Originally Posted by Friedbrain
I've been searching for examples of clinical data to compare mine with, in hopes of trying to figure out what my bloodwork means. Hopefully someone here can give me some input! I would be SO grateful!
I've experienced dizziness, postural hypotension, tachycardia from light exercise (like walking up stairs), etc on and off for a few years now. Twice (once 2 wks ago), I've even experienced significant brain fog, and I'm only in my 40s. Since I have low blood pressure, my famdoc recently suggested these symptoms may be because my brain is not getting enough oxygen; and that this problem may even go back 10+ years, to when I started having seizures of unknown origin. During that visit, she ordered bloodwork, which I've been reviewing this past weekend. In it, I noticed several kinda shocking results but then when I compared them to past results, I'm noticing more of a pattern than a sudden change. When I saw the low RBC, I started wondering if my problems weren't a combination of low RBC x low bp......but then I noticed the significantly low wbc and borderline low platelets, and started wondering/worrying more.....!
wbc: 3 at begin of month (3.7 in March: during this visit, subset counts were made. Only 1440 neutrophils, which is 42%, per my calc, with 49% lymph. I was at the ER on Sunday for chest pains maybe due to inflammation, and my wbc was 5.7, the change being 3.3 neutrophils.....?)
rbc: 3.67 at begin of month, 3.85 Sunday, 3.64 in March
MCV on all three times consistently HIGH (102, 98, 102)
MCH on all three times consistently HIGH (34.9, 34.9, 34.7)
Hct consistently 37 (lowish)
Hemoglobin 12.6-13.4
Platelets: 146 at begin of month, 181 Sunday, 190 in March
An ESR Westergren was *2* mm/hr (I've seen reference range of 0-20; otoh, I've seen a calculation suggest that my age and being female, it should be around 25?!)
Alk Phos is usually very low, but down to a 30 at begin of month (L); 38 in March and also last Oct. I read that Alk Phos is produced several places, one being in the bone marrow, so low may suggest bone marrow problem
Also in March and August:
low ttl protein (6.2)
kinda low albumin (3.9 twice)
pretty low globulin (2.3 twice, 2.2-3.9 "wnl")
The ER measured two new tests that may or may not be relevant, and but I don't have reference ranges:
mpv: 9.2 ......I've seen different ref ranges for this, so don't know what to think
Anion gap: 4 (lowish, which may be related to lowish protein, which would mean?)
I have autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto's, Sjogren's, and antiphospholipid Abs; am on cortef for adrenal insufficiency (but am trying to wean off the steroid, which my new docs think may have also helped in the past, in part, by inhibiting inflammation; still, the low wbc, rbc, and platelet values seem pretty consistent over time)
Any thoughts? Could this be diet related? I'm on a pretty restrictive (self-created, in order to simply feel good) diet because eating a normal meal or one heavy on carbs causes me to either fall deeply asleep (crash) or experience tachycardia. I'm ok on the diet (I thought), but could this be causing an across-the-board decrease in the above values? Or does this sound like some kind of chronic aplastic anemia?
I've had health problems for about ten years (starting with the seizures and neurological problems) that doctors haven't been able to figure out, which is why I do a lot of my own digging, and tracking of my health. Any suggestions, input, re-direction, etc. would be appreciated! Thank you!
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