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

analogorca33 said:I honestly don't get it...

The blood work was mostly ordered because of my sedimentation rate—which is totally normal, by the way. Then they just prescribed that antibiotic again as if the first dose didn't even touch the infection...

...plus, those slight deviations weren't even addressed. I have no clue what they actually mean or if they’re linked to this inflammation or if they're just independent issues unrelated to my throat infection.

My answer remains exactly the same.

vividsailor7 said:My answer remains unchanged.

Perhaps it’s because some doctors aren't even familiar with generic names?

When my dad was dealing with neuropathy following an AAA surgery, his anesthesiologist first tried Tramadol and Lamel. When those didn't cut it, she switched him to Doretta and Arvind—which is essentially just the same combination of Tramadol, paracetamol, and lamotrigine again. Since they are all generics, the idea that the brand name is inherently superior to the generic version simply doesn't hold water.
The only logical conclusion is that the doctor isn't fully grasping the specific chemical makeup of what she's prescribing.

Is it alright if I post here about some symptoms I've been dealing with lately?

Angela Grant22 said:Is it alright if I post here about some symptoms I've been dealing with lately?

To whom it may concern,

If you've had any Laboratory tests done, it would be helpful to post those results. Please describe your symptoms following the guidelines laid out in the opening post.

If you aren't seeing anything on your test results yet but the symptoms are still hitting you, here’s what I’d suggest looking into. Topic Index Is there an existing thread for this? If not, feel free to start a new one.

Don't sweat the placement. Whether you drop a question here or start a new thread elsewhere, the doctors—including vividsailor7—along with the rest of the community, will get back to you. There’s no need to worry about posting in the "wrong" spot. 🙂

Greetings. 🙂

Edit: indra2's post regarding lung CT scans has been moved. Here.If you don't get a response, just reach out to the forum moderator. GertrudeShe works as a radiologist.

Can anyone make sense of these results?

Male, mid-to-late 20s. I have a minor surgery scheduled in a few days.
V.V.
WBC 8.0 _ 10(na devetu)/L _ 4.0-9.0
RBC 5.43H _ 10(dvanestu)/L _ 3.8-5.3
HGB 161 _ g/L _ 115-170
HCT 42.5 _ % _ 34.0-48.0
MCV 78.3L _ fL _ 83.0-100
MCH 29.7 _ Pg _ 27.0-32.0
MCHC 379H _ g/L _ 320-360
PLT 295 _10(na devetu)/L _ 120-380

_ (%) _ _10(na devetu)/L _ (%)
LY 25.2 _ 2.0 _ 23.0-45.0
MO 3.5 _ 0.3_ 2.0-7.0
GR 71.3 _ 5.7 _ 4.0-75.0
EO _ <0.7_

RDW 16.6H _ % _ 11.5-14.5
PCT 0.19 _ % _ 0.08-1.00
MPV 6.7 _ fL _ 6.0-10.0
PDW 18.3H _ % _ 10.0-15.0

VK 240 seconds
VZ 900 seconds

Serum
TBI 16.6 _ 3.0-17.0 _ umol/L
ALT 39.9 _ 10.0-65.0 _ U/L
BUN 5.6 _ 2.5-7.5 _ mmol/L
AST 19.6 _ 0.0-37.0 _ U/L
GLUC 5.6 _ 4.1-5.9 _ mmol/L
CREA 88.7 _62.0-106.0 _ umol/L
GGT 39 _ 5-85_ U/L

Terry Reed13 said:Can anyone help me make sense of these labs?
Male, mid-to-late 20s, and I have a minor surgery scheduled in a few days.
.........................................

So, this is just standard pre-op prep.
From what I can tell, everything looks perfectly fine.

vividsailor7 said:So, that's the pre-op prep.
The results look fine to me.

Fine then.

I noticed a few values weren't hitting the "ideal" range, which felt off to me...

