Feel rubbish, all blood results "normal"

I have got the results of my latest blood test. For background information I finished a six injection over two weeks loading dose of b12 a week ago and have been on 3 iron tablets daily for a month. These are the results I just received (thanks for all the advice and support about how to make the GP give me my blood test results. The latest "treatment" resulting from these blood tests is that the three monthly b12 injection I was supposed to be having has now been cancelled. Because I don't need it as my b12 is high now. I felt rubbish before the injections, great whilst having them and for a week afterwards, now rubbish again. But the GP says it can't be the b12 as my levels are high now and if I feel poorly due to B12 deficiency I wouldn't feel poorly any more because my b12 isn't deficient any more. I have no idea what to do.

Serum folate level (42U5.) 4.2 ug/L

Serum ferritin level (XE24r) 32ug/L

Serum vitamin B12 level (XE2pf) Above range

Serum TSH level (XaELV) 1.4ml/U/L

Haemoglobin concentration (Xa96v) 125g/L

Total white blood count (XaldY) 5.5 10*9/L

Platelet count - observation (42P..) 253 10*9/L

Red blood cell count (426..) 4.54 10*12/L

Mean cell volume (42A..) 86.3fL

Haematocrit (X76tb) 0.392 L/L

Mean cell haemoglobin level (XE2pb) 27.5pg

Mean cell haemoglobin concentration 319g/L (outside reference range)

I don't know what any of this means, have just copied it direct from the blood test sheet. There are more results but not sure of they were relevant? If anyone has any advice on these numbers I'd appreciate it. Many thanks.

22 Replies

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SeasideSusieAdministrator

a year ago

Dee215 Are there any reference ranges alongside the results? If so please add them to you our post, you can edit by clicking on the down arrow V below your original post, choose EDIT, make the changes, then click the green EDIT RESPONSE button.

Your ferritin is very low, it should be half way through it's range with a minimum of 70 for thyroid hormone to work. You are on the maximum for iron tablets. Make sure you take each one with 1000mg Vit C to aid absorption and help prevent constipation, and take them 4 hours away from thyroid meds and two hours away from any other medication and supplements as iron affects their absorption.

For your B12, pop over to the Pernicious Anaemia Society forum here on Health Unlocked for further advice healthunlocked.com/pasoc

Dee215

in reply to SeasideSusie

I have stopped taking the iron tablets, on the advice of the nurse practitioner at the surgery. The iron tablets give me bad stomach pain. Not constipation (although they do that aswell), high up in the actual stomach, between the sternum and the navel. Cramping pain, quite severe, radiating into my back. Not heartburn, not acid rising up; pain, making my breathing shallow, keeping me awake at night. I asked the pharmacist for any suggestions to reduce it, he said I needed to be seen by the doctor. So I went into the surgery and explained, the receptionist put me on the triage list for a telephone call. That's what they do, they don't give out appointments until you have jumped through all the hoops. Anyway, I waited three hours for a phone call, finally got the nurse practitioner. I explained my symptoms, she said "Well stop taking them then. It will be in your system by now anyway." And that was it.

in reply to Dee215

I explained my symptoms, she said "Well stop taking them then. It will be in your system by now anyway." And that was it.

Oh FGS, what a load of tosh! Your level needs building up and once at the right level it needs maintaining. Ferritin is your iron store, the pantry if you like. When your body needs some, it takes the iron out of the pantry. The pantry then needs restocking.

If you can't tolerate iron tablets, see if they will give you an iron infusion, that gets the level up within 24-48 hours.

Otherwise, start eating liver regularly, maximum 200g per week due to the high Vit A content, plus lots of iron rich foods apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/in... I raised my ferritin from 35 to 91 by eating liver as I couldn't tolerate iron tablets.

OK, sorry about that, will try again.

Original blood test first of all, before B12 and Iron tablets

CRP 0.20 (<5.0) mg/L

Ferritin L 17. (2 20 - 150) ug/L

Thyroid Function TSH 1.16 (0.27 - 4.20 )mIU/L

T4 Total 82.8 (64.5 - 142.0) nmol/L

Free T4 14.13 (12 - 22) pmol/L

Free T3 4.54 (3.1 - 6.8) pmol/L

Immunology

Anti-Thyroidperoxidase abs 7.6 (<34) kIU/L

Anti-Thyroglobulin Abs 12 (<115) kU/L

Vitamins

Vitamin D (25 OH) 84 (Deficient <25 nmol/L Insufficient 25 - 50)

Vitamin B12 L 216 ( Deficient <140 pmol/L Insufficient 140 - 250)

Serum Folate 13.30 (8.83 - 60.8) nmol/L

This weeks blood test, after Loading dose of B12 and a month of 3 iron tablets per day

Serum folate level 4.2ug/L (Folate deficient if <3.9ug/L)

Serum ferritin level 32ug/L (15.0 - 150.0) Ferritin may be elevated due to inflammatory response and may not reflect iron stores

Serum vitamin B12 Above range >2000 ng/L (197.0 - 771.0)

Serum TSH level 1.4mlU/L (0.27 - 4.2)

Haemoglobin concentration 125g/L (110.0 - 147.0)

Total white blood count 5.5 10*9/L (3.5 - 9.5)

Platelet count 253 10*9/L (150 - 400)

Red blood cell count 4.54 10*12/L (3.75 - 5.0)

Mean cell volume 86.3 fL (80.0 - 98.1)

Haematocrit 0.392 L/L (0.32 - 0.43)

Mean cell haemoglobin level 27.5pg (27.0 - 33.0)

Mean cell haemoglobin concentration 319g/L (335.0 - 370.0) Outside reference range

Hope this is more useful. Any advice would be really appreciated

TSH 1.16 (0.27 - 4.20 )mIU/L

These results discount primary hypothyroidism, your TSH would have to be high, over range, for that, along with low FT4 and FT3. But a low/normal TSH with low FT4/FT3 can mean central or tertiary hypothyroidism where the fault lies with the pituitary or hypothalamus.

Vitamin D (25 OH) 84

This isn't too bad. The recommended level according to the Vit D Council is 100-150nmol/L. If you'd like to nudge it up a bit then 2000iu D3 daily would probably do it, that's a fairly common maintenance dose for a lot of people, particularly over the winter.

If you do supplemen, there are important cofactors needed when taking D3

vitamindcouncil.org/about-v...

D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and K2-MK7 directs the calcium to bones and teeth where it is needed and away from arteries and soft tissues where it can be deposited and cause problems.

D3 and K2 are fat soluble so should be taken with the fattiest meal of the day, D3 four hours away from thyroid meds.

Magnesium comes in different forms, check to see which would suit you best and as it's calming it's best taken in the evening, four hours away from thyroid meds

naturalnews.com/046401_magn...

Check out the other cofactors too.

Not sure why they've included the note about elevated ferritin due to inflammatory response, when yours is very low.

As already suggested, post all your B12 information on the PA forum for further advice.

You need to ask your GP about the significance of this. Why has it been mentioned and what is he going to do about it. Also mention that your Mean cell haemoglobin has barely scraped into range (by 0.5) and ask whether any of the other full blood count results are cause for concern.

You need to research yourself to find answers, then armed with knowledge discuss with your GP. For starters, low MCHC:

healthline.com/health/low-m...

medfriendly.com/mean-corpus...

Also low MCHC and low MCH

livestrong.com/article/5523...

Most of us have had to help ourselves when doctors don't or wont if we want to feel well.