Blood Tests
 

Was at my docs for my monthly check-up, he took blood as some other tests had shown red blood cells had been slightly larger than normal and he wanted to ckeck for vitamin deficiencies, I got a letter from him yesterday to get bloods redone as my white blood cell count was down again this is the third time in a month, anyone any ideas what causes this, after the first time it happened I upped my intake of vitamin c kindly advised by mrsD so I reckon there must be something else going on.............Marie xx

Enlarged red cells imply a low B12 level. Sometimes this is a first indicator of low B12. (this test is called MCV in the CBC screen).

Do you take B12? Have you had that measured recently?
Low B12 impacts the nerves quite a bit.

Hi mrsD saviour once again, I don't take B12 I'm afraid, being unemployed and trying to find the money for my mortgage I'm afraid there is nothing left to buy supplements.

I take it the MCV test wiill be done when they do a Full Blood Count, if that is the case that was the last tests I got done and they also do a FBC in hospital when I get my IVIG treatment, thanks again.

PS how are wheezie and maya?

A low B12 should have been tested for long ago...It could be causing your troubles. The nervous system becomes damaged when B12
is low.
B12 is so inexpensive...the least costly of any of them! Pennies a day. I don't know about your area, but in the US it is very inexpensive.

Maya just had her spay, and now she is doing well, still playful, but toned down emotionally a bit (she was rather rambunctious).

We have been contacted by people not too far from us who have seen our lost Houdini up the street. I did a door to door therefore and found OTHERS who saw a cat similar to Houdini.
So now I am focusing on getting a glimpse of this animal to see if it is she. I am baiting areas with tuna, and sitting in my car to see if she comes out. If it IS our Houdini it has been 5mon she has been gone! I am rather consumed now with this project, because cold weather is coming and almost here.

Thanks for asking.

Thanks again mrsD I did see on a thread about houdini and didn't want to mention in case I upset you, I hope you find her safe and well soon

Still working on Operation Houdini. It is complex. But today
I found a gal who swears that she saw Houdini. I sent her a photo.

The problem now is to verify that, and figure out how to get her home. It is very stressful. Wish us luck, we'll need it. It is getting very cold now...gotta do this quickly.

In regards to your B12, you should be able to get your doctor
to order it on NHS...do you have that there? It might be injections, but that would be worth trying.

Thanks, get more bloods done on Friday and will see GP after results come back, can get B12 injections on NHS, the only thing is, I have been tested quite a lot for vitamin defiecency can it just suddenly happen?.............Keeping everything crossed for you that you find houdini safe and well..........you are in my thoughts :hug:

Doctors tend to view low results as "normal"...so even if you were tested, you could be low anyway. That is one reason we are here...to help people who are falling thru this crack.
I don't know how accurate things are where you are, but in US the lab ranges go very low and are still called "normal" and people continue to suffer.

Your results may be in different concentration than US units, so if you can get that numerical result, I can convert pmol/L (International) to
pg/ml (US).
The new protocols in US consider anything less than 400 pg/ml
as low.

The first time I was made aware of low white blood count was from the hospita,l I spoke to the ward doctor he said my count was 3.0 and they would not do my infusion until my count came back to "normal" afraid I don't know what normal is, I don't know if this is any help to you.

I am referring to your B12 level, you said was tested in the past.

So I am looking up this "low white cell count" in relation to low B12.

This is what I found:

http://www.cpmedical.net/articles/wh...-folate-levels

While low white cell production does not commonly appear on B12 sites...it does show up on the internet in other keyword searches.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/52...od-cell-count/

It appears to be an overall decrease in blood cell production which mainly shows up in the red cells. But this effect may also be present.

This article mentions pancytopenia as a result of low B12...meaning low values of all the cells of the blood:
http://suite101.com/article/vitamin-...iciency-a14047

So it is very important to know your B12 level, and if it is low,
to raise it up to normal levels.

While a low white count can point to serious disease processes, the low B12 link, is easily and inexpensively fixed. I urge you to follow up on this as you need testing to clarify this.