Specifically these:

RBC 5.43H _ 10(twelve)/L _ 3.8-5.3
MCV 78.3L _ fL _ 83.0-100
MCHC 379H _ g/L _ 320-360

EO _
RDW 16.6H _ % _ 11.5-14.5
PDW 18.3H _ % _ 10.0-15.0

wanderinghawk22 said:Here is my report, though it’s a biopsy rather than standard lab work...😛Four thin cylindrical tissue samples, ranging from 0.6 to 1 cm, were collected. Histologically, there is lymphoid tissue with surrounding connective tissue, and within the medullary area, dilated sinuses surrounded by proliferating plasma cells. Nearly all cylinders show single or clustered atypical, medium-sized—occasionally larger—irregular lymphatic cells. Immunohistochemistry shows them as cd3+, cd2+, cd5+, cd4+, cd8-, cd7-, and cd20-. CD21 staining fails to demonstrate any remaining follicular dendritic network.???

Hello,

Do you have any other details from the report?

It's a bit sparse, I'd say, if one wants to draw a meaningful conclusion.

Usually, the pathologist or cytologist will state a diagnosis clearly in the final summary.

Can someone make sense of these high/low blood work numbers? I'm 31 and pregnant. Just getting my routine prenatal labs done. Currently taking Levothyroxine 350mcg and Bayer Aspirin Low Dose.

HEMATOLOGY
SE 15 (ref 4-24)
WBC 9.3 (ref 3.4 - 9.7)
RBC 3.96 (ref 3.86 - 5.08)
Hemoglobin 126 (ref 119 - 157)
Hematocrit 0.359 (ref 0.356 - 0.470)
MCV 90.9 (ref 83.0 - 97.2)
MCH 31.8 (ref 27.4 - 33.9)
MCHC 350 (ref 320 - 345)
Platelets 228 (ref 158 - 424)
Segmented Granulocytes 73 (ref 44 - 72)
Band Granulocytes / (ref 0 - 2)
Eosinophils 1 (ref 0 - 7)
Basophils 0 (ref 0 - 1)
Lymphocytes 19 (ref 20 - 46)
Monocytes 6 (ref 2 - 12)
Plasma cells / (ref 0 - 1)

COAGULATION
PV 1.09 (ref > 0.70)
INR 0.97

BIOCHEMISTRY
Glucose 4.9 (ref 4.4 - 6.4)
Total Bilirubin 13 (ref 3 - 20)
Iron 12 (ref 8 - 30)
AST 15 (ref 8 - 30)
ALT 11 (ref 10 - 36)
ALP 59 (ref 54 - 119)
GGT 19 (ref 9 - 35)
Cholesterol 5.2 (ref < 5.0)
Triggercerides 0.92 (ref < 1.7)

-----------------

So, since I've been on Levothyroxine 350mcg every single day for like 2.5 months now, shouldn't my iron levels be higher? Also, this high cholesterol thing... is that actually dangerous when you're pregnant?

copperraven53 said:Can someone please explain these high and low values in my blood work? I'm 31 and currently pregnant. I just had my routine prenatal blood panel done. As part of my treatment, I've been taking Levothyroxine 350 and Bayer Aspirin Low Dose.
.................................Given that I've been on Levothyroxine 350 daily for two and a half months now, shouldn't my iron levels be higher? And this elevated cholesterol—is that dangerous during pregnancy?

The results look fine. It is perfectly normal for cholesterol to spike during pregnancy, and honestly, these numbers aren't even a concern. Usually, you'd want a full lipid panel—you know, checking Total Cholesterol, Trigger, LDL, VLDL, and HDL.
Did they actually test your Unsaturated Iron Binding Capacity?
It would also be smart to get your ferritin checked to get a much clearer picture of what's actually happening with your iron stores.

Terry Reed13 said:Fine then. Whatever.

I noticed some of my numbers weren't hitting those "ideal" targets, so I was feeling a bit thrown off... ........................

