weird labs and a strange symptom -calling Dr. Q!

[SarahL2491]

I was going to post that I noticed a weird difference.  Most people get a headache when drinking cold drinks too fast but I get heartburn……………

then I stopped by the infusion clinic (they draw blood every time because they are an oncology center and my cardiologist wanted a BMP done.

There were only 4 abnormal values and I couldn't put them together, not knowing if MS was involved.
Total protein was low 6.2
Globulin was low 2.3
Albumin/Globulin Ratio was high 2.0
Lactate Dehydrogenase was high at 254

I don't see cardiology until the 28th……any suggestions Dr. Q?

[essdipity]

Hi. Long time, no talk to!

As to labs, I'm having some very weird variations myself, especially sky-high ferritin with normal iron, but all this may have no significance, and particularly no significance in terms of MS. Life is weird.

I don't think your reactions to cold are so strange. Other people describe  headache or similar reactions. For me, I get a truly terrible pain in my esophagus that subsides as the temp gets back to normal. I've had this virtually my entire life when chowing down too fast on something delectable. So I've learned to go much slower on my rare but wonderful frozen Margaritas :-)

Have a great summer.

ess

[Lulu54]

Hi Sarah.  Remember those ranges are only meant as references and not cast in stone.  It is also hard to understand the lab values you give because we don't know what is considered the normal value in that particular lab.  If I understand it correctly, labs will sometimes report results on a different scale and you need to know their specific ranges.

I always go back to my favorite lab site, labtestsonline to look at what the variations might mean  (high vs low)

http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/tp/tab/test/

Here is a specific sites that correlate with your question about lactate.

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=167&ContentID=lactate_dehydrogenase_isoenzymes

I was thinking about you while on vacation when I saw some lovely Quveit - and Alpaca yarns.  
-Laura

[jensequitur]

I get a throat cramp if I drink cold water too quickly. I also get an esophageal spasm (probably different than your heartburn.)

My hematologist commented that those blood numbers can look a little off sometimes, and it may be as simple as a sampling error when they were doing the test. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you're concerned, call your cardiologist and see what they say.

[PeninaD]

I don't have MS, but have GERD, and get heartburn from drinking water often.