Abnormal blood test results - I need to stay away from Dr Google don't I?

[OublietteBravo]

DD (10) recently had a blood test. She has been feeling a bit tired and run down, and has been experiencing leg pain.

The results show low white blood cell count (mostly caused by a low neutrophil count), high haemoglobin concentration and low blood glucose.

She has a follow-up appointment with the GP, but not until 10 April.

How worried should I be? (I'm really feeling quite stressed).

I don't know anything about the blood results I'm not a medical person but you must stay away from Dr Google.

Must say id be ringing the docs and getting that appointment moved forward come hell or high water.

I'd have a breakdown having to wait that long to see someone.

Part of me thinks it can't be that bad if they are prepared to leave it that long to follow up, and part of me is really, really worried that there might be something seriously wrong with my PFB.

yep,stay away from google
in my experience, they will probably want to wait and repeat bloods as one abnormal test doesnt tell them a lot.

Yes in my docs if it was anything urgent they would have you straight in but I really don't know much about gp's procedures. When my uncle was ill his flew through his tests/scans to diagnosis stage.

I'd like to think that if certain triggers were hit with test results there would be a set response with timescales. I'm sure someone will be along soon with something helpful to say.

I'd still ring and explain you are worried and would like seeing quicker. How did you get the results? Did they just send you a letter? I'd be up a height being given results like that without being able to discuss them.

And it is absolutely normal to be worried, I worry about things that don't even exist sometimes.

It is not fair of them to make you wait to understand tre implications of these results: don't Google, but do call & ask to speak to the Gp so you can understand what they are thinking. It is quite reasonable to be worried & ask what is going on. Probably as mentioned above they just want to repeat the test.

Op I am unsure of how things work over there but in Ireland if there were any serious concerns you would be summoned to hospital immediately!
Not in nearly two weeks time.

Also you would not be seeing the GP , you would be seeing a specialist at the hospital.

Most likely the doc just wants to discuss the results and what they mean. I know the low white cell is usually caused by an infection.

If I were you I would ring the gp and say you really cannot wait that long and can he or she even have a phone consult to put your mind at rest

Oubliette try and take some comfort from the fact that when it's urgent, our NHS is wonderful. We literally got kicked out of a private doctors appointment at 2pm on a Friday, by the time we got to our local children's hospital they were waiting for our DS with scans, blood tests, X-rays etc., When it's urgent, it's urgent, they do not mess around with kids if there is anything even slightly sinister.

Oubliette Most blood tests are taken from adults and many from the elderly. "Normal" means within a range set so that 5% of tests on normal people will be flagged as abnormal. Or to put it another way if you do 20 tests on a normal, fit, healthy adult you will expect 5%, that is one, to be abnormal. Now factor in age. Results in children are different and there are ranges known to paediatricians but nobody has told the computer the age related ranges, and so children will be flagged up as abnormal even more than 5%. But if DD had same results as her granny you might have cause for concern! In the extreme, values in neonates are a nightmare, the normal range of some tests is completely different. I guess DD has not started periods yet? The form probably told the blood computer that she was female. The normal female range is a bit below the normal male range to cope with monthly loss. As a fit young medical student my glucose was way below normal, often only half of lower range of "normal" (and without any intervention I have made it to collect my pension!). Obviously, as I am not aware of exact values, I cannot comment on DD's results but as pointed out above, if there was anything to worry about the GP will have been told. Please de-stress!

PS: I have just had some 30 results back, and surprise, surprise one was just above normal (61 when normal is 30-60). It comes from the liver and could signal damage!