(Notice the exclamation mark and this is typed in bold)
Serum free T4 12.6 9.00-23.00
I had numerous posters suggesting my T4 should be a lot higher but I've just noticed the RDW on my results is in bold and has an exclamation mark. It's like it's been flagged up but my doc has decided it's fine.
Thamks.
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Comeonpeeps
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.. ! Red blood cell distribution width 11.9% (12 - 14.70%)...
RDW under range although am not sure what this means. Perhaps indicative of iron deficiency .? anaemia .? but I don't actually know.
If you are able to repost with photo the correct way up..? . .. . this would help others to read your results and encourage further commenting.
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The basic meaning of RDW is whether the sizes of your red blood cells are within a narrow range (low RDW) or a large range (high RDW).
Some issues tend to make red blood cells smaller - one of the most common being iron deficiency anaemia. Others mae the red blood cells larger - one of the best known is low vitamin B12/pernicious anaemia.
In the very simple case of being iron deficient you would expect small red blood cells. So Mean Corpuscular Volume is low.
In the other simple case of low B12 you would expect large red blood cells. So Mean Corpuscular Volume is high.
Now imagine that you have both iron deficiency and B12 deficiency - you might see the Mean Corpuscular Volume is still more or less "normal"! The over-sized and under-sized red blood cells could well cancel each other out - if you look at a simple average.
However, if you look a bit further, you tend to find that instead of a nice, neat bell-curve with a tall peak, you see something rather flatter and more squidged out. That is when you see with a high RDW.
14 is going towards the top end - so should raise suspicion of exactly what I have suggested - or various other possibilities which can cause similar effects. But so far as I know, it is not something to panic about - simply be aware and look further. Try to find a proper explanation and keep checking.
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