Insufficient blood test.

[sophiethecat2003]

Hi everyone

Had a NHS full blood count test and my surgery rang this morning to say the doctor wanted it repeating due to the test being insufficient! How can that be the nurse took 4 phials of blood?

Is that another way of saying she wants it repeating as something may be wrong?

I have been trying to get a referral letter out of the doctor for 2 weeks now. The endo won't book an appointment without a referral from the doctor. My doctor won't refer me till she has the blood test results.

I am going round in circles and feeling worse by the day.

I suspect B12 deficiency and probably pernicious anemia.

I have been hanging fire to start taking the B12 til I see the endo, but don't think I can carry on much longer without trying B12.

I am sorry I am repeatedly asking for help and advice but I have complete brain fog and am struggling to know what to do for the best.

My last 2 Blue horizon B12 tests were 192 and 227, the NHS one was 288.

The Blue horizon 227 and NHS 288 were done on the same day and we're both fasting.

The other concern is my Ferritin which is high, one of the reasons as well as the B12 I wanted to see the endo.

Ferritin results are: Blue horizon 274 and 217 respectively and NHS taken 21st August 193.

I notice that the NHS use the same range for men and women that being 12.0 - 300.0.

Blue horizon is 20 - 150. Queried it with the doctor but she said it didn't make any difference!

Do you think I should start taking B12 and B complex before seeing the endo?

I am sorry to ask again but with those results what should I be taking? Good places to get supplies if possible.

My doctor wouldn't give me B12 injections she said my test was within normal range. I tried to explain that my levels needed to be higher but she was having none of it.

I have so many symptoms I don't know where to start.

Thanks again everybody you are all amazing

Big hugs

Sophie ☺ xx

[shaws Administrator]

No however tempting it may be to start B12. It can skew results and you must exclude that you have a B12 deficiency or pernicious anaemia before you begin. Once that has been cleared you can supplement.

[sophiethecat2003 in reply to shaws]

Thanks shaws....I am assuming that the full blood count will show if I have pernicious anaemia.

Big hugs

Sophie ☺ x

[helvella Administrator in reply to sophiethecat2003]

sophiethecat2003,

No - at best a full blood count might suggest looking further for Pernicious Anaemia / B12 and/or folate deficiency.

If you think that you might have PA, I urge you to visit the Pernicious Anaemia Society forum right here on HU.

[Barrister]

I suspect that the blood sample wasn't sent to the hospital in time and so it could have coagulated and would therefore be inadequate for testing. That's often the case in these sort of situations. I'm sure that it's nothing to worry about. Clemmie

[sophiethecat2003 in reply to Barrister]

Thanks Clemmie ...that's good. I am at the end of my tether with feeling really poorly

Big hugs

Sophie ☺ x

[humanbean]

The Pernicious Anaemia Society community at HealthUnlocked can be found here - well worth joining for advice from the experts :

healthunlocked.com/pasoc

Good luck.

[helvella Administrator]

The number phials of blood more often reflects the number of different ways that the blood needs to be treated for the various tests - rather than the quantity. Each phial has a different colour cap which identifies things like the anticoagulant already in the phial. It can also be necessary for some tests to have chilled the sample immediately, or done within a very short period fo time (e.g. various parathyroid hormone tests).

[ollymummy in reply to helvella]

They may well have had too many tests to do on that one vial and therefore an insufficient quantity - each vial has a different additive to keep the blood in the right state for that particular test so they can just whip it out of another vial and the vials have to be taken from you in order to prevent the additive from cross contaminating the next vial and skewing results - it's clever stuff!!! (Recently trained in phlebotomy 😊)