injection now!'

Following on from that: Today i saw a Doctor in the practice about an infected ear but thought i should bring up the whole subject of how i am ; what im doing ; what the nurse said; and about the nerve surges etc. I gave a very abrieviated form cos of time constraints. I said ' you know i have Pernicious Anemia, then told him i what i had told the nurse and that she had said they cant inject me any more. He said thats right because what im doing is considered SELF ABUSE!!!!

I said what? Even tho its a vitamin, any one self injecting in this country (uk) has to have a medical pass to be able to do that , as in the case of diabetics.

I explained briefly that i started doing that in desperation last year as i felt myself deteriorating with nerve surges and memory problems and felt no one would help me.

I had thought i might get a bad reception from the doc for saying all this, but to be honest my main aim was to get a good blood test with an aim to finding out what is wrong. He , (without me asking) said i need to have blood tests done to test for deficiencies etc and see him in 3 weeks. i was relieved at that tho he was in some shock. i managed to say what i needed to say. i said good about the tests and that something was blocking the b12 and or something else was wrong. He said 'yes'.

So , the upshot is , i knew that i would get some grief for being honest but i need help. So, hopefully i can find out what the heck is wrong even tho it was not a nice experience to be called a self abuser.

Could someone please translate the tests he is sending me for please and let me know what some are aimed at finding?

B12 + Folates, bone profile, ferritin, FASTING LIPIDS, FREE T4, GLUCOSE (FASTING), LFT'S , FBC & ESR, TSH, U +E, VITAMIN D

thanks in advance

[Carlygeorge]

Hi, I am no expert but from that list all with the exception of the bone one (no idea what that is) sounds like they are all the same as what I have just had done - via blood tests. I am really new to this - sorry I couldn't be any more help

[Galixie]

I'm really just guessing but here are what I think is being checked:

"B12 + Folates" will just be serum B12 level and serum folate tests respectively.

"VITAMIN D" will be a serum vitamin D test.

"bone profile" I wonder if this will be a bone density test? I would think they would call it something more obvious if they were going to do a bone marrow biopsy. A biopsy would be more informative on whether there is something going haywire with your blood production, but it's a really painful test so they generally hold off on doing those.

"FASTING LIPIDS" is a cholesterol test.

"FREE T4" & "TSH" are thyroid function tests.

"GLUCOSE (FASTING)" is a blood sugar test.

"FBC & ESR" FBC would be a full blood count, which is useful when checking for anemia (although we all know that anemia is not always present in B12 deficiency). The ESR is the Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate test which is used to detect inflammation. It's not a particularly specific test, it just tells whether inflammation is present.

I have no clue what "LFT'S" and "U +E" are.

Edited to add:

Apparently LFTs are liver panel tests. I found that out on this webpage: labtestsonline.org/understa...

[sharonwei in reply to Galixie]

Thanks for replying Carly, and thank you Galixie for the info.

[Ctb567]

The other two are liver function and urea and electrolytes

[Sleepybunny]

Hi Sharonwei

I'm saddened by what was said to you.

"He said thats right because what im doing is considered SELF ABUSE!"

"Even tho its a vitamin, any one self injecting in this country (uk) has to have a medical pass to be able to do that"

Is it really true that you have to have a medical pass in the UK?

[engels in reply to Sleepybunny]

No. That's just a doctor talking nonsense again.

[Secondchance]

Never heard of a medical pass!!!

[Chancery]

He's giving you a very comprehensive full set of tests there, so you have had a good result speaking to him. He is testing to see if you might be diabetic, to make sure your liver & pancreas is working correctly, to make sure you don't have an auto-immune problem, that you don't have anaemia or a faulty thyroid and, I suspect, that there's nothing wrong with your bones - I'm guessing osteopenia or osteoporosis (I'm not familiar with the bone profile test, but I know all the others).

Either way, he is leaving no stone unturned.

[sharonwei in reply to Chancery]

Thanks for the comprehensive answer Chancery. They already know i have an auto immune problem. Thanks again