Need Help with Blood test results

[4sibbs]

Hi I have just joined this group on behalf of my 93 year old mother, she has several health issues and is therefore on different medications including steroids which I mention as it might be reflected in her blood tests. Mum was diagnosed with a B12 deficiency in 2007 and put on 3 monthly injections which after a few years changed to 6 monthly, she went into residential care in 2014 and the resident GP stopped the injections saying blood tests indicated she no longer needed them. However mum has insisted she thinks she still needs B12. We requested a blood test and asked for the results but they are very confusing, there are lots of them and although the recommendation is 'no further action' 2 results are below range (although some are above range) but the GP says due to her age and other health issues he is not concerned.

We are in the UK and hopefully someone on here can help, her Haemoglobin Concentrate (Xa96v) is 119g/L below range which I believe is 120.0-150.0, the Lymphocyte count is below range at 0.79 10*9/L normal I believe is 1.1-3.5.

Serum B12 level is 293ng/L. Serum folate level is 4.3 ug/L * Serum ferritin level is 70ug/L. There are lots more results so he may have done full blood count test but the B12 are the ones we interested in understanding.

Thank you

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi 4sibbs according to Mayo Medical Laboratories "Patients with serum B12 levels between 150 and 400 ng/L are considered borderline and should be evaluated further by functional tests for vitamin B12 deficiency", so your Mother's level of 293ng/L falls within that category. Her Folate level is also at the bottom end of the scale.

There is a complex interaction between folic acid, vitamin B12 and iron. A deficiency of one may be "masked" by excess of another so the three must always be in balance.

Symptoms of a folate deficiency can include:

symptoms related to anaemia

reduced sense of taste

diarrhoea

numbness and tingling in the feet and hands

muscle weakness

depression

Folic acid works closely with vitamin B12 in making red blood cells and helps iron function properly in the body.

Are you able to ascertain what neurological symptoms your Mother has?

The British Society for Haematology guidelines say on the Diagnosis of B12 and Folate Deficiency "In the presence of discordance between the test result and strong clinical features of deficiency, treatment should not be delayed to avoid neurological impairment".

google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j...

I am not a medically trained personzo I cannot comment on other blood test results but I've had Pernicious Anaemia (a form of B12 deficiency) for more than 46 years.

I wish you and your Mother well.

[4sibbs in reply to clivealive]

Thank you, one of the reasons we requested the test was because mum is presenting some of the symptoms that could be due to a deficiency, however some of her other health issues & her age could also be a factor and we don't have much faith in her GP. Mum believes she needs B12 but of course that is not enough to ask for a second opinion hence the blood test because having done my own research I discovered pernicious anaemia was a related condition plus she has been put on iron tablets in the past following a hospital admission. We will continue to monitor her thanks again.