Blood results - well the "wonky" ones anyway.

[Moggie]

Hi All,

Had a shed loads of blood tests done by my endo and have got three sheets of results - to long to post them all - but felt I needed to post the problem ones for some feedback from you's guys.

FBC

RBC - 4.96 (3.80 - 4.80)

MCH - 25.4 (27- 34) Dont know what MCH is or does?

Other Tests

Saturated Transferrin - 12 (15 - 50) Now on iron suppliments

ALP - 316 (80 - 260) Again dont know what this is or does?

PTH (Parathyroid) - 9.8 (0.95 - 5.7)

Cortisol 247 - no range and this was taken at 12.30m and is marked in bold as is other "wonky" results so would like to know what the range for that time of day is supposed to be.

VitD 43.9 (25 - 75 insufficient) Weeks course of 50,000iu and GP been advised to arrange long term maintenance dose (will be interesting to see if she tries ignores this).

Another test I'm not sure of is the Coeliac one which is IgA t AB's - 0 (0 - 7) Not sure about this as I told my endo I had been wheat and almost gluten free for over 3 months so dont think this test was worth doing but would like to know which way the range is - is it the lower the more likely to be Coeliac or the higher?

Will be asking my endo WHY and WHERE has all my VitD gone as in June last year, after a two week course of 50,000iu suppliments, my levels went from 12.5 - 154 so I think a drop of over 100 needs explaining. I need to know, with my parathyroid high (again), VitD low again and calcium still at top end of range if there is anything suspect going on with my parathyroid.

My antibodies are over 1,000.

Have other results with me so if anyone wants more info please ask but an comments or thoughts would be appreciated.

Moggie x

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

RBC Red Blood Cell

Decreased with anaemia; increased when too many made and with fluid loss due to diarrhoea, dehydration, burns

MCH Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin May be low in iron deficiency, inflammatory conditions and thalassaemia

Raised levels of ALP are usually due to a disorder of either the bone or liver. If other liver function tests such as bilirubin, gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) or alanine aminotransferase (ALT) are also raised, this usually indicates that the ALP is coming from the liver. However if calcium and phosphate measurements are abnormal, this suggests that the ALP might be coming from bone. In some forms of liver disease, such as hepatitis, ALP is usually much less elevated than AST or ALT. However, when the bile ducts are blocked (for example by gallstones, scars from previous gallstones or surgery, or by a tumour), ALP and bilirubin may be increased much more than either AST or ALT. ALP can also be raised in bone diseases such as Paget’s disease (where bones become enlarged and deformed), in certain cancers that spread to bone or in vitamin D deficiency.

All above from:

labtestsonline.org.uk/

This is the most comprehensive parathyroid site I can find and has lots and lots of information. (Maybe I have mentioned it before?)

parathyroid.com/

Have you taken vitamin D between the loading doses and now? If not, I think someone should have told you to keep taking some. But given the parathyroid issues, I'd probably want to discuss with endo - as you say.

Rod

[Moggie in reply to helvella]

Thanks Rod,

Was taking 2,000iu VitD daily after loading dose in June but they appeared to make my palps a lot worse (as did B12 suppliments) so I stopped them.

Cant find a GGT or a ALT on these test results to check, but do have liver test results done a few weeks back at home so will check, but its funny that you should mention Paget's disease as almost all of my mothers side of the family have it, including my mum.

Any thoughts on the Coeliac or adrenal results Rod that you think might help.

Moggie x

[lizanne in reply to Moggie]

Hi Moggie

re Vit D - I was told that at this time of year your Vit D stores will be at their lowest (ie after a very, very long winter and no sunshine as yet).

And the stores are normally highest at the end of summer/September when you have had lots of sun exppsure on those hot summer days (I vaguely remember them....).

So that is why I was told to take double VIt D supplement (5000 iu a day) over winter months and half that amount over summer months if you are not out in the sunshine,

That to me would explain why your Vit D results were so high last summer and after lots of supplementing and are now very low.

I am not an expert on this but just relaying what I was told as it would seem to fit with your result maybe? Particularly if you cant tolerate Vit D supplements?

Lizanne

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Moggie]

I don't feel comfortable answering - I know how little I know!

[Moggie in reply to helvella]

Thanks Rod.

Moggie x

[Moggie]

My vitD result was so high last summer because I had 700,000iu's pumped into me over a course of two weeks, which is a hell of a lot of VitD. What I want to know is why has it drop so low again and in such a relatively short space of time, even though it has been winter. Where has it all gone? What has the body done with it all?

The reason I am asking these questions is that if you have a calcium level at the top of the range (which I do) and a high parathyroid level (which I do) and your VitD keeps dropping then that COULD indicate a small tumour in your parathyroid. I only say could but I will be asking my endo's opinion on this.

Thanks for your input.

Moggie x

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Moggie]

I take (usually) somewhere around 5,000 IU a day to keep my level stable.

Whilst 700,000 IU is unquestionably a lot, it is only 140 days' worth at 5,000 a day.

[Moggie]

I hear what your saying Rod and I hope your right and my parathyroid is tickety boo but I still feel that I need to ask my endo the question and hear his explination. I'm afraid I am one of these people who has to make sense of things with an explination I can both understand and believe. Lets hope my endo gives me this.

I wonder what maintenance dose my GP will have me on as, according to her last year, a dose of 1,000iu daily would have maintained my levels.

Moggie x

[poing]

The usual coeliac test looks for TTG antibodies - if they don't find any auto-antibodies then you haven't got it, so the lower the number the better. It looks like you're clear on that one.

However, this coeliac test cannot be used to diagnose gluten intolerance, which is a different condition.

[poing in reply to poing]

Just to add TTG Ab usually falls back to zero within a matter of weeks when people stop eating gluten, so the test isn't very useful if you're not actually eating gluten.

Mind you, if you plan to stay gluten free, then it's a hypothetical question anyway.

[Moggie in reply to poing]

Thanks Poing. Do you know how relevent it is that I was wheat free for over three months when the test was done.

Moggie x

[Moggie in reply to poing]

Thanks Poing - it looks like your second reply and my reply to you crossed.

Thanks for your input.

Moggie x