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Old Sun May 1, 2011, 11:16 PM
MGirl MGirl is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2010
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I wouldn't be as worried as much about B12--your MCV has normal. With B12 deficiency, your MCV gets higher and higher while your hemoglobin drops (otherwise known as Pernicious Anemia, the other cause being a folate deficiency). I would be watching that retic count of 7--you need to see a hematologist and I would think they would want to see a full screening set of labs + BMB to ascertain the source of the problem. Reticulocytes are like "baby red blood cells" and are an indicator of how many new RBCs are being made--you need the 'normal' range in order to keep up adequate supplies of matured RBCs--sort of like a "supply-and-demand" chain. Retics have a short life-span, but the average RBC then 'lives' for about 120 days--with less supply being indicated by the low retic count, your hemoglobin may be subject to continued dropping when not enough new RBCS are being produced. Other causes of pure red cell anemia (or 'red cell aplasia') should be considered--your hematologist will know all about this.
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