B12 -MCV - FOLATE

[jefftall]

RESULTS

B12 445 (200-900)

SERUM FOLATE 7.8 (2.00 - 17.00)

MCV 84 (75-105)

FERRITIN 75 (15.00 - 250.00)

HOW DO YOU GUYS INTERPRET THESE RESULTS PLEASE?

MY MOST RECENT UAT/HASHIMOTOS RESULTS ARE APPARENTLY PRETTY PERFECT according to my endo

TSH <0.03 (0.35 - 5.00)

T3 6.7 (3.50 - 6.50)

T4 18.6 (9.00 - 24.00)

I AM LITERALLY ON MY KNEES - ENDO HAS AGREED TO B12 INJECTIONS - NEED TO KNOW WHAT THE MCV MEANS PLEASE

[Gambit62 Administrator]

This assumes that you hadn't supplemented at all before the above test.

B12 could be deficient - but its at the top of the grey range - and actually needs to be evaluated on basis of symptoms - which I presume is what your endo has done.

serum B12 is not a gold standard test and is just a potential marker as the amount of B12 in your blood is only part of the picture as to how much B12 is available at the cell level and how it is being processed at the cell level.

folate is a little low and could do with some improvement - you will be using folate to process B12 so could become deficient - needs monitoring.

MCV is actually middle of the range - stands for mean corpuscle volume. B12 tends to cause a form of anaemia in which cells are larger and rounder than normal. Iron deficiencies tend to produce smaller blood cells because there is less iron to make haemoglobin to fill them. Both extremes will result in your blood being less efficient at transporting blood to cells.

There are other measures around size of blood cells and how much haemoglobin they contain that will be done as part of a full blood count.

The effects of B12 deficiency in the blood aren't always amongst the first to appear - about 30%+ have neuro symptoms before hand so good not to get to hung up on MCV not being raised in relation to a possible B12 deficiency.

Hope the trial goes well

[jefftall in reply to Gambit62]

Thankyou for your response - no I haven't been taking b12 but have pretty bad pins and needles in my arm permanently - horrid lower back pain - and am on my knees with tiredness despite the endo saying my TSH T4 and T3 blood results are pretty perfect in his eyes .......

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to jefftall]

can't really comment on the thyroid - note that you posted on TUK so hope you got the information you needed.