Understanding blood counts from the Doc's

[Canadianmomto4]

:sign0085:
Ok I am looking to find out what all these numbers from my sons blood tests mean! From what I can gather from the net the following are "normal range":

Hemoglobin 11-16
Albumin 4-5.4
CRP 0-3
Protien 6-8.3

Does that sound right to you all? Currently he has the following:

Hemoglobin 136
Albumin 31
CRP 7.8 (way down from 33 last month!!)
Protien 57

What does it all mean?!?! :yfaint:

 

[Tesscorm]

Have a look under the forum Wiki (under 'Blood tests and results') - you'll find explanations and 'normal' ranges. However, you'll find that some ranges must be multiplied or divided by 10 (depending on country, lab, etc.). I don't know all the normal ranges but from what I understand from my son's lab, normal HGB is 140-175, Albumin is 32-56 and CRP is 0-8.

http://www.crohnsforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=56

 

[Catherine]

When I get a print out of daughter labs they have the number then the range used.

Hemoglobin, we have had tests done by two different labs, one the use the range you have mentioned (11-16), the other used the range (110 - 160).

 

[DustyKat]

Tess is right hun...there are different ways of reporting results and the reference ranges you have listed are likely not the same values as the results you are reading.

Different labs will give slightly different ranges. I will give a comparison of your son's results to the ones we use, remember these are our reference ranges in brackets:

Hemoglobin (130-180) 136
Albumin (38-50) 31
CRP (<6.0) 7.8 (way down from 33 last month!!)
Protein (65-85) 57

So Hb on the lower end of normal but not unusual when inflammation has been active.

CRP I reckon you know the downward trend is :thumleft: :wink:

Albumin and protein are related and are indicative of inflammation causing problems with the body absorbing protein and nutrients. It is quite common for Crohnies to have problems with low protein and albumin when flaring and your boy's levels would be reflecting that. In view of what he has been going through the levels aren't too bad, not too far off the low end of normal.

Dusty. xxx

 

[dannysmom]

Make sure to look at the unit.