The labs look fine to me.

copperraven53, your results look solid. Hemoglobin levels are holding steady, and there aren't any signs of anemia. Some specialists argue that iron levels under 12 μmol/l might indicate a deficiency during pregnancy, but that really depends on how it correlates with your other markers—like hemoglobin, hematocrit, and MCV. In your case, those values all seem fine. Any decision to adjust your iron supplementation should probably wait until we check your ferritin levels, which is what vividsailor7 suggested earlier today (he seems to be having much better luck logging into the forum than I am; I've been staring at the login screen for over half an hour with zero success).

It’s also worth noting that slightly elevated cholesterol is pretty standard during pregnancy. It's just the way estrogen and progesterone affect the liver and lipid metabolism.

All in all, your labs are looking perfectly okay. 🙂

Thanks Nicholas Myers and vividsailor7 🙂

vividsailor7 said:Results look fine. It’s totally normal for cholesterol to spike during pregnancy, and everything here looks standard. Usually, you’d want a full lipid panel—you know, Cholesterol, Trigger, LDL, VLDL, HDL.
Did they check your Unsaturated Iron Binding Capacity?
Might be worth checking ferritin too, just to get a better idea of where your iron levels actually stand.

They didn't do the Unsaturated Iron Binding Capacity or TIBC. My primary care doctor usually asks for those whenever we check my iron, but my OB/GYN wrote this specific referral since it’s for pregnancy stuff, so she left them off. She didn't ask for a full lipid panel either.

I actually had my ferritin checked right when I found out I was pregnant and it was pretty low. I don't have the lab report on me because it's sitting at my doctor's office, but she put me on Levothyroxine 350mcg, which I'm currently on my third box of.

I just watched that video, thank you very much.

estradiol 116 (28 - 156)
testosterone 19.32 (9.90 - 27.8)
prolactin 271 (98 - 456)
LH 3.67 (1.7 - 8.6)
FSH 2.89 (1.5 - 12.4)
DHEA-S 11.72 (2.6 - 7.7)
cortisol 499.6 (171 - 536)
ACTH 3.0 (1.6 - 13.9)
TSH 2.45 (0.27 - 4.2)
T4 96.5 (66 - 181)
T3 1.61 (1.3 - 3.1)

drawn at 8 AM fasting after a decent night's sleep. I'm a 30-year-old guy, about 176 lbs and 6'2".

I've been dealing with some "metabolic syndrome" stuff, and honestly, the worst part is this constant brain fog—just feeling kind of stupid, you know? Like I can't focus or remember anything, plus there's this weird lack of motivation and just general weakness.
I recently started taking thyroid hormones, specifically Synthroid. My T4 and T3 levels were actually worse before, sitting right on the bottom edge of the range, and my TSH was a little high too. So, I guess the pills are working, at least on paper... maybe I just need to wait a bit to actually feel the difference.

What really worries me, though, is how the adrenal glands often get caught up in thyroid issues. I feel like they're running full tilt all day long—that sensation where your stomach drops or you feel that rush of adrenaline right before a big exam? Yeah, that, but it lasts for hours. I've felt that intense, wired adrenaline surge quite a bit (I know the feeling well since I've messed around with illegal substances before).
Oh, and my blood pressure is relatively high, even though my heart rate is usually low. On average, I'm looking at 150/90 with a pulse around 50-60 bpm... sometimes it even dips down to 30. It’s not like I have major issues recovering from physical work—my pressure doesn't go crazy then—actually, it seems to settle down after exercise. My pressure drops, my heart rate goes up... but when I'm resting, my pressure stays high, my heart rate is slow, and I get these really frequent palpitations. So, I'm pretty concerned about the ACTH and adrenal hormones. Cortisol is pretty high, and my DHEA-S is over 50% above the upper limit (and I checked it a year and a half ago, and it was also 50% above the limit back then).
Also, just a heads up, if I eat carbs, my stools become watery and, man, they burn like hell. That feels like another symptom. Usually, things are regular, but with carbs, it’s like... overly regular? I don't know, I haven't quite figured it out, but basically, everything just exits my body immediately.
And my hair is thinning out. It looks like male pattern baldness, but it's more diffuse, which is suspicious because my family doesn't go for diffuse thinning.
Plus, I've had dry, flaky skin my whole life, and I'm missing hair on my lower outer legs and stuff like that.

