Re: Blood Work Back - Hmmm

[Guest guest]

Bob,

That is cool, you get a copy faxed to you. You have a good doctor, so

hang on to her. I don't know a lot about lab work, but wanted to give

you a website, it will help you. Go to www.labtestsonline.org

<http://www.labtestsonline.org>

Someone will help you here, you can count on it. Glad your SED rate has

went down, this is wonderful news! I do have high liver enzymes which

has been common since I've been on mtx.

You take care, Tawny

>

> I have the luxury of being able to have blood drawn here at our

> medical clinic at the company and they send it out. When the results

> come back, I get a faxed copy at the same time they are sent to my

> Rheumy. I like this process but sometimes it may raise too many

> concerns that aren't really concerns, if you know what I mean.

> I've been on MTX now 3+ weeks and my Rheumy ran the tests to see how

> well I'm tolerating the MTX and I guess the Prednisone as well. In

> addition to running SED and CRP she did a CBC, as well as liver and

> kidney function tests. Looks like she's on the ball there.

>

> Nothing too much surprising. The ESR (SED) is still somewhat elevated

> but down from 53 to 27. Good. CRP is now under 20 and was elevated

> prior to the Pred. and MTX. Even better. The Pred. and MTX are

working.

>

> Several of the CBC tests were our of range but not too far out of

> range. WBC is High (just out of range) HGB is low (13.5) HCT is Low

> 40.5, MCV is low 79.4, MCH is low 26.4 and RDW is high 15.4.

> Looks like Creatinine, AST-SGOT, ALT-SGPT are all within range.

>

> OK, my educated fellow forum friends. What's your take on this? You

> think she's going to be OK with going down on the Prednisone and up on

> the MTX? Any other interpretations with what you see? I know many of

> you have been through many of these blood tests and results so hoping

> you can continue to educate me.

>

> I'm not surprised the SED is still elevated some. While the MTX (3

> pills - starting dose) and particularly the Prednisone (20 MG/day) has

> been saving me from daily agony, I do still experience pain and

> inflammation. Just more tolerable than before. This is with the

> exception of when we failed to lower my Pred to 15MG from 20.

>

> I really do want to get down as far as possible on the Prednisone and

> suspect that's only going to happen if we can increase the MTX. With

> Liver and Kidney function looking OK, do you think that's within my

> future? I know. I'm thinking too much, but what else would you expect

> for an " uber Geek " .

> Thanks,

> Bob

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks Tawny - It's good to see you posting again. We missed you.

Actually I get the lab results whenever I have the blood drawn in the

medical department for the company I work for. We have about 1300

employees here and have a staffed medical facility. Doctor, several

nurses, etc. They have the ability to take the Bloodwork orders we

get from the Rheumy and do the blood draw here and send it out. When

they get back the results from the lab, they send them to my Rheumy

and fax me a copy. I see the results before the Rheumy.

Being one of the over 55 employees here, I think at times they go out

of their way to take care of me. If I needed an hour to go lie down

for a while, I head down there and they give me one of their rooms,

equipped with a bed. Off go the lights, and I tell them when to wake

me. Now that's a benefit not everyone here knows about but I've

certainly availed myself to it. Particularly when I have a Crohn's

flair which fortunately hasn't been too often. It's got a private

bath.

Bob

>

>

> Bob,

>

> That is cool, you get a copy faxed to you. You have a good doctor, so

> hang on to her. I don't know a lot about lab work, but wanted to give

> you a website, it will help you. Go to www.labtestsonline.org

> <http://www.labtestsonline.org>

>

> Someone will help you here, you can count on it. Glad your SED rate has

> went down, this is wonderful news! I do have high liver enzymes which

> has been common since I've been on mtx.

