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My doc's nurse just faxed me a copy of the results from a CBC that we did yesterday. Everything looks surprisingly good, except for two minor items. My red count, and the related tests are back to normal, and surprisingly, my cholesterol is down, (I have no idea why.
). I was concerned about my eosinophils, and my basophils, because they've been up a little, in the past, but they're now normal, so that's good.The only suspicious items are my lymphocyte count, and my Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration, (MCHC), which is a calculation of the average concentration of hemoglobin inside a red cell. I'm not too excited about the low lymphocyte count, because for at least the last 10 years, my lymphocyte percentage has almost always been low, and my actual lymphocyte count has always been in the low part of the normal range. This time, though, the actual lymphocyte count is low, at 1.04, (normal range is 1.2 - 3.4 K/uL).
Decreased MCHC values, (known as hypochromia), are seen in conditions where the hemoglobin is abnormally diluted inside the red cells, such as in iron deficiency anemia, and in a condition known as thalassemia, (which is an inherited condition in which the body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin). Assuming that thalassemia is not the problem, I'm wondering about my B-12 level. A while back Polly pointed out to me that I may need to either get a monthly shot of B-12 or take a sublingual supplement, since B-12 is absorbed in the terminal ileum, and a significant portion of my terminal ileum was removed, along with my colon, (I'm guessing it may have gotten damaged during the surgery, but maybe it was just worn out, like my colon.
) I faithfully bought a new bottle of sublingual B-12, and I remember taking one of them, but I don't recall taking any since then.
I reckon I'll start taking them regularly, just in case.In fact, when I was discharged from the hospital, my MCHC was in the normal range, (very near the bottom of the range). Each test since then, however, has shown a slightly reduced number, so the trend is steadily downward, and the result of this test was 31.5, (normal range is 33.0 to 37.0 gm/dL). That's still only slightly down, but I don't like the looks of the trend. My MCH level is low normal, though, so I couldn't be severely low on B-12, or that number would be elevated, (unless I had pernicious anemia, of course, but I shouldn't have that).
Or, can anyone suggest any other reason why my MCHC would be down?
Tex
Since my folate level was high before I started taking Metanyx, there's no telling what it might be now. It's water soluble, though, so theoretically, at least, the kidneys should prevent it from getting very far out of hand, I would think. Also, since it's water soluble, (rather than fat soluble), I would guess that a high percentage of folate absorption might occur in the colon, rather than the small intestine, but I'm just guessing, here. If that is true, then a lot of the folate that I'm ingesting, should be passing right on through, with an ileostomy in place.