Can you read my DS blood test result before I Google it and freak out? Please??

[Andromaca]

Hello,

I really hope there is someone who can help me. My DS is a lovely little 11m old boy and he is not putting on a lot of weight, so the paediatrician did some blood test.

Today his secretary sent me the results but the doctor is not available until tomorrow and I DON'T WANT TO GOOGLE IT because I know I will scare myself shitless...

So, here are the results (the one with the star are the one not in the normal range) :

HAEMOGLOBIN * 9.5 normal between 11.5-13.5
RED CELLS * 5.30 5 normal between 3.6-5.2
HCT * 28.9 5 normal between 34-44
MCV * 54.5 5 normal between 70-86
MCH * 17.9 normal between 23-31
MCHC 32.9 normal between 32-36
RDW * 20.4 normal between 11.0-15.0
WHITE CELLS 11.20 normal between 6.0-18.0
Neutrophils 3.49 normal between 2.0-5.6
Lymphocytes 5.84 normal between 3.6-11.0
Monocytes * 1.64 normal between 0.00-1.5
Eosinophils 0.19 normal between 0.00-0.4
Basophils 0.04 normal between 0.00-0.2
Platelets * 499 normal between 140-440
ESR * 29 normal between 1-7
IRON * 6 normal between 10.6-28.3
T.I.B.C 60 normal between 41-77
IRON SATURATION * 10 normal between 20-55

Thanks you

[Andromaca]

larrygrylls, he has red meat at least 4 times a week, lentils 3 to 4 times a week, but i can for sure give him roast beef every day if it will help....

[lunar1]

Sorry, that was dh's explanation, about as clear as mud as he usually is.

The point he was trying to make is that he needs more blood tests before they would be able to make any diagnosis. Have you got an appointment to go back

[dikkertjedap]

OP - Don't Google. Mumsnet is good in many situations, but not in this situation.

Have you got an appointment with the paediatrician for tomorrow? Will you be meeting up or have a phone consultation?

These are things you really have to talk through with an expert.

[sallysparrow157]

The platelets, white cells and ESR all fit in with him having had a recent illness (none are high enough that I would be at all concerned or want to repeat them)

The rest all fit in with iron deficiency anaemia. This is really really common in kids and actually the haemoglobin isn't all that low - not low enough to cause any symptoms or problems really.

The most common cause in kids is diet and one of the most frequent things I see is kids that drink a lot of cow's milk, fill their tummies with that so don't eat much else - but as he is a formula drinker and that does contain some iron that's probably not the case here. Red meats and green leafy veg contain lots of iron and iron stores do take a while to build up so I would stick with the iron supplements and a good healthy diet.

Other causes include not absorbing things properly (and seeing as he's being investigated for coeliac disease it looks like the doctors are looking into this, he is also at an age where his weight gain will naturally slow down and if he's very active his calorie use will have also increased from when he was younger) or any cause of chronic bleeding which is very unlikely to happen un-noticed in a toddler!

People who are thalassaemia carriers often have a bit of low-grade chronic anaemia which is entirely normal for a thal carrier and not harmful (his dad will probably have a slightly lower blood count than usual) so it may be worth looking at this (apart from anything else, it'll be useful to know for when he's grown up and having his own babies)

So basically, if he was my patient, I had never seen him before and had those blood results I would tell you not to worry too much, have an in-depth look at his diet to make sure he was eating plenty and not filling up on milk or juice, tell you to carry on with the iron for now and see you again in a couple of months where I would look at his weight gain, repeat the bloods and check his thal status. I would not be thinking of checking bone marrow with those results or I would spend my life doing bone marrow aspirates, I see blood results like that so frequently!

[MrSlant]

I like sallysparrow, I could have saved a fortune in Dr's bills if I'd had mumsnet 10 years ago!

Skinny kids are lovely anyway and as your DH is Italian you can go and buy lots of lovely clothes for him there, I find the waist band on French/Italian clothes fits my boy much better.

[denialandpanic]

My DS also turned out to be slightly anaemic at similar age. He had blood tests because of allergic reaction. Had no symptoms of iron deficiency. We were advised to try iron supplements (liquid sytron). They disagreed with him and we ended up feeding him lots and lots of beef. Due to my Dp being coeliac he was investigated pretty thoroughly for this , he also had a few funny igg results (he isn't, no antibodies and he has had the genetic test I know this is not absolute or in the NICE guidance that they reckon 95% of coeliacs have this gene and he doesn't).

We had six monthly appointments for a while and his iron gradually sorted itself out. When they checked his ferritin / iron stores they were also pretty low. The paed seemed to suggest that it is quite typical in a lot of toddlers its just that most don't get tested!I had low hb in pregnancy so he maybe wasn't born with great stores to start with (thats my personal theory never advanced by docs)

[Andromaca]

Thank you all spoke to the doctor (no way i could have waited till tomorrow) and he says what sallysparrow is saying: iron deficency anemia is the most likely thing, we are going to pump him with syrton for one month and we will do the blood test again. The ferritin is right so he is not really concerned.

He is happily jumping in his jamparoo now, i love him so much... Thanks again you all, i'm so glad there is mumsnet, google would have probably sent me on the verge of a breakdown and i don't have family around so you spared me a horrible horrible night...