I recently received my lab test results back I was a little concerned at some of the results
I had a infection in my tooth but was put on antibotics for 10 days.
I'm really concerened about the Orencia if it is really working and why is my blood work so crazy. I also was told that my RA is active right now. I didn't now that RA was inactive. I thought it was always active unless you were in remission.
Antibotics it seems in any form we just don't get along. My RA seems to inflame when I take them. I knew right when I started them all the aches and pains started. Before then I was doing fine. My right knee and left elbow have been swollen the whole month of December despite taking Orencia. I didn't mess up on the methotrexate and stop taking it for two weeks while I was on the antibotics this may have set the flare in motion.
Can anyone help with some info or if they had this problems.
What are your overall feelings with Orencia? I am due to start Rituxen next month after being on Orencia over a year. Thought it was working great initially but fizzled out over the summer.
Well It has been working fine for almost 3 years now. I still better than I was 3 years ago. No cane, no walking in the mall or parks or any kind of physical activity. I believe it's still working but I have my problems. I was fine up until I started the antibiotics. But I didn't not know I had an infection in my tooth until I went to the dentist. That part really concerns me. I'm going to try and stick with it until the end of 2009 and see what happens from there.I'd have to see the rest of the numbers for your red cells to say what may be up there but if I had to guess I'd say anemia could be causing the low HCT. RA can cause you to be anemic so that's probably the culprit. As for the white cell count, if you have an infection normally they go pretty high. They are also elevated during episodes of acute or in our case, chronic inflammation. I'd say that the Orencia may be causing the low numbers there which may have also contributed to the infection in the tooth as well. Low white cell counts can also be caused by bone marrow failure due to infection or other problems, diseases of the liver or spleen or from radiation. If I had to guess though, again, I'd say Orencia. This is why I'm scared of Orencia and Rituxan. I normally run high in neutrophils, but have a low lymphocyte count.
CRP and Sed Rate are called acute phase reactants and are "generic" markers for inflammation. There is usually no CRP present in circulation and it tells the doc that there is inflammation somewhere, but not where. Same goes for Sed rate or ESR.
I wouldn't be too concerned with the platelet count yet as it's not extremely elevated just yet.
Good luck, hope your doc figures out what is causing your results to be out of whack soon.
Bob
Yes, I do have anemia. I don't see a RBC count on the test results. Would it be classified as something else? Thanks for the info. I'm calling the RA doc Monday. I just want to make sure that I don't have an infections somewhere else.
MCV indicates the average size of the red cells
MCH indicates the average hemoglobin content of the red cells
MCHC is the amount of hemoglobin relative to the size of the red cells
RDW indicates difference in sizes in the red cell population.
Hematocrit is the relative percentage of red cells in a volume of whole blood
Hemoglobin is a protein found in red cells that allows the red cell to carry oxygen.
All of these values come into play when attempting to classify the type of anemia that a person has. It may be listed under the name of red cell indices on your test results printout depending on the hematology automation used in the lab where the test was performed. There should also have been a manual count done because of your low relative white cell count and there should be an estimation of red cells there as well. Good idea to call the doc, maybe he/she can explain things to you better.
Good luck
Bob
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