Should I go get my adrenals checked out, or is this high adrenal hormone thing just a side effect of poor thyroid function that will level out once I'm on therapy? I'm just confused how this works without the pituitary/hypothalamus involved, because isn't the pituitary supposed to tell the adrenals to chill out? Why won't mine?

The low FSH is also weighing on me because I want to start having kids soon, and this could be a problem... is that linked to the thyroid issue?

Thanks for any help..

Austin Reed20 said:estradiol 116 (28 - 156)
testosterone 19.32 (9.90 - 27.8)
prolactin 271 (98 - 456)
LH 3.67 (1.7 - 8.6)
FSH 2.89 (1.5 - 12.4)
DHEA-S 11.72 (2.6 - 7.7)
cortisol 499.6 (171 - 536)
ACTH 3.0 (1.6 - 13.9)
TSH 2.45 (0.27 - 4.2)
T4 96.5 (66 - 181)
T3 1.61 (1.3 - 3.1)

Taken at 8 AM fasting after a good night's sleep. 30-year-old male, 180 lbs at 6'1".

I've got some kind of "metabolic syndrome" going on, and the worst symptoms are this massive brain fog—just feeling stupid, unable to concentrate or remember anything—plus this constant lethargy and weakness.
I've recently started taking thyroid hormone, Synthroid; my T4 and T3 were sitting right at the bottom edge before, and TSH was a bit high, so the pills are working, at least on paper. I guess I just have to wait for it to actually kick in.

What’s really eating at me is that when the thyroid acts up, the adrenals often go down with it. I feel them working all day long (that gut-wrenching sensation you get before a huge exam or an adrenaline rush—except this lasts for hours). I also frequently feel hyper and wired; I know the feeling well because I'm no stranger to illegal substances.
Oh, and my blood pressure is relatively high, though my heart rate is usually low. On average, I'm looking at 150/90 with a pulse of 50-60... sometimes it even dips to 30 bpm. It's not like I can't recover after physical exertion—my BP doesn't go crazy then—actually, it settles down after exercise... the pressure drops and the heart rate rises... but while I'm resting, the pressure stays high, my pulse is slow, and I get very frequent palpitations. So, I'm worried about the ACTH and adrenal hormones. Cortisol is quite high, and DHEA-S is 50% above the upper limit (I checked DHEA-S a year and a half ago, and it was also 50% over the limit back then).
Also, if I eat carbohydrates, my stools become watery and they burn like hell in my ass. That seems to be another symptom. Usually, things are regular, but carbs make everything move too fast... maybe not all the time, I haven't quite figured it out yet, but basically, I just purge everything immediately.
My hair is thinning too; it looks like male pattern baldness but it's more diffuse, which is suspicious since my family doesn't deal with diffuse thinning.
And yeah, I've had dry, flaky skin my whole life, and there's almost no hair on my lower outer legs and stuff like that.

Should I get my adrenals checked, or are these high adrenal hormones just a consequence of poor thyroid function that will level out once the therapy works? The only thing I don't get is how this happens without the pituitary/hypothalamus involvement—usually, the pituitary tells the adrenals to shut down, so why won't they here?

The low FSH is also worrying me because I want to start having kids soon, and this could be a problem... is that linked to the thyroid?

Thanks for the answers..

Just write out your symptoms, blood pressure, and heart rate clearly in five lines. And please, stop with the wild theories; your labs look fine.
Elevated adrenaline is seen in pheochromocytoma—which is an adrenal tumor—so don't go hallucinating problems when your results are within range.
You’d probably be jumping for joy if they told you, "Sir, you have a liver tumor," wouldn't you?

vividsailor7 said:Just write out your symptoms, blood pressure, and heart rate clearly in about five lines. Don't just make stuff up when the lab results look normal.
With pheochromocytoma—that's an adrenal gland tumor—adrenaline levels spike, so don't go imagining things just because the tests look okay.
I guess you’d probably be thrilled if they told you, "Sir, you have a liver tumor," so why would you be jumping for joy now?