>

> You take care, Tawny

>

>

[Guest guest]

Yes glad to hear your sedrate is coming dowm..When i I was on the mtx

it two months to budge my sedrate...But now mine is also normal,

although I had stop the mtx and start some new meds...One of things I

noticed It took alittle longer to start feeling better even the sedrate

was coming down.Are you feeling any better? that is main thing...diane

[Guest guest]

Thanks Diane - I feel able enough to get out of bed each day and come

in to work. Some days better than others. Some days very bad. An

attempt to reduce the Prednisone from 20MG to 15MG was met with

complete failure and I had to resort to using a cane. (Prednisone

Rebound) Wrists and elbows always ache. Knees and hips decide to

rotate as far as when they are going to bother me. Ankles and feet

were singing their tune today.

Only on 7.5MG of MTX. I believe this Rheumy was concerned as to

whether or not my liver would handle it even though I don't drink and

as far as I know have a good liver. Just her normal routine. Start

low on MTX and higher on Pred and then transition to higher MTX after

the first blood results and try again to decrease the Pred.

I'm hoping the MTX does it for me. I'm thinking the SED is coming

down mainly because of the Pred. at this point. I guess we'll only

know for sure when she decides to put me up to a higher dose of MTX.

It's just a slow slow sometimes frustrating process. Not for the

impatient.

Bob

--- In , " diane crawford " <nuttynurse25@...>

wrote:

>

> Yes glad to hear your sedrate is coming dowm..When i I was on the mtx

> it two months to budge my sedrate...But now mine is also normal,

> although I had stop the mtx and start some new meds...One of things I

> noticed It took alittle longer to start feeling better even the sedrate

> was coming down.Are you feeling any better? that is main thing...diane

>

[Guest guest]

Bob,

When I had some low numbers on some of these things, the rheumy fellow

I was seeing at the time told me that it indicated that I was bleeding

somewhere inside. So I had to go to another doctor, who said I was

anemic and assumed that I had a bleeding ulcer from taking Aleve. He

treated me for an ulcer and anemia, and eventually my numbers were back

in the correct range. I hope that you don't have an ulcer and are not

anemic.

Sue

On Wednesday, October 15, 2008, at 10:48 AM, fullwave2 wrote:

>

> Several of the CBC tests were our of range but not too far out of

> range. WBC is High (just out of range) HGB is low (13.5) HCT is Low

> 40.5, MCV is low 79.4, MCH is low 26.4 and RDW is high 15.4.

[Guest guest]

Thanks Sue. It could be my Crohn's acting up or aggravated by

the Celebrex my GP originally had me on before the Rheumy. I

instinctively stopped taking it since I figured it wasn't doing

anything for me anyway. Thanks.

Bob

> >

> > Several of the CBC tests were our of range but not too far out of

> > range. WBC is High (just out of range) HGB is low (13.5) HCT is Low

> > 40.5, MCV is low 79.4, MCH is low 26.4 and RDW is high 15.4.

>

[Guest guest]

Bob,

That is totally cool:) They are really taking care of you, I'm so glad.

Its horrible to hear when someone is having a bad time at work, and the

boss or co workers don't understand. Your so lucky, Tawny

>

> Thanks Tawny - It's good to see you posting again. We missed you.

>

> Actually I get the lab results whenever I have the blood drawn in the

> medical department for the company I work for. We have about 1300

> employees here and have a staffed medical facility. Doctor, several

> nurses, etc. They have the ability to take the Bloodwork orders we

> get from the Rheumy and do the blood draw here and send it out. When

> they get back the results from the lab, they send them to my Rheumy

> and fax me a copy. I see the results before the Rheumy.

>

> Being one of the over 55 employees here, I think at times they go out

> of their way to take care of me. If I needed an hour to go lie down

> for a while, I head down there and they give me one of their rooms,

> equipped with a bed. Off go the lights, and I tell them when to wake

> me. Now that's a benefit not everyone here knows about but I've

> certainly availed myself to it. Particularly when I have a Crohn's

> flair which fortunately hasn't been too often. It's got a private

> bath.

> Bob

>