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Weird dose for 6MP and not understanding my labwork!

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 5/6/2009 8:56 PM (GMT 0)
I've been seeing a new doctor for about a month and I just got blood work done on Friday. I called his office today to get the results and his nurse started saying all of these numbers and I had no idea what they meant.  Since it's a new doctor, the terminology she was using isn't what my other doctor would use.  I questioned what a few of the numbers meant and she said she could mail the results to me.  Well, that doesn't really help me since I don't know the terminology.  I told her I could Google it but in reality I was expecting her to take more time to explain the labs to me which she didn't seem to want to do. 

From what I could make of the results (with the terminology that I understand from my old doctor), my iron is an 8.8 but for some reason she said he doesn't want me to take iron supplements.  My iron is always low and I used to take supplements but he wouldn't give me a prescription at my appt. last week.  He wanted to wait for my new results even though he said he was concerned about my iron being low from my last labwork.  I'm really confused as to why I shouldn't be starting iron supplements again????

My white count is at a 5.5 so there's room for it to decrease so he wants me to increase the 6MP on Monday and Thursday only to 100 mgs and stay on 75 mgs the rest of the week.  I don't quite get what increasing 2x a week will do???  Anyone ever heard of this?  I've skipped my dose a day here and there and it never made a difference in my symptoms so I don't get what increasing for only two days will do.

She rattled off another number of 75 and said normal is between 5 and 148, and 75 isn't good.  I have no clue what she was talking about.  Then she gave me another number of 13.  I think she expected me to know what all of this means which is a little frustrating.

They want me to go for more bloodwork in a week and I have my next appt. in 3 weeks.  I'm not overly concerned since I've been doing pretty good.  I'm only having 2-3 stools a day and little to no traces of blood which is a HUGE improvement for me. If I didn't have a follow up in 3 weeks and if I were doing horrible, I would've demanded a better explanation from her but I figure I'll just talk to the doctor at my appt. 

Posted 5/6/2009 10:04 PM (GMT 0)
How frustrating! Sounds like you need to see it, it might be clearer than you expect when you see it. Too bad she was not helpful, you should let the doctor know.

Maybe he doesn't want you to take supplements knowing how harsh they can be on your system. I've never used a prescription iron, but had good results with slo-FE and it's easier on the gut.

I would question more blood work so soon with only that small change to your regimen. But I am always suspicious of OTHER PEOPLE's doctors (not mine, of course...) and if they are not being cost-sensitive (whether it's you or your insurance that pays). What do you think?

Glad to hear you are doing better!
Posted 5/6/2009 10:20 PM (GMT 0)
You can ask for a copy of your lab reports. On the report it says the number and then normal, high or low. If you saw it, it would make a lot more sense. I wouldn't know what the heck she was talking about either.

Posted 5/6/2009 10:37 PM (GMT 0)
i would ask for a paper copy of your results. The easyest way to get it is from the doctors office. they should be able to give it to you. I have to get my done every week right now. I also work in the hospital lab so i can just look my own up. If you get it done at a hospital you will have to go through medical records. We get asked all the time and no one understands we are not allowed to give anyone their results. everything has to go throught the doctor or medical records. (we do this because its like well your results is __ well what does that mean and if we give advice and are wrong it is a big deal, and if it is something life threatening we judge what we can give and what we can't)
Posted 5/7/2009 1:10 AM (GMT 0)
You're talking about Dr. Klein increasing your dosage right? If so, he does this with me too and it really does work (at least it did for me). Before I was only on 50mgs but I was still flaring so he increased my dose to 100mgs on Mon and Thursday with 50mgs rest of the days. He told me that it was the increase of mg's on those days gives a short burst that will carry over to the next day or so. End result, it is supposed to get you in remission faster.
Posted 5/7/2009 10:03 AM (GMT 0)
Red-Yes, it's Dr. Klein. Thanks for the insight. I really like him so far by the way. I've seen him twice so far. At my last appt., I had to wait almost 40 minutes for him and then only spent maybe 10 minutes with him. It was a little frustrating and I'm dreading all of these doctor and lab bills but I know with seeing a new doctor and starting over on 6MP that he needs to see me and do labs. I think he was so late because he was coming from his other office.

They are sending me my lab results and I've gotten my lab results in the mail before. The problem is that there are so many numbers and it doesn't spell out what exactly they're checking and what numbers are important. Yes, it gives the range of what's normal but it doesn't tell what each code means. I'll see some numbers not in the ranges but it won't say if those are important or not.

As far as the iron, I've been on iron supplements for the past few years (Ferrex Forte) so there's no need to worry about it bothering my stomach. It's just weird that he was so concerned and did a whole iron panel and then didn't do anything about the results. It's just something I'll have to ask him about at my next appt.
Posted 5/7/2009 12:23 PM (GMT 0)
If it's any consolation, in the entire time I've been with him (14 years now) there's only been maybe 3 or 4 times that I had to wait for longer then 30 minutes. Usually it's because he had an emergency such as an admitted patient or he ran overtime in the other office. LOL One time I was scheduled for a sigmoidoscopy, did the enema prep, went to his office and the receptionist said he was running late and asked if I wanted to reschedule. I told her "What?! No way, I didn't do that prep for nothing!" He showed up about 20 minutes later.

I can't help with the lab results. When I have my bloodwork done, I talk to Alice and she does a good job of describing what is normal and what is not but she doesn't give me an explanation as to WHAT the tests are. So I just wait and talk to Dr. Klein.

But anytime your 6mp dosage is raised, they do a complete blood work panel. This is to be sure you are tolerating the increase well. Dr. Klein believes in early prevention. He's really a good doctor but I think he has too many patients. Sometimes you have to say hey wait a minute, get back in here and explain a little more to me. When I do that, he smiles and sits back down. Maybe I can take more liberties with him though since I have been with him so long.
Posted 5/7/2009 4:41 PM (GMT 0)
I knew that being back on 6MP and adjusting the dose would require more labwork. I used to go weekly so I expected to have to go more often again. It sucks because my old insurance covered everything 100% but now my new insurance doesn't. I hate feeling like I can't take care of my health the way I should because of bills!!
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