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Anemia - Iron ? and other lab result questions....

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 4/15/2008 2:03 PM (GMT 0)
I've been anemic pretty much the whole time I've had UC.  I've had iron infusions in the past because I wasn't tolerating iron pills.  I had labs a month ago and my count was a 9.0.  I just got the results from my labs from last week and now I'm at a 9.8.  I've been taking Ferrex Forte for the entire month so I was hoping my results would be a little better.  If I remember right, my GI told me that it takes a while to build it back up so I guess it's good that I'm heading in the right direction and at least now I can handle the iron pills.  Just curious how long it usually takes once you take iron pills to get more normal lab results like in the 11 - 12 range?

Also, I just got my sedimentation rate which is at a 89 and was at a 93 last month so it came down a little but not much.  Even when I'm not in what I consider a flare, my sed. rate is always high.  Anyone else get these kind of results too?  I think the best I've ever had was a 40 or 60 (can't remember) and I was told that normal is around a 20.

Basically, even when I'm feeling great my labs always come back horrible and my doctor always tells me I should be dragging *** and not feeling well..lol.  Do other people experience this too?  Bad labs but feel fine?

Posted 4/15/2008 6:14 PM (GMT 0)
My iron ws pretty low, 9.5, for about 6 months. I couldn't tolerate iron pills. But I found a new iron tablet, struggled through the first week and after that my body got used to it. I took a triple does for 10 weeks on my doctors advice. 10 weeks later my iron levels had gone from 9.5 to 15.5. I thought this was really really fast but apparently your iron builds up at an exponential (as opposed to a linear) way. The more you take the greater the rate of increase. So hang in there. You can turn amemia around quite quickly.

If your iron levels are low your sed rate is meaningless. For the sed rate to give a result that can be interpreted then it assumes you have normal iron levels. Sed rate is heavily influenced by iron so if you are anemic theres not much reliance that can be placed on the result.

Whats your CRP level - C Reactive Protein - not as affected by iron as Sed Rate?

Whats your white blood count (WBC). High white blood count implies infection and bleeding?

Whats you platelet count? High platlets imply bleeding
Posted 4/15/2008 11:27 PM (GMT 0)
I can't find the piece of paper where I wrote down my other numbers.  I remember that my WBC is a 5 but I'm on immunosuppressants so I don't really feel like that tells me anything.

I guess my main thing is that my labs are always pretty bad even when I feel great so my doctor acts like I should be practically on my death bed.  Whatever!  I'm still having some bleeding but I'm only going to the bathroom 2-3 times a day so I'm way improved from where I was a month ago.  I don't even take my labs seriously anymore.  I was just curious if others find the same thing that their labs are bad but they feel fine.

Posted 4/16/2008 3:33 AM (GMT 0)
I bleed so much and have never been found to be Anemic, even when I felt for sure I was. My sed rate is always 60 or so since I started asking about it and both doctors did not seem concerned about it. When I went to the ER they gave me antibiotics cause they said my blood showed signs of infection but I didn't have one I knew of, just a bad flare-up. I find the opposite, that I feel awful and my doctor say everything's fine.
Posted 4/16/2008 3:18 PM (GMT 0)

Ugh, we just can't win can we?  lol. 

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