Can someone advise me on some strange labs?

Hello, everyone!

I had a DS in May of 2010.  Labs have been normal until this last round.  Not all of them are in yet, but of those that the results came in, some are off:

HOMOCYSTEINE,CARDIAC  14.0  (should be less than 9.0)

BUN/CREAT RATIO  27  (should be 10 – 20)

WHITE BLOOD COUNT  3.5  (should be 4.5 - 11.0)

FOLIC ACID  7.1   (should be more than 9.0)

I will start taking more folic acid immediately.  All of the other vitamins that have come in so far have been in the normal ranges.  Here are my questions:

What could cause my cardiac homocysteine to be so high?

What could cause the bun.creat ratio to be off, and what does it mean?

What could cause low levels of white blood cells?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give.

I have no idea.  But what I do know is that you can't look at labs in a vacuum.  So anyone who does know a lot about labs is going to need to see ALL your labs and it would be really helpful to see your previous labs as well.

So if you can post or attach a spreadsheet that will make the process of getting help with your labs faster for you and easier for our lab experts.

~Becky

I am only an RN student....but lab values are something that get beat into our heads, so I can give you some advice.  HOWEVER...I am NOT an RN yet, nor am I a doctor.  You definatly need to speak to your doctor about these values.

Ok, first, the BUN/Creatinine level is high, but that is common in high protien diets. Protien is hard on the kidneys.  But there is always a possibility that you have an underlying renal disease. So see your doctor.

2. The homocysteine cardiac level is probably high because your folic acid is low.  They are related. I would guess that once your folic acid is within normal range, that will be too. However, this is not something to mess with. You can form blood clots or have heart problems if this is too high. So see your doctor asap and get this in check.

3. The white blood count....this can be caused by many many things. Have you been sick lately?  This one will probably require further testing by your doctor.

Hope this helped.

Thank you both.  I will discuss at my follow-up appointment with my surgeon.  I do feel like I have a better understanding now.  :-)

But what is B12?
Vit A
Vit D

"within range" doesn't tell us if it's actually a safe place to be.

Lab norms are not necessarily accurate.

If both your B12 and folic are low (B12 below 500), it can get tangled up with your heart levels.

B 12 is 868.
 I will post the rest of them with past ratings as well as soon as I can.  :-)

P.S. thank you for the flowers with our orders!  We're getting quite a bouquet.  :-)

Homocysteine is related to the folic.  Homocysteine is converted to other things, and in order to convert to those other things, it needs other vitamins.  So if you don't have those vitamins, it can't convert and it builds up, making the level high.

One of the vitamins is folate, but it could also be related to other B-vitamins so I am very curious about those levels as well.  Do you take a B-complex at all?  Any additional b-12?

Many things can lead to the low WBC count, including various vitamin deficiencies or other serious disorders.  I would talk to your PCP about it or maybe even a hematologist.

Thank you.

Here is a link to an Excel spreadsheet with my lab results, past and present:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2998337/LAB%20RESULTS.xls  NOTE:  There is one error on the spreadsheet.  It says my Vitamin E is near the minimum.  This is incorrect, the minimum is 5.5 and I'm at 9.8. 

And here is what I'm taking now (not counting the changes I'm making due to the low levels of some things)

Iron, 48 mg  (Proferrin 12 mg 4x/day total 48 mg iron)

Copper 2 mg

Dry D-3  50,000 mg

Biotin 5 mg

Folic acid 1 mg

Dry K-1  2 mg

Dry K-2 300 mcg

Magnesium (as citrate) 1190 mg

Zinc 150 mg

Boron 6 mg

Manganese 6 mg

Silica 120 mg

Strontium (as citrate) 1000 mg

Dry vitamin A  150,000 IU

Selenium 200 mcg

Chromium 1.5 mg

Vitamin E (dry) 1200 IU

Calcium (as citrate) 2700 mg

Vitamin C 3000 mg

Kirkland multivitamin/multimineral 3 tablets

Vitamin B-100 Complex  1 capsule

I did meet with my surgeon to discuss them, he didn't seem very concerned with any of them.  Not even the cardiac homocysteine.

dl.dropbox.com/u/2998337/LAB%20RESULTS.xls