Blood Work - MCV, MCH, MCHC, RDW on the decline
Ok, First I have to thank MegaT for taking the time to point this out to me. I would have never have caught it. Hopefully it's nothing but I'm going to have it checked out. I want to open this up to everyone to see if anyone has had any experience with something like this. I've looked through peoples labs that are posted and it is definitely not a common thing to see these results.
My labs are posted here:
http://www.eroids.com/pics/mid-cycle-labs-terrible.-need-help
My MCV, MCH, MCHC values have slowly been on the decline, while my RDW has been rising. After a lot of searching online this could be due to anemia, internal bleeding (ulcer, etc...), a blood disorder (or worse).
I'm hoping it's just a ferritin/iron deficiency. In september I had my iron levels checked and they were all normal. However, my ferritin levels were not checked. Even with normal iron levels, it could still be an iron deficiency based on what I've read. There are times when I get winded pretty easily which again suggests anemia. Other than that, I feel great. No symptoms.
During the summer I had an MRI that noted
""Dark T1 and T2 bone marrow signal which is often seen in benign processes such as osteoporosis, smoking or obesity (FYI, I'm not obese nor do I smoke), however, correlation the CBC might be of further value to be certain a myeloproliferative process is not present."
I'm hoping the low MCV/MCH/MCHC are not any indication of that.
I worry about my health in general, I do not believe this is AAS related, I don't see how it's even possible but I am nervous right now. I take my health serious which is why I have an appt today in hopes to get more labs done and get a reason as to why this is happening.
Anyway, I just wanted to bring this up, it's just another level of lab work that may get overlooked. MegaT caught it and I'm very thankful his time and effort he spent with me on PM's. This forum is lucky to have members like that!!!!. Others have commented on my labs and stated they look ok but I think we have tunnel vision sometimes and only look at certain things and miss the not so common things like this. If anyone has any experience with this, I would love to hear thoughts.
I will certainly keep everyone updated once I have a final diagnosis. My guess is I will need a series of tests so won't know anything today.
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I'm going to try to ease your mind without getting to detailed into my reasoning. I reviewed your labs and frankly I would not worry about those numbers. In the medical field they mean very little in general unless someone has an obvious anemia, or elevated hemoglobin. You hgb and hct were in normal ranges so I do not think you have much to worry about. In other words, those values such as MCV are minutiae and often ignored unless there are other red flags such as anemia. Frankly other then your hormones you labs look pretty good.
Dont get paranoid bro............... reading shit like this is enough to make all of us wanna go back to being mortal lol..............
Just had follow up lab work. Test shows low iron (below reference range) and on the very bottom of the range for ferritin.
Never would have picked up on it if it weren't for MegaT!! Looking forward to talking to the doc and get my iron levels back up. I thought the way I was feeling was normal for running a cycle but now I realize, it isn't.
My guess is the doc will make me shit in a cup just to make sure I don't have any gastric bleeding or anything which could be a cause of the low iron. I highly doubt it but ya never know!!
And no I'm not panic'd. Just giving an update.
Good call bro. And yea, no panic! Lol
This is why I don't go to the doctor...:-)
I have some comments on your labs. All those values are non-specific, and not items you need to act on other than your high estrogen. I speculate that your values reflect 1) dehydration- your BUN/Cre ratio is >20 and the volume of your red cells can be affected and 2) your marrow is stimulated to pump out more cells- your RBC count is up. This can skew your RDW- or relative distribution width which just describes the degree of variability of the size of your red cells. This is most likely all steroid related and I suspect if you rechecked off cycle for a couple months your values would normalize. But at any rate you are not anemic and your white count is normal so you dont have a myeloproliferative disorder which are things you cant prevent/ lessen the severity of by catching them early like breast or colon cancer anyway so I wouldnt worry about it.
Doc ran more labs today. I'm able to see the results online and WBC and neutrophils are up, lymphs are down. MCV, MCH, MCHC low. RDW up
I did pin TNE today only my second time ever. I'm betting that's why there is a jump in the WBC.
Brother, I have noticed you are always freaking yourself out. Maybe it is time for you to stop using AAS. It is obviously causing you a great deal of stress, is it worth it? I know you said above this may not be AAS related, well maybe it is. But lets go all the way back to your first cycle , then PCT, all the way to now. You are probably going bald from worrying yourself to death. Good luck either way, I hope the Dr puts your mind at ease.
You're right, I do have anxiety when it comes to my health. If I thought for one second my health was AAS related I would stop using. It's simply not worth screwing myself up. I'm not going bald from worrying myself, I'm just bald LOL. The AAS has actually brought a lot of "calm" into my life believe it or not. I'm more confident, healthier and happier now than I've ever been.
In all honesty, it probably comes off worse here than I actually feel. I'm worried about it, but I'm not huddled in a corner crying about it. I'm just going to get it checked out and see what happens. My wife tends to wind me up. She fears the worse. A common cold becomes cancer so when I tell her these things she panics and ends up making me do the same.
LOL, it's all good brother. If airing it out here helps silence the voices in your head or your wives, I am all for it.