My daughter is really struggling & I wondered if anyone could throw some light on the following blood test results. First some context, she was diagnosed with Post Natal Depression about a year ago after her second child was 9 months old. From his birth he was an extremely sicky baby. She was breast feeding, he was colicky and had reflux. He was really unsettled and not a happy baby. My daughter was convinced that he was dairy intolerant but her concerns were ignored. Blood in his nappy resulted in a hospital stay, where dairy intolerance was confirmed. The reason I mention this is because she thinks that this was the trigger for her Post Natal Depression. She was prescribed antidepressants but experienced severe seratonin toxicity, a different antidepressant was prescribed but the same happened after an increase to 30mg a day. She currently takes 20mg citalopram a day. For about 6 months she has been repeatedly complaining of extreme tiredness and "crashing and burning" in the afternoon. I have seen her literally struggle to keep her eyes open and to keep up with my grandson as he toddles round the garden. I have accompanied her to GP appointments and requested that thyroid, iron and vitamin levels were checked. As I have Hashimoto's and adrenal issues I can totally relate to the exhaustion she is experiencing. I have read that some antidepressants can affect cortisol production. Has anyone heard of this? Can somebody interpret the following results for me -
free T4 - 14pmol/L (10-25)
TSH - 3.09 mU/L (0.55-4.78)
sodium - 144 mmol/L (133-146)
potassium - 3.8 mmol/L (3.5-5.3)
chloride - 109 mmol/L (95-108)
urea level 4.2 mmol/L (2.5-7.8)
creatinine 74 umol/L (50-100)
Vitamin B12 288ng/l (200-700)
Ferritin 69.6ug/l (7.0-150.0)
Folate 6.5 ug/l (3.0-20.0)
Haemoglobin estimation 136g/l (120-160)
Red blood cell (RBC) count 4.4x10^12/1 (4.0-5.0)
Haematocrit -PCV 0.40 l/l (0.37-0.47)
Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) 91fl (82-99)
Mean corpusc. Haemoglobin (MCH) 31 pg (27-32)
Platelet count 239x10^9/1 (140-400)
Total white cell count 4.8x10^9/l (4.0-10.0)
Neutrophil count 2.7x10^9/l (1.5-7.0)
Eosinophil count 0.19x10^9/l (0.1-0.5)
Basophil count 0.04x10^9/l (0.01-0.10
Lymphocyte count 1.7x10^9/l (1.5-4.0)
Monocyte count 0.2x10^9/l (0.2-0.8)
Large unstained cells 0.05x10^9/l (0.05-0.50)
Thyroid antibodies were not tested.
I am determined to help my daughter to get to the bottom of the excessive tiredness and hope that your expertise will help rule things out or otherwise. Thank you.