It’s a long story. It’s been going on for two years.

So, these symptoms over the last two years: I get these shakes throughout the day quite often, and I sweat profusely even when I feel cold. Then there's the irritability, the inability to focus, and this feeling of just staring into space (kind of like how you feel when you haven't slept for two days straight after a non-stop coding marathon)... maybe hypoglycemia? My memory is bad, I deal with anxiety, and this constant, unstoppable negative loop of worrying.
Then there's the near-daily watery diarrhea that... well, it really burns, and even when it isn't full-blown diarrhea, it still feels weird and stinging... or sometimes it starts hard and then turns into diarrhea at the end... happens 2-3 times a day... and constant heart palpitations... I feel my heart pounding for about 4-5 hours on average every day... it’s never a fast rhythm, though..
And muscle weakness... it's not like the muscles themselves are weak, but more like the perception that they are...
Plus the lethargy, the lack of motivation, being totally wiped out, that "wired and tired" feeling, and frequent depressive episodes—and the anxiety just feeds itself because I can't concentrate to finish tasks at work, and since deadlines are looming, the anxiety just gets way worse...
Also, insomnia is pretty frequent—just from all the anxiety and worrying.
Then there's this extreme sensitivity to the cold that absolutely wrecked me all winter—I'll step outside onto the patio and start chattering my teeth within 30 seconds, before I can even take a breath.

I managed to regulate most of the symptoms through my diet—I cut out carbs and mostly ate something like the Optimal Diet (from that Polish doctor, Jan Kowalski... or something like that). Within two days, a huge chunk of symptoms cleared up, including the most important one—being able to focus.. also, most of those hypoglycemia symptoms vanished (I checked my sugar, my fasting levels are fine, and my A1C was good several times)... but after a month of eating just spinach and chicken, I had such a massive crash. I had to lie down, everything felt like it was swaying (like I was on a boat), and the brain fog came back even harder than before... I also started getting extra cold, so I began checking my temperature, and it wouldn't go above 99.8°F for a few days. So, I got my thyroid levels checked, went to a local clinic for an exam (the ultrasound just showed it was slightly enlarged, nothing crazy), and got a prescription for Synthroid, which I've been taking for 8 days now... To monitor things, I've been checking my blood pressure constantly and noticed it’s high—it was probably high before too, but I wasn't measuring it because the feeling is similar to the constant palpitations... I noticed my heart skips a beat if I hold my breath for just a second or so..

Oh, and yeah, over these two years, I've had all sorts of random symptoms... there were times I just cried for half an hour for no reason at all, like, I was just sobbing and wailing... and I also had one stretch of 4-5 days (all at once) where I had this unstoppable sexual energy—I've never experienced anything like that in my life... normally my libido has been low for these two years, but during those 4-5 days, something happened and I couldn't replicate it.. it was a miracle, honestly, something completely different, a different kind of orgasm and erection, just a miracle..

It all started, or maybe just got way worse, during a really stressful phase of my life about two years ago, and on top of that stress, I did a 1.5-month crash diet where I dropped from 220 pounds to 176—so, in just a month and a half... my daily calorie intake was averaging maybe 500, and usually not even good quality food..

My absolute top priority right now is just staying focused, keeping my head straight, and having enough mental clarity to get through work... because honestly, this current phase of the project is just incredibly intense. I actually managed to pull myself together through diet for about two days, but then, well, everything just fell apart again after a month... anyway, since these shifts hit me so fast, I’m pretty sure it’s all happening at a hormonal level—specifically something going on with my adrenal glands. The alternative, I guess, is that I might need to see a psychiatrist...

Oh, and yeah, when that brain fog rolls in, the tinnitus usually follows, though sometimes it shows up on its own too... and I should probably mention that if I do feel any better, it’s usually toward the end of the day... maybe somewhere around 2 or 3 in the afternoon that things start to clear up mentally, if anything...

