Blood test results

[StarTravels]

I've been suffering with symptoms of tiredness, foggy brain, memory loss, confusion, breathlessness and generally feeling awful. My doctor ran a full blood count and I was given the following results:

MCV 77.1 (LOW) - Range 80-102
MCH 24.7 (LOW) - Range 26-32
HGB 16.1 (HIGH) - Range 11-16

They also checked my ferritin and B12 - both came back normal, but I don't have the exact result/range.

I'm a bit worried by this as I haven't been able to find much online showing a high haemoglobin and low MCV/MCH. Before running the test the doctor thought it was just an iron deficiency but can that be the case if my ferritin is normal and my haemoglobin is elevated?

Any ideas about these results as I'm very worried it's an indication of something serious!

Thanks for your help.

[Pleasemrstweedie]

Be very wary of the word 'normal' in this context.

For example, where I live the range for ferritin is 15-150 and a GP will quite probably say that any figure within the reference range is 'normal', whereas a result of 16 is clearly very different to a result of, say, 130. In fact, ferritin really needs to be at least mid-range to be optimal.

It's worth asking for a print out of your results as you're fully entitled to this.

[StarTravels]

Thanks Pleasemrstweedie. You were right! I probed into my "normal" ferritin reading and found that mine was down to 13, although this was still within the normal range. I guess that must be the reason I've been feeling so awful. Thanks for your help!