Posts by Brandon Newman95

mistyhound2 said:Serum iron is honestly the worst way to track anemia caused by deficiency. Like, seriously, measuring serum iron is pointless. But of course, these clueless doctors don't have a clue. If you're anemic, you're anemic, and the cause is usually just some messed up iron balance. You should be doing other tests to actually find out why the anemia is happening in the first place. That’s supposed to be on your primary care doctor, not a gynecologist or a hematologist. You only see a specialist once your GP hits a wall with complex stuff...

My entire blood panel was a disaster. I posted it online once to get a second opinion.

Jeffrey Peterson43 said:From what I can tell, there’s no actual anemia here. It looks like just a dip in iron stores. The best move is probably to top them back up with some iron supplements and then just re-test everything in three months.

Anyway, jumping in here regarding the Levothyroxine: honestly, some people find it totally nauseating and deal with all sorts of digestive issues from it.
Personally? I handle it just fine. No complaints from me.
And like someone else mentioned earlier: go heavy on the blackberry juice—basically any berries you can find—plus tons of red and green veggies.

Jeffrey Peterson43 said:I honestly don't get what kind of roleplay they think they're pulling now. Seriously.
Look, don't get all worked up, but you're honestly just running out of things to say at this point. You've got zero arguments left.🙄

Look, I’m not even mad here. I didn't mean like, going on a total starvation diet for two weeks or anything—I just meant being mindful about what I'm eating. I've heard people talk about it, you know? Read stuff online, too. The whole idea is just to get an accurate blood panel without all the medication messing with the results. I've seen plenty of sources say the same thing, honestly. Or maybe just three days of adjusting. Anyway, I've heard a ton of different things about getting those labs to reflect reality, but I gotta run. Catch you later.
Look, I’m really not a doctor or anything. I'm just a regular person who doesn't know the first thing about this stuff.
And honestly, at the end of the day, it all just comes down to the individual.
Look, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, whether we see eye to eye or not. Honestly, it’s best if we just drop it and move on.
Look, I’d say you should probably just check with your doctor first. It really depends on who you're seeing. Some doctors will want to run a whole battery of more tests to be safe, while others will just put you on some Levothyroxine and tell you to come back for a follow-up in two months. Everyone does things differently.

Jeffrey Peterson43 said:I honestly don't even know what to say to him or how to explain my doubts, especially since his labs show he's perfectly healthy.
Maybe the doctor just doesn't know enough and is feeling unsure herself, but if that's the case, she should probably pick up a medical textbook instead of scaring patients and ordering unnecessary tests. Don't you think?

Look, maybe she's just some new resident or an intern who's overcompensating by ordering extra tests just to be safe, or maybe she's a specialist in training who needs to hit the books a bit more.
At the end of the day, you have to remember the guy is a smoker and then there's everything else... from what I can gather as a layman, his blood work looks like something where you just need to watch your diet for two weeks without jumping straight to medication. And obviously, age matters too when you're looking at those results.

Jeffrey Peterson43 said:But you had abnormal results. That's when having support and advice actually matters.
But look at the guy above—his labs are perfectly normal. Why on earth would you try to scare him by acting like something is wrong?

The only way that makes sense is if he's dealing with some "paranoid" doctor who just wants to pass him off to a specialist just to be safe. You shouldn't be scaring people; you should just explain things clearly—talk to them, don't just stare at a computer screen.
Anyway, my own numbers have improved and everyone's happy with the progress. We'll just have to see how things look in three months. 🙂

Sam Hall15 said:Waiting on a PM....
And just a quick word to all the ladies out there 😁 because I constantly hear—or see online—people claiming they get their anemia treated by their OB-GYN. Look, you should be handling anemia through your primary care doctor or a family practitioner, or if things get serious, a hematologist. Sure, an OB-GYN might play a small part in the process, but they definitely shouldn't be the ones running the whole show, even though that seems to be exactly what happens half the time...

I don't treat my anemia with an OB-GYN (that was just one specific test they ran). I manage it through both my hematologist and my primary care physician.

Sam Hall15 said:Brandon Newman95—look, I don't agree with the idea that you should unnecessarily scare patients. I never do that. There are plenty of reasons why, and honestly, if you take the right approach, you just explain the situation clearly. If they understand what's going on, let them make their own call. At the end of the day, everyone is responsible for themselves...

