Lab results - looking for opinions [PLEASE READ 1ST POST]

Please, if anyone has any advice, I’m all ears. Over the last year, my sense of smell—which I never actually had thanks to Kalman syndrome—has started coming back. But there's a catch: even though I still can't quite pin down specific scents, just being near a smell triggers dizziness, weakness, heart palpitations, and sometimes a rash on my arms, face, or neck... they gave me some antihistamines to deal with it. I'm sensitive to basically everything: bleach, wall paint, strong natural scents like linden or jasmine, hair dye, nail polish, sweat, smoke... you name it, it bugs me. Honestly, until recently, I lived in a scentless world and was doing just fine hahahahahaha... I'd gotten used to it. My Holter monitor and heart ultrasound say everything is perfectly fine (though the doctor keeps pointing to stress as the culprit), and my OBGYN says everything is normal too (I hit early menopause because of that syndrome mentioned above, and I stopped taking Trisequens about four years ago). My blood work shows nothing crazy except a slightly elevated MCHC at 350 g/l... everything else—iron, blood sugar, cholesterol (both good and bad), urine protein levels—is totally normal. They did find a little bit of bacteria, and I went through allergy testing. First, the skin prick tests showed absolutely nothing; apparently, I'm not allergic to anything. After that, I had bloodwork done by a private immunologist. Food and inhalation allergens all came back negative. They also ran
ANA 8 profile
dsDNA negative
RNP negative
SM negative
SS-A/Ro negative
SS-B/La negative
Scl-70 negative
CENP-B negative
Jo-1 negative

Anti-ds DNA IgA 25.0
Anti-ds DNA IgM 23.2
Anti-ds DNA IgG 24.8

Cardiolipin antibodies IgA 14.1
Cardiolipin antibodies IgM 7.3
Cardiolipin antibodies IgG 8.9

Anti beta 2 glycoprotein IgA 5.1
Anti beta 2 glycoprotein IgM 6.9
Anti beta 2 glycoprotein IgG 4.6

They told me these Anti-ds DNA IgA, IgM, and IgG levels are a bit high... but they didn't give me any other answers regarding what that actually points to. So, what should I do next? I have an appointment with an ENT soon. Can someone please make sense of these results for me? 🙂
THANKS!

Totally forgot to mention—those results I listed above? The units are in U/ml

Hi there!
Has anyone here dealt with OGTT results or insulin resistance before? I had mine done because I suspect I might have PCOS.

OGTT
Glucose (0min)...5.2 mmol/L (ref. 4.4 to 6.4)
Glucose (120min)...3.9 mmol/L (ref. 4.4 to 6.4)

INSULIN RESISTANCE (HOMA calculator)
Insulin...7.7 mU/L (ref. 2.6 to 24.9)
Beta cell function..97%
Peripheral insulin sensitivity...86%
Insulin resistance index 1.2

Thanks!

Greetings,

I am 33 years old. My ESR has been hovering around 13 to 15 for the last five years. It is always right there on the borderline, isn't it?!

As for my other labs, the only outlier is my GGT, which dropped from 150 down to 85 since I started cutting back on body fat (down from 227 lbs to 214 lbs, standing at 6'1").

So, what’s the deal with eGFR?

Hi everyone,
We just got our little one's (10g) HLA typing results back today, and I was wondering if anyone here might be able to help me make sense of them? We don't have our follow-up appointment until next week, and honestly, I'm just feeling a bit lost. My baby is already three and a half months old and we still don't have a definitive diagnosis. It feels like we've been through an endless cycle of tests—ultrasounds, MRIs, scintigraphy, electromyography, immunology, rheumatology... you name it, we've done it. The hardest part is seeing the pain. There’s this intense knee pain that makes walking so difficult, and sometimes the discomfort is just unbearable. We've tried everything from Ibuprofen to Mobic, but nothing seems to touch it. Every now and then, there's some slight swelling near the patella area and the skin turns this deep, dark red color... but then all the other test results come back perfectly fine, right within the normal range. It’s so frustrating! So, these typing results just arrived—does anyone know if these might finally give us some actual answers?

The results are:

HLA - A 2 19
HLA - B 5 ND

CDC Method

HLA - C NT NT
HLA - DRB1* 11 14
HLA DQB1* NT NT

PCR_SSO/SSP Method

Maria Gray45 said:So, what's the deal with eGFR?

It's just shorthand for "estimated glomerular filtration rate." Basically, it's a way to measure how well your kidneys are actually doing their job—like, how fast they're "cleaning your blood" and flushing out waste through your urine.
If that eGFR number drops, it usually means someone's dealing with some stage of chronic kidney disease (there are five stages, I think), which just means the kidneys aren't performing at full strength for whatever reason.

amberfox99 said:That’s just shorthand for "estimated glomerular filtration rate." Basically, it’s a metric showing how well your kidneys are actually doing their job—how fast they’re "cleaning your blood" and flushing out all the junk through your pee.
If that eGFR number drops, we’re talking about some stage of chronic kidney disease (there are 5 stages total), meaning for whatever reason, the kidneys aren't firing on all cylinders anymore.

