Thick blood

[fuzzyfozzy]

Hi, I've been to the doctors, freaked myself out and could do with a virtual talking to.
I've had slightly elevated liver tests for a few months, had a liver scan which was ok.
My last test has said I've got thick blood (165) and she's sending me to a haematologist.
This seemed to be the end but I asked what they could do, let some blood out was my answer.
So I've come home and googled it, and freaked myself out by all the answers saying blood cancer.
Obviously I know I'll get my answers when I get to the hospital, but if anyone has any experience I'd appreciate it.

Bump

Dh has essential thrombocythaemia which is too many platelets in his blood which makes it sticky and thick. He takes chemotherapy tablets now as his is quite severe but in the early days aspirin was enough. If it's haemachromatosis then that's because of a build up of iron and blood letting seems to be quite common (it was mentioned to dh before his ET diagnosis)

Thanks. I hadn't realised there was more than one diagnosis

Thanks for the link

If your liver tests are off and she's talking about "letting blood out" then it's most likely haemochromatosis, which is very manageable once it's diagnosed. Don't panic.

Thanks cel, the first page I found was discussing blood cancer which freaked me out.

Yes haemachromatosis was what they first suspected dh had, He had a general blood test and he had too high a blood count. It was only after further tests that they discovered he had a different condition. FWIW dh's liver levels are currently awful but that is because of the chemo they believe.

Thanks

It could be a number of things, but from what your GP said to you I would suspect haemochromatosis which can give you a high haemoglobin (blood count), and as a pp said can lead to excessive iron which ends up being deposited in some organs, particularly the liver. If it's untreated, it can be serious, but thankfully the management is really very simple. You regularly go to the hospital and have around a pint of blood taken off, almost exactly as you would if you donate blood.

There can be other reasons for a high blood count, which I used to see in some patients with lung disease (their bodies compensated for the lack of oxygen coming through their diseased lungs by making more red blood cells to try to snag as much oxygen as possible). I used to take a unit of blood from these patients when their blood counts got too high.

As you have seen from google, there are some more worrying causes which need chemotherapy and treatment under the haematologists. They are not particularly common, and your GP would be more likely to have told you that you need more tests from the haematologists rather than giving you an outline of the likely treatment if that's what she suspected.

Sorry this is long and detailed. Hope it helps a little. I have medical training, although it's not my area of expertise.

Thanks for that, you've put my mind to rest and I'll sleep tonight.

I went back to the gp today, I've been referred for polycythaemia vera apparently. My levels had gone up quite a bit last time, so he's redone the blood tests as it'll be 4 weeks til I get to the hospital.
He told me to start on aspirin too.

Make sure your blood is taken without a tourniquet and at an early appointment as it needs to be tested on the day as these things can affect results.

Why without a tourniquet?
I'm there at 9am.

Applying a tourniquet can falsely elevate results. There is now some thought that this may not be the case but, having worked in haematology for many years, we saw lots of people referred by GP's with suspected polycythaemia whose blood results were normal when taken in clinic. This can also be caused by the length of time from the sample being taken and tested.

However If you do have polycythaemia it is easily treated. Don't let google tell you otherwise.

Thanks for that.

Colleague has haemochromatosis & says it's one of the most common blood disorders that doesn't get diagnosed until late in life. It's great, he can donate 3x as much as most people.