Here’s how I see it: you shouldn't go out of your way to terrify a patient, but you can definitely be direct.
Take my own experience, for instance: back in November, I caught some "weird" virus.
Literally every single one of my lab results was below the normal range. I was incredibly anemic and actually blacked out for a second, plus I felt totally wiped out. My hemoglobin was at 88 and iron was down to 2.9. And of course, the coughing came with a fever, even though my lungs and throat seemed fine. Should my doctor have just brushed me off or sent me straight to an internist or hematologist? Because he was such a huge help, unlike my OBGYN (who basically told me in the rudest way possible that I just froze up and then suggested I go see someone privately). Apparently, the low iron was something gynecological.
After hearing all that stuff from my GP telling me to just relax, that everything would be fine, and that they were just looking for the cause of the anemia, I felt so much better just knowing I had someone in my corner.

P.S. I'll shoot you a PM with the rest of the story.

Jeffrey Peterson43 said:What exactly is there to prevent or treat here?
Is it really better to just scare someone for no reason by implying something is wrong?
As for the results, take a closer look, everything is laid out right there.

I'm saying I can't see anything because the photo of the results is blurry.
Personally, I think scaring someone unnecessarily is a bad move—there are much more subtle ways to deliver news without immediately jumping to the absolute worst-case scenario. Why does everyone default to assuming the worst possible outcome instantly?
I'm guessing you're a doctor by profession.

Jeffrey Peterson43 said:His labs are totally fine, there’s zero "excess" anything here.
I'm with Sam Hall15 on this one.
Personal opinions don't change the data.
The doctor is just burning through the tax dollars we all pay into the system for nothing.
The guy is healthy.🙂

Look, I agree with Sam partially, but not entirely.
In my book, prevention is always better than trying to fix a disaster after it happens. It's better to be safe and get checked out.
Personally, I pay plenty for my Medicare plus some extra private insurance (and honestly, I've really needed that coverage this year).
Just a heads up: I don't see his hemoglobin, MCHC, or especially his iron levels on this report.

Sam Hall15 said:Look, if a doctor leans way too hard on test results—and you definitely shouldn't be treating them as absolute truth anyway—then they’re basically a bad doctor by default. And the ones who just randomly scan results without actually checking on the patient? Even worse. If you're looking for a decent, thorough physician, find someone who actually takes the time to sit down, talk to you, and perform a real exam instead of just ordering a mountain of tests... This person doesn't have a single value outside the normal range, not even their Bank of America levels or other blood counts, so clearly we're dealing with a doctor who doesn't really know their stuff...

I’m guessing you’re either a doctor or a med student. I agree with one part—yeah, doctors should take enough time for an actual conversation and a physical exam. But if a doctor wants to run follow-up tests, why shouldn't they? It's not like they're paying out of pocket; Medicare covers those tests.
From what I gathered, he mentioned having three values that were over the limit regarding iron (and look, I know being low on iron sucks, but having too much is also bad news), especially when you factor in the blood count and hemoglobin.
Besides, from talking to them, I've noticed that every second doctor seems to have a different opinion on hemoglobin and iron. 🙂 Some people just stare at the whole blood panel, some compare the blood work to the iron levels, and others look at all three plus the physical exam and everything else.

Sam Hall15 said:first off, his iron levels aren't even high, they're totally normal, and second never should a doctor treat a lab report instead of the actual patient. basically, if one single value is outside the reference range but doesn't tie back to how the patient actually feels, it usually isn't worth following up on—and I'm emphasizing "usually" because that goes for different types of tests. and obviously, wasting money by sending people for unnecessary tests is a waste, I don't see any confusion there...

I don't really see how much iron is actually there, he just says hemoglobin, MCHC, and some other stuff is elevated.
I see plenty of confusion here; you don't just look at a blood panel in a vacuum, you have to look at how the patient is doing overall.
Anyway, I've noticed everyone seems to mix up hemoglobin and iron, but you've gotta look at both.
They aren't the same thing.
And if you think getting extra tests done is just throwing money away—well, I disagree. I’d much rather have a picky, thorough doctor who wants to double-check everything (the healthcare system is what it is, and I have every right to demand thoroughness since I pay a massive chunk of my paycheck toward Medicare and private insurance premiums) than someone who just brushes you off with some antibiotics for a virus or whatever.
If a doctor has even a slight suspicion about something, I'd much rather they run more tests just to be safe.

