which_chick (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
which_chick) wrote2010-04-13 09:51 pm
which_chick) wrote2010-04-13 09:51 pm
(no subject)
So I went back to the doctor, the doctor from October who told me to drop twenty pounds, stop eating fried foods, and take a calcium supplement. That was last week. I had her reorder the bloodwork that we ran in October to see how things were coming along. Today, I got the bloodwork back.
Because I am a dork and because I have the bloodwork results faxed to me, I have more to go on than "The doctor says..." If you do doctoring, you might also have your lab crap faxed to you for future reference. The nice thing about bloodwork, at least normal, everyday bloodwork, is that it comes to you on a computer printout. The computer printout gives several columns of data.
On my paperwork, Column 1 is the thing. Like, for example, "Sodium".
Column 2 is Trouble, If Any. Like, if it's low, it says L. If it's high, it says H. If it's critically high, it says @H so that you will be able to notice it is way out of whack even if you're a doc who has all of seven minutes to look at your patient.
Column 3 is What You Scored.
Column 4 is The Normal Range, in brackets or shown via an inequality.
A sixth-grader could understand these test results. What they *mean* in terms of an overall picture of one's health, not so much (that's what I pay the doc for), but if there is a problem with, for example, cholesterol, you can see that from the results. You can see what is normal and you can see what you scored and all like that.
When I went to the doc in October, I weighed 176 lbs. The items that came up tagged as abnormal (either high or low) on the previous blood work were as follows:
Alkaline Phosphatase: 34. That's low. "Normal" is 40-125.
Calcium: 8.3. That's also low. "Normal" is 8.8 to 10.5
SGPT/ALT: 29. That's low. "Normal" is 30-65.
Cholesterol: 205. That's high. "Normal" is 50-180.
LDL (calculated) 144. High. "Normal" is under 131.
Cholesterol/HDL ratio: 3.73, Low. Normal is 4-6.7
Of these, the doc wanted something done with the calcium (Take a supplement) and the cholesterol (Eat fewer fried foods.). Oh, and I was supposed to lose twenty pounds.
This time I was 161 lbs. That's fifteen of twenty, which is a 75%, good enough for a passing grade. I have been taking a calcium supplement (which I hate) since the doc told me to do so. And I don't, y'know, eat fried foods but I didn't before either. I do eat a hell of a lot less food, but it's the same food I always ate. Just a lot less.
How'd the numbers look this time?
Alkaline Phosphatase: 32. That's low. "Normal" is 40-125.
Calcium: 8.9. Now in NORMAL range, 8.8 to 10.5
SGPT/ALT: 33. That's NORMAL, 30-65.
However, now SGPT/AST is now 12, Low. "Normal" is 15-37.
Cholesterol: 189. Still high, but better. "Normal" is 50-180.
LDL (calculated) 124. Now normal, under 131.
Cholesterol/HDL ratio: 3.38, Low. Lower than before. Normal is 4-6.7
So. LDL is now "normal", Cholesterol number looks better. Calcium is now normal. Doctor says "Keep up with the low-cholesterol diet". Apparently that's the one with lard, butter, bacon, and sausage that I've been eating here all along. :) I like it.
In the wonderful world of Internet Medical Degrees, we can also see (on page 2) that I had weird numbers for Lymphocytes (28.9, should be 33-38) and Monocytes (11.7, should be less than 10) in October of 2009. In April of 2010, Lymphocytes were 28.5 (33-38) and Monocytes were 11.6 (under 10).
Whatever is going on with the blood, it's still fucked up on the -cytes front. WBC as a whole looks fine, though, so maybe the ratio is just weird for me. Doc hasn't mentioned it to me, but she may not be very observant. This is, after all, the same doc who asked about the regularity of my periods at the visit last week. (I had a hysterectomy in 2005. At that point, my periods stopped rather abruptly and have not resumed.)
Because I am a dork and because I have the bloodwork results faxed to me, I have more to go on than "The doctor says..." If you do doctoring, you might also have your lab crap faxed to you for future reference. The nice thing about bloodwork, at least normal, everyday bloodwork, is that it comes to you on a computer printout. The computer printout gives several columns of data.
On my paperwork, Column 1 is the thing. Like, for example, "Sodium".
Column 2 is Trouble, If Any. Like, if it's low, it says L. If it's high, it says H. If it's critically high, it says @H so that you will be able to notice it is way out of whack even if you're a doc who has all of seven minutes to look at your patient.
Column 3 is What You Scored.
Column 4 is The Normal Range, in brackets or shown via an inequality.
A sixth-grader could understand these test results. What they *mean* in terms of an overall picture of one's health, not so much (that's what I pay the doc for), but if there is a problem with, for example, cholesterol, you can see that from the results. You can see what is normal and you can see what you scored and all like that.
When I went to the doc in October, I weighed 176 lbs. The items that came up tagged as abnormal (either high or low) on the previous blood work were as follows:
Alkaline Phosphatase: 34. That's low. "Normal" is 40-125.
Calcium: 8.3. That's also low. "Normal" is 8.8 to 10.5
SGPT/ALT: 29. That's low. "Normal" is 30-65.
Cholesterol: 205. That's high. "Normal" is 50-180.
LDL (calculated) 144. High. "Normal" is under 131.
Cholesterol/HDL ratio: 3.73, Low. Normal is 4-6.7
Of these, the doc wanted something done with the calcium (Take a supplement) and the cholesterol (Eat fewer fried foods.). Oh, and I was supposed to lose twenty pounds.
This time I was 161 lbs. That's fifteen of twenty, which is a 75%, good enough for a passing grade. I have been taking a calcium supplement (which I hate) since the doc told me to do so. And I don't, y'know, eat fried foods but I didn't before either. I do eat a hell of a lot less food, but it's the same food I always ate. Just a lot less.
How'd the numbers look this time?
Alkaline Phosphatase: 32. That's low. "Normal" is 40-125.
Calcium: 8.9. Now in NORMAL range, 8.8 to 10.5
SGPT/ALT: 33. That's NORMAL, 30-65.
However, now SGPT/AST is now 12, Low. "Normal" is 15-37.
Cholesterol: 189. Still high, but better. "Normal" is 50-180.
LDL (calculated) 124. Now normal, under 131.
Cholesterol/HDL ratio: 3.38, Low. Lower than before. Normal is 4-6.7
So. LDL is now "normal", Cholesterol number looks better. Calcium is now normal. Doctor says "Keep up with the low-cholesterol diet". Apparently that's the one with lard, butter, bacon, and sausage that I've been eating here all along. :) I like it.
In the wonderful world of Internet Medical Degrees, we can also see (on page 2) that I had weird numbers for Lymphocytes (28.9, should be 33-38) and Monocytes (11.7, should be less than 10) in October of 2009. In April of 2010, Lymphocytes were 28.5 (33-38) and Monocytes were 11.6 (under 10).
Whatever is going on with the blood, it's still fucked up on the -cytes front. WBC as a whole looks fine, though, so maybe the ratio is just weird for me. Doc hasn't mentioned it to me, but she may not be very observant. This is, after all, the same doc who asked about the regularity of my periods at the visit last week. (I had a hysterectomy in 2005. At that point, my periods stopped rather abruptly and have not resumed.)