Monday, November 29, 2010

Getting some Labs Done

Well today I went in to get some labs done before we make the journey to see the doctor. We travel 6 hours to see a doctor that knows what he is talking about and in the very least listens to my concerns. Does he have the answers to everything? Absolutely not. He won't even touch the POTS issue, but at least I have him there for hydrocortisone, florinef and really anything else hormone related.

This time I asked him to test some basic things and a few not so basic things that I am interested in. I told him not to even bother with my thyroid because I have NO intentions of taking thyroid meds regardless of my results.

I got the following tested:

Fasting insulin
CMP (this is for electrolytes, glucose etc)
CBC with diff.
Ferritin
Vitamin D
Total Testosterone
Free Testosterone
Antiparietal cells antibodies test
Intrinsic Factor Blocking Antibody, Serum
Urine Methylmalonic Acid

I wanted to check my fasting insulin again because the doctor in Michigan checked it and it was kind of high. CMP is good to check my electrolytes and other random things. I haven't had a CBC checked for at least a year, so this is long overdue. I don't expect to see anything out of the ordinary but it is important to spot check.

Ferritin and Vitamin D are both going to be awful. The doctor threw those ones in on his own. I expect my ferritin to be around 20 and my vitamin D to be about the same. Not good, but I hate taking those as it makes me feel toxic.

Total Testosterone and Free Testosterone was something that I added in. Since I'm taking DHEA, I wanted to make sure it's not too much. I don't think it is but I think it is important to verify this with labs to be safe.

The last 3 tests are all for B12 deficiency and pernicious anemia. I wanted to finally put this PA idea to rest. Most who have PA will have either one of those antibodies, so we will see. I also got the urine MMA checked to see if this correlates with the MMA test that Genova Diagnostics did in the NutrEval test.

I don't know if I'll get the results to these before we see him, but I might email the office manager and ask her to send them so I can look them over before we come in. This way I can have any questions ready. :)

2 comments:

Saponaria said...

Why won't you take thyroid meds?

Dana said...

All it does is increase my resting heart rate which then increases my standing heart rates. Whatever is causing POTS, when I speed up my metabolism it makes it much worse. Standing HRs of 180? No thanks. :)