Enlarged Red Blood Cells- Petrified

[squashie34]

Just looking for a little advice really as I'm going out of my mind with worry. I had some routine bloods ran at the GP due to my persistent night sweats that I've had since I had my little girl 17 weeks ago. I am breastfeeding and didn't know if it was due to this but the GP wanted to check my thyroid.

Anyway I had a message to call the doctor today and he has explained that my thyroid is fine but my red blood cell size is larger than normal, so I need some further blood tests. He didn't really elaborate much more (couldn't wait to get me off the phone to be honest) so I made the mistake of googling and now I'm petrified that I have leukaemia or some other type of cancer. My next blood tests aren't until next week.

Has anyone had these enlarged cells before and it turned out to be nothing too serious? I eat so much marmite and meat that I don't think it can be a B12 deficiency ?

Do you which test result it was? MCV or MCH? I had high much result 2 years ago. It was 34.8 when normal high was stated as 32. It was at the same time I was experiencing symptoms associated with low B12 but I didn't make the correlation.

My GP 3asnt interested at all because my hemoglobin levels were normal. He said it could be due to an infection.

At this point, I decided to start injecting B12 myself. It took some months but suddenly I started to feel better and have been fine since, I just start feeling the symptoms coming back after 4-6 weeks. B12 deficiency can be the result of poor assumption so can occur even with a diet rich of it.

I don't think GPs are too worried when this is the only result out of normal range but would normally monitored.

I’ve had this result and the dr was not at all interested.

Also had this, doctor just re ran blood test that was it

@tortoiseshell1985 when they reran the bloods did it all go back to normal then?

Yes. The doctor was a bit puzzled by it but didn't seem worried.

If they suspected you had leukaemia you would have been sent straight to hospital. There are plenty of non serious causes of large red blood cells such as B12 and folate deficiency, underactive thyroid and drinking too much booze!

Yes it’s very worrying when you think there is the possibility of something being very amiss

But if they suspected leukaemia, you would not be waiting for GP to get some more tests done

I have leukaemia - I went from bloods drawn for something else, via GP phone call, to specialist haematology appointment within 48 hours. Once malignancy is suspected they act really fast

Secondly, step away from google. Treatments for many types of blood cancer have been transformed in recent years (less hostile, way more effective) but there is still a heck of a lot of the old info hanging around in cyberspace, it’s really not going to help you if you stumble across old stuff

IIRC anaemia caused by B12 or folic acid deficiency (either insufficient intake or problem absorbing it) can present like this. Do you know exactly what further blood tests have been commissioned

Thank you for your reply @iVampire .. can I ask what it was in your blood work that made them refer you straight to haematology? I've spoken to the doctor who never mentioned anything about blood counts being off or anything other than that my red blood cell size was enlarged. I hope you're doing well.

I believe the blood tests i'm having are liver function, infection markers and b12/folic acid tests?

You are having appropriate investigations. Step away from Google.
(And how much do you drink?)

@OhDearShirley I'm currently breastfeeding my little girl who is 4 months so don't drink at all - the GP did ask me that actually.

It was a straightforward full blood count @squashie34 - it was so badly out of range in such a classic pattern that subsequent (hospital) tests we’re to confirm not investigate

My standard joke is that there must be a klaxon in the lab for the big anomalous results, which are then reviewed immediately by haematology who instruct GP on getting you in

The tests you are having suggest that they are looking at anaemia caused by B12 or folic acid deficiency - if you’re consuming plenty it could be an absorption issue. Not sure why liver function tests, but would guess that it’s such an important part of metabolic health that it is in some way relevant to absorption

And thank you - yes I’m doing fine, I have a type of leukaemia which can be effectively suppressed by targeted inhibitor drugs, and I’ve just had a review which says I’m ok