Back from VA today & have questions about lab tests

[Sailorsong]

This time I'll start out with the trip report. No deer on the trace today but did see a couple of catapillers crossing the road. Does that mean I can see again? Or were those really floaters in my eyes? :)

When I checked in to the same day clinic / er and told them about vertigo, shortness of breath and tremors they of course immediately want an EKG of my heart. The EKG showed abnormal T wave ( possible something or other ichsema ( SP?). But I have been getting that for an EKG result  for almost 2 years now and think it is from past damage. So after talking to the triage nurse she sent me over to the same day clinic.

I saw the same woman there I always se and she is very good. I sure wish she was my PC, but alas she only does the walkin clinic duty. I spent almost a hour with her going over all of my problems. Usually they get you in and out quickly, but she really listens to the patients and takes the time required to get things right. Oh yeah she is an LPN.

She checked my nose and ears because of the vertigo to make sure it wasn't a sinus infection causing it. She concluded my sinuses are all congested but no ear infection. Since I am already taking an antibiotic there was no need to give me one, but she did give me an Rx for allergy medication and a nasal spray to help break thing up in there. This I kind of expected as I have a horrible time with my sinuses and have been on these meds before. But she also gave me an Rx for Meclizine for the Vertigo because it is so bad. I hope this works so that I can do my dishes for a change. :)

Next the shortness of breath was covered. My lungs were clear and I explained how it mostly happenes with I go outside on hot humid days or when the pollen count is very high. She did bring up O2 therapy momentarily but then opted for giving me and Rx an Atrovent. inhalator. When I got home and was outside I was feeling a little bit short of breath and tired it out. It seemed to work pretty good, but will have to wait until one of those really bad days to see if it really works. But what a yucky taste! :(

Next we covered my blood pressure. My new PCP had just changed my one med for BP and while at the VA my BP was 176/80. Even after being there for several hours it had only come down to 166/76. After talking to her for a while she finally agreed to change another on of my BP meds ( as I was having a lot of trouble spliting the pils) to a full pill. I could have kissed her for that one. I think that change will help my BP a lot as I could never cut the pill in half and was probably why my BP was all over the place. One day too high the next day a little lower than it should be. .

OK now for the fun part ... lab work.

I got the results of the Urine tests. It seems to be normal so that does not seem to the the cause of my bladder problems. The only thing I can see on the report is that the Specific gravity was right at the bottom limit for a random urine sample.

For the blood work there were a couple things that came in high which I have no idea of what they are.

MCV 96.4  Ref 80 - 94
MCH 32.5  Ref 27 - 31

The one other item is marked as a critical value ( what ever that means).

PLT 182 Ref 150 - 500

Why would they mark it as a critical value if it is within the ref range?

Denis

[Ufrustrated2]

i don't know what mg your Rx was for, but the meclazine you can get over the counter at most any drug store.

we used to take them on long ocean trips to dive sites for motion sickness, called "bonine".

i've had a few ERs give it out for vertigo too. so if you run out, get some at a drug store to keep around the house and in your car. i carry a few with me everyday, for those "just in case days". and yes, these are the sweet chew types.

for bad vertigo relapse times, meclazine was useless. only time and laying down did anything remotely to help

[Lulu54]

I can't be of much help - you know i am not the rocket scientist here.  :-)

But I can talk about catepillars.  There are some catepillars that are huge - we get them around here and they are the size of a small cigar sometimes.  Google "horned catepillar" and check them out - they can get to be 6-8".  That is a huge bug.  

They all can turn into butterflies or moths if they don't get themselves run over by playing in the road.

I'm glad you are liking the name - my parents liked it too!

L

[Sailorsong]

Thanks!

I did read what I could find at that site, but still didn't understand what they said.

Maybe my body adjusted the size of my red blood cells and Hemoglobin because of my shortness of breath in order to get more oxygen to my body? When they did the check in stats on me my O2 level was at 98%. Any chance of that?

I tried one of the Vertigo pills tonight and so far haven't had any issues. It was kind of funny though. I'm suppose to chew them before sollowing them. They taste like those Sweet Tarts candy. :)

Oh by the way the nurses name is also Laura, that is quickly becoming one of my favorite names. :)

I was amazed when I saw those caterpillers on the road. I can't remember ever seeing one crossing a road in my entire life before.

Dennis

[Lulu54]

from my fav site - labtestsonline.org

"Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is a measurement of the average size of your RBCs. The MCV is elevated when your RBCs are larger than normal..."

"...Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) is a calculation of the average amount of oxygen-carrying hemoglobin inside a red blood cell. Macrocytic RBCs..."

"Also known as: Thrombocyte count; PLT Formal name: Platelet Count Related tests: CBC; Platelet aggregation At a Glance Test Sample The Test..."


read more about your PLT and what it means at
http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/platelet/test.html#what

You don't want your PLT to drop too low - spontaneous bleeding can occur - but that is down in the 50,000 range and not the 182,000 mark.


As for no deer, that's too bad but the caterpillars/floaters sound entertaining.  I'm glad she adjusted your BP meds - maybe now it will get under control.

be well, Lu