The chart says anything up to 90 is fine, and mine is sitting at 85. I took my labs to the doctor to check, and they were just like, "Yeah, looks good." Should I be sweating this?

Maria Gray45 said:It says up to 90, but my value is 85. I showed my doctor the results and they just said everything looks fine. Should I be worried?

No reason to worry, those results look perfectly normal to me. 🙂

Could someone please help me make sense of these results?
Neutrophils 76.7 (Ref: 44-72)
Lymphocytes 16.3 (Ref: 20-46)
Are these numbers okay, or should I be worried about some kind of imbalance? Everything else came back normal. Thanks a million.
, 50 years old, just had these done for a routine physical exam.

Sarah Williams37 said:Can someone please help me out? Are these numbers
Neutrophils 76.7 and
Lymphocytes 16.3
actually fine, or am I looking at some kind of issue? Everything else looks normal, thanks a ton.

Honestly, if your total white blood cell count is within range, you’re probably fine. Neutrophils and lymphocytes are just different types of leukocytes—basically, different kinds of white blood cells. These percentages just show how much of your white cell count belongs to each specific group.
Usually, when white cell counts spike, it's because of some ongoing inflammation, and typically, you see higher neutrophils if there's a bacterial infection involved.

amberfox99 said:If your total white blood cell count is within range, you're fine. Neutrophils and lymphocytes are just specific types of white blood cells. These percentages simply show how your white blood cell population is distributed.
White blood cell counts typically spike during active inflammation; usually, if there's a bacterial infection involved, the neutrophils will be the ones trending higher.

The white cell count is 11, just noticed that now... thanks so much! 🙂

Sarah Williams37 said:My white blood cell count is 11.5, just saw it now.

That’s a little high, but honestly, it's pretty minor. Most doctors look for anything under 9 or 10 to call it normal. If there was actually something worth worrying about, I guess those numbers would be way higher than that.

amberfox99 said:That’s slightly elevated, but we’re talking minimal here. Usually, anything up to 9 or 10 is considered perfectly normal. If there were actually something to worry about, you'd see a much more significant spike in the white blood cell count.

Thanks so much🙏

I have a simple question... if the white blood cell count or the lymphocyte count is elevated in a blood test (I might be mixing them up...) — could that potentially indicate inflammation somewhere in the body, or perhaps an external inflammation that would be visible...

John Martin18 said:I've got a pretty straightforward question... basically, if the white blood cell count or the lymphocyte count is high in a blood test (I might be mixing them up...) — could that possibly point to some kind of inflammation? Like, either somewhere inside the body or maybe an external inflammation that you'd actually be able to see?

Lymphocytes are actually just one type of leukocyte. Usually, when white blood cells are significantly elevated, it’s a sign that there's some inflammation going on somewhere in the body. A blood panel gives us a general overview of how things are looking, and then depending on what symptoms are present, we can start guessing at the cause. For instance, if someone has a really sore throat, a fever, and high white cell counts, we'd probably suspect a bacterial infection like strep throat.
A slightly elevated white cell count (like 11) usually doesn't mean much of anything, honestly.

amberfox99 said:Seriously, don't sweat it. Everything looks totally normal here. 🙂

So it's all good then?
then why did it flag mine as low?

Maria Gray45 said:So, does this mean everything's fine?
If things are okay, why did my numbers come back lower than expected?

The general rule of thumb is that you want to see values north of 90. Since yours is sitting at an eGFR of 85, your kidneys are almost certainly doing their job just fine. I don't know how old you are, but honestly, those numbers tend to dip a little bit naturally as we get older. Just so you know, eGFR isn't just one single number; doctors use two different formulas—CKD-EPI and MDRD—that factor in things like sex, age, race, and your blood creatinine levels. All in all, I don't think you have anything to worry about with this result.

amberfox99 said:The general consensus is that anything north of 90 is ideal. You’re sitting just a hair under that, but honestly, if your eGFR is at 85, your kidneys are doing just fine. I don't know how old you are, but those numbers tend to dip slightly as you get older anyway. They calculate eGFR using two different formulas—CKD-EPI and MDRD—taking into account things like sex, age, blood creatinine levels, and race. Bottom line? Don't sweat this result.

Thanks, at least I won't spend the day spiraling. I was actually starting to freak out thinking this was another thing going wrong. My health has been a total wreck lately, so I figured my kidneys were finally checking out too.
My last test showed 85, and about 20 days before that, it was 88.

I have a quick question if anyone knows the answer.

If the white blood cell count comes back normal, can the differential still be messed up and point to something?

I just picked up my labs and realized my doctor only ordered a CBC, even though I specifically asked for a full panel. I've been running fevers the last few days but don't have any other symptoms. Since I deal with an autoimmune disease, it's huge for me to get everything checked to see if my condition is flaring up or if I've just caught something else.

My ESR is fine, urine tests are all clear (used a dipstick), and my CBC and biochemistry look okay—except for my iron and hemoglobin levels.
I'm debating whether it's worth paying out of pocket for a differential to see if there's actually something going on with those white cells, or if I'm just throwing money away since the total WBC count is normal.