Blood test results - conversion table

[Pluto46]

Living in Norway, I'm used to the homegrown style of blood test results. Here's a snapshot of a few results from a recent test. The figures on either side of the hyphens are the standard range, while the figures furthest to the right are one's results (most of the words are similar to the English/Latin words, but 'jern' means 'iron', and 'Jernbindingskap.' means 'iron binding capacity'). What the 'S' stands for, I haven't a clue.

S-Ferritin 20 - 300 115

S-Gamma GT <115 31

S-HDL-kolesterol 0,8 - 2,1 0.9

S-Kreatinin 60 - 105 119

S-Jern 9,0 - 34,0 16.2

S-Jernbindingskap. 49 - 83 58

When people refer to their iron levels etc. here on the rls site, they use a completely different type of measurement. Does anyone knows of a rough and ready conversion table for comparing the different ways of expressing levels of whatever it is that's found floating around in the blood stream?

best,

Chris

[LotteM]

Hi Chris. Actually, they don’t. The iron value most referred to jere on the forum and most relevant to RLS-ers is the ferritin value, the first one on your list. It has been shown that people with ferritin below 75 have a higher incidence of RLS. Therefore, we tend to say as a rule of thumb that our (=people with RLS) ferritin value should be above 100. Still, it has also been shown that people with ‘normal’ iron values (i.e. within the ranges you have provided; they vary a little according to the laboratory where the analysis has been conducted) may benefit in terms of RLS symptoms from raising their iron levels by taking an iron supplement. If you do take a supplement, please have your iron levels tested regularly (2-3x a year?) to make sure they don’t become too high, because high iron can be harmful.

Does this help?

[Pluto46 in reply to LotteM]

Thanks for your reply LotteM. I take a multi-vitamin supplement every morning which contains 15mg iron. I think I might start taking an extra iron supplement. 115 isn't enormously high. I also take extra magnesium in addition to the multi-vitamin pill, though after half a year or so, I'm still waiting for the effect to kick in.

Chris

[LotteM]

Don’t know about the S. May simply mean ‘standard’ or ‘standardized’.

[Hidden in reply to LotteM]

or 'serum' maybe? in the UK we talk about serum ferritin, serum magnesium etc, serum being the fluid component of blood.

[LotteM in reply to Hidden]

Sounds very reasonable and logical. You were the doc, isn’t it?

[Hidden in reply to LotteM]

Yes, I was, but that doesn't mean I know Norwegian! Might be talking nonsense!

[Pluto46]

Obviously! Why didn't I think of that? Thanks Alison7!

[Hidden in reply to Pluto46]

Well it might not be that obvious ....... serum in Norwegian might not start with an S! Was just an idea.