Sam Hall15 said:Is the doctor okay??? These results look perfectly fine to me. From what I can tell, this looks like a total waste of money on tests you don't even need... everything is within range, you're healthy 😁 so there

I noticed something: if a doctor is an absolute jerk, they’ll just dump you into more testing. But if they don't send you for more tests, then you're stuck "fighting tooth and nail" against them later on. I'm not talking specifically about Sark.
Why would anyone call extra testing a waste of money? We already pay enough in taxes for healthcare, not to mention whatever else we have to shell out for supplemental insurance.
Anyway, honestly, I don't think I've ever seen anyone where every single blood value was perfectly normal. There's always something slightly high or slightly low.
The only thing with Sark could be that his iron levels are too high, which is probably why the doctor is being cautious—we all know you have to keep an eye on your liver when that happens. 🙂
Isn't it better to prevent something than to try and fix it after the fact?

The only thing they actually have coordinated is when you can call in to Order—like, there's just one specific time for centralized ordering.

jadesailor14 said:the rules changed after New Year's
where I was trying to Order, you actually had to show up in person with the referral
they take the referral back and then you bring that same one to the actual exam, supposedly it just serves as proof that they’re Ordering for a legitimate need—apparently that's how they managed to shorten the waiting lists 🤷
the expiration date on referrals varies; I asked about surgery specifically because of the wait times, and since mine was issued at the end of last year, they told me it’s valid for two years 🤷

I was trying to Order at Mercy Hospital (Beverly Hills, NYC), for ENT and thyroid stuff. And I did everything over the phone (without even driving down there) and got an appointment. Then after the exam, I show them the referral and they keep it. Basically, the first few days of the month are open, so that's when they have openings. If I understood correctly. I got the ENT thing done within a week, and the thyroid should be done in less than a month. And it wasn't just for those two things either, I had a whole pile of stuff to get checked out and I got seen relatively fast. If they don't have space, they just refer you elsewhere where there's availability.
Meanwhile, someone in my close family was trying to book at Holy Spirit, and they didn't get an appointment until May, yet the same thing needed at Beverly Hills gets an appointment in less than three weeks.
As far as I know, the referral is good for a month, but if you miss that window, people easily just fix the date on the paper or issue a new one with the doctor's stamp.

Since this is about a hospital in a smaller town, I honestly don't know how things work over there, but it seems to me like everyone is just doing their own thing.

A doctor can't exactly issue a referral without a date because they're all linked up on the computer (Deloitte), so the ones who actually follow the rules stay by the book.

That’s just not true. You can definitely Order over the phone or just show up in person, though if you don't mind me asking, which hospital are we even talking about here?

Look, after you've been out on medical leave for three weeks, they always try to drag you in front of some review board—it's happened before, too. If those people decide you're suddenly fit to work, don't just take it lying down. File an appeal. And honestly? Send in as many as you can. Just bury them in paperwork.

Look, I'm giving you some straight advice from someone who knows dentistry: stay far away from Ivica Mršić. That guy at Jarun Privatization is basically running a scam—he claims he takes Medicare, but honestly? He nearly ruined one of my perfectly healthy teeth.

Look, if they try to pull you off disability, don't just take it lying down. Grab every single medical report and test result you have, bring the whole damn pile with you, and then file an appeal with the medical board immediately.

I know one person who’s been coughing her lungs out constantly from early autumn all the way through spring. She’s got a kid who’s basically a walking petri dish, bringing home every bug under the sun, and naturally, we all end up catching whatever she's passing around.
Then you've got those folks working private gigs where they can't even afford to take a sick day without losing pay.

Sam Anderson13 said:Boy, 7 years old. Height - 47 inches, weight - 50 lbs. He’s dealing with anemia, so we were looking through his bloodwork to see how things are sitting. If anyone can make sense of these numbers, please help:

-out of range values:

HB: 109 g/L (120 - 175)
MCH: 26.6 pg (27.0 - 33.0)
MCHC: 299 g/L (320 - 360)
RDW: 30.1 % (12 - 15)

SE: 15/34 ( M 5-12 ; F 10-24)

UIBC: 12.5 L umol/L (28.0 - 68.0)
TIBC: 22.8 L umol/L (49.0 - 72.0)

Looking for advice on what comes next—what should our move be?
Thanks in advance for any input. Cheers!

Like someone already pointed out, go see a hematologist.