What do these blood test results mean? (RDW, MCHC, GGT, ALP, TIBC, UIBC)

Hey everyone,

I just got my blood work back from Quest Diagnostics—complete blood count. A few things look off. My doctor is out on sick leave for the next week... I’d rather wait for her appointment, but I'm wondering what this actually means?

If there are any doctors in here who can help me make sense of this, I'd appreciate it. Is this something serious, or am I fine? 😕

Lab Hematology:
RDW 11.8 (ref 14.6 - 16.5)
Mayo Clinic MCHC 348 (320 - 345)

Enzymes:
GGT 9 (9 - 35)
ALP 45 (54 - 119)

Trace Elements:
TIBC 47.1 (49 - 75)
UIBC 20.1 (26 - 59)

Thanks 🙂

The only thing I can really speak to here is the enzyme stuff...

Think of those numbers as a window into what’s actually going on with your liver...
GGT is basically a red flag that tells you if your liver is struggling—usually from things like heavy drinking, drug use, cirrhosis, or hepatitis—but in all those serious scenarios, that number is going to be SKY-HIGH. We're talking way over 100... yours is barely moving the needle, so honestly, it doesn't look like anything to worry about...

As for that other one, ALP, it’s also sitting right within the normal range, so nothing to panic about there either; we just need to figure out why it's leaning toward the lower end of the scale rather than being high.

Anyway, that's my two cents...

http://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/lab-services/overview/pcw/pcc/price-list
I found this link where they break everything down for you. It explains what all the different tests actually mean, and for some of them, they even include the standard reference ranges so you can compare your own results.

don't even sweat it, you're all good

Thanks... so I can just go about my business and keep wandering the world like nothing's changed.🙂

Can someone please make sense of these labs for my daughter? She’s 15 and I can't get a doctor to actually sit down and explain anything to me... she looks deathly pale, too.

MCHC 365
ESR 4

thanks

Aaron Sanchez12 said:Can someone please make sense of these labs for my daughter? She’s 15 and I can't get a doctor to actually sit down and explain anything to me... she looks deathly pale, too.

MCHC 365
ESR 4

thanks

MCHC measures the average concentration of hemoglobin within a single red blood cell, which is calculated using both hemoglobin levels and the hematocrit percentage.
REFERENCE RANGES:
320 to 350 g/L
More about MCHC

Determining Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate :
REFERENCE RANGES:
Women (>50 years old)
5 to 28
Men (>50 years old)
2 to 23
Women (20-50 years old)
4 to 24
Men (20-50 years old)
3 to 13
INDICATES ELEVATION IN:
The ESR test is an extremely useful tool for monitoring the progression of an infectious process.
An accelerated sedimentation rate can be seen in acute or chronic infectious diseases, rheumatic conditions, neoplastic syndromes, and degenerative diseases.
Source:http://www.mayoclinic.org/hematology

Thanks, but those reference ranges don't seem to account for kids or even a young woman, so I have no clue what counts as a normal deviation, if such a thing even exists...

Aaron Sanchez12 said:Thanks, but those reference ranges don't seem to account for kids or even a young woman, so I have no clue what counts as a normal deviation, if such a thing even exists...

From what I’ve managed to dig up on Google, the ESR reference range for girls aged 8 to 19 is somewhere between 2 and 20.
As for the Mayo Clinic data, it looks like they use the same values for everyone.
I'm sure someone with actual medical expertise will chime in soon to clear things up.