And, despite people making me feel like an idiot, honestly, finding out I have an adrenal tumor would almost feel like a relief... the hardest part is being stuck without a diagnosis while deadlines and work stress are breathing down my neck (programming really demands focus, especially when you're building software for big banks like JPMorgan Chase) and I can't even remember what day it is... or when I'm totally confused and have to present something, I literally forget the rest of my sentence right in the middle of speaking... and it really gets under my skin when people tell me I'm just imagining things or that I'm fine because I look relatively healthy on the outside... so, with all due respect, I don't think there's any reason for those kinds of prejudices. This whole situation... it could cost me my job, my apartment, and maybe even my wife...

Got my labs back yesterday and my doctor is totally freaking me out—says my RBC is sitting at 7.11 and my hemoglobin is up at 227, but my platelets are low at 98.

Anyone have any clue what the hell this could mean?

I'm currently pregnant and taking Clexane 0.6 twice a day—it's my standard low-molecular-weight heparin regimen. I just finished my blood work this morning, and here is what the lab results look like:

Bleeding time (VK) 90 (60.00 - 240.00 sec)
Clotting time (VZ) 320 (300.00 - 720.00 sec)
Prothrombin time (pV) 10.00 (10.30-13.20 sec)
INR 0.91 ( 0.00 -1.25)
Platelets (KP) 117.6 (73.00-150.00)
Platelet count (PLT) 167 (144.00-400.00)

Do these numbers seem okay, considering I've already been on this therapy for a bit? Any advice on what my next steps should be?

I was diagnosed with insulin resistance about ten years ago—it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster with everything from collagen disorders to neurology issues, among other things. I ended up gaining about 35 pounds in just two months and saw my blood pressure spike right along with it. Thanks to Metformin, I managed to get back down to my baseline weight (about 165cm and 110 lbs). However, once my endocrinologist—who actually switched from my old doctor to a private practice—decided to take me off the medication, the weight started creeping back on. It’s been a cycle: I gained 22 pounds, went back on Metformin to lose 11, got taken off again, and then gained another 11. It’s quite the performance.
I just checked in at the Mayo Clinic and picked up my latest lab results:
The extended OGTT:
The glucose readings look solid. We started at 5.3, then moved through 10.5, 9.6, 7.8, 4.5, 4.9, and finally 5.4—there's really no need to overthink those numbers.
The B-cell activity is sitting at 76.9%.
It looks like my peripheral insulin sensitivity is sitting right at 113.3%.
My insulin resistance index is sitting at 0.9.
My insulin was at 40.2 at the zero-minute mark (with a reference range of 21–174 pmol/L), and here is how it progressed:
At the 30-minute mark, the reading was 40.2, and then it continued to:
After 60 minutes, the reading came in at 266.2.
A 120-minute duration equates to 317.2.
A 180-minute duration works out to 32.7.
It took about four hours to get through that, which felt like a bit of a marathon. Still, I’m feeling pretty good about the progress!
The reading came in at 36.9 after about five hours. It’s like watching a slow-moving tide coming in.

It dipped down to 17 at the very end last time, but everything is looking good now.

My fasting C-peptide came back at 0.33 nmol/L (with a reference range of 0.27-1.27), and here is the rest of the data:
Thirty minutes elapsed, clocking in at 1.56.
Sixty minutes at a 1.60 pace.
A quick update: my reading came in at 1.07 after about two hours.
Just hit the 180-minute mark with a reading of 0.71. It feels like a steady, reliable pace.
- 240 0.48
It seems like we're looking at a reading of 0.37 after 300 minutes. It's helpful to think of these numbers like tracking progress during a long road trip—every little bit of data helps us map out the journey ahead.

Any thoughts on potential resistance?

My blood pressure is running high again. It seems to be a recurring pattern whenever I'm taken off Metformin; as soon as I put on about ten pounds, my numbers spike right back up to 150/100.

By the way, what does Type N mean on a lipid profile (Fredrickson)? Last time it was listed as Type U, but now it says Type N.