help with blood test results iron folate b12

[whatever12]

asian women vegetarian 30yrs

b12 - 194

folate - 3.9

serum ferritin - 22

feeling fatigued, low energy, tired so given blood test and above came back.

What should doc give me (if anything) given the above results?

[fbirder]

We need the units (pmol/L, ng/L) and the ranges (eg. 180-599) to make a proper fudge ent.

[whatever12]

b12 194 ng/l

serum ferritin 22 ug/l

serum folate 3.9 ug/l

no ranges written on the result printout

[Gambit62 Administrator]

all of the above are on the low side of the normal range

do you have any problems with stomach acidity - eg acid reflux and problems digesting food?

does your diet include dairy/egg in good quantities - if not then your B12 levels may be low due to lack of B12 in your diet and you should be supplementing some B12 to make up for this.

serum folate is one indicator of iron but really you need a full blood count (which could also help with folate/B12).

Many tests are just part of a context rather than giving exact answers to what is going on. Evaluating symptoms, evaluating your diet would probably be the next step that your GP should be taking. If your diet is good then the step after that would be to look into absorption problems - and put you on a therapeutic trial for B12 ... and for folate/iron if needed.

[whatever12]

some times issues with gaseous build up in stomach

am vegetarian so eat some eggs like 2/3 a week on average, some milk/cheese and occassionally foritified cerals

i did get full bloods as well and results are:

MCV = 90.5 fl

MCHC 322g/l

MCH 29.2 pg

Haemoglobin estimate 141 g/l

RBC count 4.81 10*9/mL (3.80--4.80)

Total White cell count 7.1 10*9/L (3.5 - 11.0)

Eosonophil count 0.4 10*9/L (0.0 - 0.4)

symptoms are tiredness/fatigue/ lack of energy and drained, cold feeling etc

what should one expect to be given based on this? oral or injection b12? folate or iron supplements? or a request for further tests?

[whatever12]

any help?

[ITYFIALMCTT in reply to whatever12]

Unfortunately, as stated above, it's not practical to give advice about what supplementation you might need without the ranges. Again, for the MCV, MCH etc., it's necessary to see the range.

Did you phone the pathology lab. at the hospital that did the tests and ask them? The ranges are so different that B12 194 might be with a starting point for the range at 140 in some areas and 220 in others, so the guidelines would be different.