Re: Al Pater GP visit, blood tests, May2+10, 2005

[Guest guest]

Al: Glad to hear you're feeling well but sorry to hear that you're still

losing weight . (For those not familiar with Al's past posts, he has been

diagnosed with anorexia).

I assume the cough has been checked and there is no underlying medical

reason for it?

on 5/20/2005 2:41 PM, Al Pater at old542000@... wrote:

> On May 2, I had blood drawn for testing

> and I visited with my doctor on May 9. It

> was determined that I was two sweaters and

> four pounds less in weight. Since my TSH

> had been high and my ferritin had been

> low in the blood tests from the week before,

> I was tested for iron, iron binding capacity,

> T3 and T4.

[Guest guest]

Al,

Recently, I posted a question about low blood WBC's (leukopenia). The

neighbor who was concerned about it was re-tested and the results came

back normal. However, I notice that your WBCs are also low. The

following reference from Merck suggests that " Diminished neutrophil

production is a frequent and often early feature of megaloblastic

anemias caused by vitamin B12 or folate deficiency "

http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/section11/chapter135/135a.jsp

Sources of Vitamin B12

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/b12.html

Tony

======

> Hi All,

>

> This post is to provide an update of my

> general and specific status since I had my

> last set of lab tests and visit with my GP

> on Mar 2, 2005.

>

> Overall, I feel physically quite well these days.

> I have somewhat more cough. After some digestive

> system disorder from unknown cause in

> my diet, I have been quite regular. Sleep

> averages five and about three quarter hours.

> The variation is fairly large however. Dreams

> are relatively frequently remembered and

> often involve my late wife, , generally

> as a not aged person returning unexpectedly

> from a journey that was unknown to me.

>

> My family does quite well and I hope to

> go to my sister's eldest daughter's wedding

> on May 28, and will not be posting for two

> or so days.

>

> On May 2, I had blood drawn for testing

> and I visited with my doctor on May 9. It

> was determined that I was two sweaters and

> four pounds less in weight. Since my TSH

> had been high and my ferritin had been

> low in the blood tests from the week before,

> I was tested for iron, iron binding capacity,

> T3 and T4.

>

> I had a form to fill in for my Long-Term Disability

> program that required an Attending Physician

> Update. It was filled out, results were attached

> and the update recommended that I continue

> on the program until my retirement (the doctor

> said at 65 years of age).

>

> Below, are my current and previous for

> the same type of test results.

>

> My interpretation suggests that my Na is

> not increased from its low but hardly lowest

> level, creatinine and eGFR (glomerular

> filtration rate) shows good kidney function,

> albumin lower level correlates with weight

> loss, blood immune cells have increased

> to maybe healthier levels, hemoglobin is

> unchanged, TSH is about as low as mine

> gets in CR, ferritin is low despite taking

> 150 mg/day iron, Fe is at the low end of

> the normal reference range, TIBC (total

> iron binding capacity) is not too bad, T3 is

> low (as is often seen in CR) and T4 is

> normal (as is often seen in CR).

>

> My diet has changed little. I no longer

> eat egg whites, more due to the post

> suggesting that its methionine is too high than

> Rae's fabulous whole eggs

> post. I have more variety in vegetables.

> Please provide to us your comments and

> suggestions regarding any of the numbers

> or diet changes.

>

> Specific values are:

>

> ----------------------------------

> Date May2(10)/05 Mar2/05 Ref. range Units

> -------------------------------------------------

> Electrolytes/eGRF/proteins

> Na 126 126 135-145 mM

> K 4.5 4.2 3.5-5.0 mM

> Mg 0.68 0.65 0.75-1.0 mM

> Ca 2.16 2.24 2.12-2.62 mM

> Fe 12 4(Mar/02) 10-30 uM

> Urea 5.2 3.1(Mar/04) 2.5-8.0 mM

> Creatinine 43 36(Jun/04) 71-115 uM

> eGFR 189 232(Jun/04) >59 ml/min

> Albumin 31 32(Jan/05) 35-50 g/l

> TSH 6.1 7.3(Mar/04) 0.3-5.0 mU/l

> Ferritin 16 94(Mar/04) 20-300 ug/l

> TIBC 54 59(Mar/02) 45-155 uM

> T3 1.1(May10) 1.7(Mar/04) 1.5-2.5 nM

> T4 85(May10) 88(Feb/04) 58-155 nM

> -------------------------

>

> Cell blood counts

> WBC 2.6 2.3 4.0-10.0 10^9/l

> Hemoglobin 111 111 140-180 g/l

> MPV 9.1 okay 9.2-11.0 fl

> Platelets 157 122 130-400 fl

> Lymphocytes 0.988 0.6 1.5-4.0 10^9/l

> Monocytes 0.000 0.3 0.20-0.90 10^9/l

> Neutrophils 1.352 1.3 1.5-6.0 10^9/l

> Eosophils 0.0 0.0 0.0-0.7 10^9/l

> Basophils 0.0 0.0 0.0-0.15 10^9/l

>

> Al Pater, PhD; email: old542000@y...

>

>

>

> __________________________________

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[Guest guest]

Al,

Your hemoglobin value was also below normal, which is another sign of

anemia.

> WBC 2.6 2.3 4.0-10.0 10^9/l

> Hemoglobin 111 111 140-180 g/l

This is why I thought that maybe modifying your diet to have more

Vitamin B12 and folate might help you. In the past, when I suggested

that red meats are good sources of Vitamin B12, you said that you

prefer egg whites and fish because they have healthy fats. However,

an optimal diet must provide ALL nutritional needs. Review your diet

to make sure that you are getting appropriate levels of iron, B12,

folate, and protein.

Although we call it CRON, it should be called ONCR since Optimal

Nutrition should be the primary consideration and Caloric Restriction

is secondary.

Tony

>

> My white blood cell counts have often been 1-1.3 in the last two

years, relative to

> the reference range of 4.0-10.0 10^9/l. The definition of

megaloblastic

> for anemia is " A large abnormal red blood cell appearing in the

blood in pernicious

> anaemia " and my morphology of the red blood cells was normal.

>

>

> Al Pater, PhD; email: old542000@y...