Q&A – Help with exams, please. Do I have asthma or not

I am 37f, 180lbs, white, 5 foot 3, no major CBC health issues until recent tests, and I have some issues. I walk daily, around 45 minutes a day. On and off smoker. Just quit again 27 days ago. I recently went to the ER because I was having varying chest pain/ back pain/tightness, you name it. Sternum pressure. I honestly thought I could have costochondritis… I finally went to er it was not going away. Had a heart check-up, x-ray, and Anaemia blood tests everything was fine… 2 weeks after the hospital visit, I started having breathing problems. Feeling like I’m breathing through a straw with on-off chest and lung tightness. Sometimes, after eating, I would have to clear my throat excessively, almost like I couldn’t breathe well. Like my lungs were irritated.

I went to an asthma allergy doctor. Had spirometry and was normal. Fev1 100% fvc/fev 89. After albuterol, the only thing that got better was 25-75, but only by 8 per cent. She gave me an inhaler and taper prednisone to take daily to see if my symptoms improved and a follow-up for 10 days later. Nothing improved. She gave another spirometry, which was the same as the last appt. So she said to stop the inhaler. She didn’t think asthma… I had allergy skin checks. I’m not allergic to anything based on that CBC test. Now, my question to everyone. I had blood drawn at the hospital when I was having chest pains, and I had Anaemia bloodwork again during my breathing through a straw phase. And I had high granulocytes and eosinophils.

Concerns Over Results

I wish I never googled. Now I’m wondering if I have severe E asthma, but I passed spirometry… I’m still symptomatic, and yesterday was a better day where I felt better, but today I’m breathing through a straw again… lungs were tight in my back today as well. Honestly, these feel like long covid all over again. (I had covid pneumonia in 2021 and had similar symptoms for 3 months after it) but I’m unsure I had covid this time around…

July 24th bloodwork results

WBC 6.0 Neutrophils absolute 3.74 Lymphocytes absolute 1.37 Monocyte absolute 0.47 Eosinophils absolute 0.33 Basophils absolute 0.03 Granulocyte absolute 0.03

August 16th bloodwork results

WBC 6.5 Neutrophils absolute 4.00 Lymphocytes absolute 1.30 Monocytes absolute 0.50 Eosinophils absolute 0.60 Basophils absolute 0.00

Thanks for looking! I spend so much on doctor visits and Anaemia tests, and no one will help me. When I mentioned the eosinophils to the doctor, she said they could be anything, don’t worry, or allergies, but my Allergy result pricks were all negative!

Answer:

Random strangers on the internet can not tell you if you have asthma. And if steroids aren’t helping, it’s probably not asthma. Ask your CBC doctors about GERD/oesophagal irritation, heart problems, or musculoskeletal issues. Or a combination of various factors. If prednisone has not helped at all, I would start looking at other things besides lung problems that can cause these symptoms. Elevated white blood cell counts can be related to many things – including prednisone. It is so hard with complex things, and I hope you find a good doctor to help you coordinate and connect everything.

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Question:

Panel high MPV worries

  • Age 54
  • Sex Female
  • Height 5’7
  • Weight 150
  • Race Caucasian
  • Duration of complaint: 1 month
  • Any existing relevant medical issues with Hemorrhoids
  • Current medications -none
  • Include a photo if relevant

Hello, I recently completed CBC bloodwork, and the MPV levels were high at 13.8. All else was normal, including my blood platelet count. My doctor didn’t seem too concerned and said it meant my platelets were producing faster.

I had bloodwork again as the doctor is looking into the cause of my rectal bleeding, which has been going on for a month. She thinks it’s haemorrhoids since I’ve had them before. I don’t have the most recent CBC results, so I don’t know the MPV count. However, the doctor wasn’t concerned and said she saw them and saw that my platelet counts were down slightly. I’ve always run a bit low, though.

I see a GI specialist Monday for my current issue and I know asking on Reddit doesn’t substitute for medical advice. However, getting feedback and opinions would be helpful as I’m worried sick. I did something stupid and read about this online and saw that a high MPV could indicate colon cancer. My Anaemia doctor said that high MPV alone doesn’t usually Indicate much, particularly since all other results came back normal.

I don’t have colon cancer in my family, and I’m overall healthy.

Answer:

The MPV is not a useful exam when everything else is normal. How low are your platelets when you say they are low? Are they still normal? If so, I wouldn’t worry about an isolated high MPV. I found the paper, which you probably saw while googling, which correlates high MPV to colon cancer. This study does not show that having high MPV = colon cancer. It just showed that people who did have known colon cancer had higher MPVs than the control group in that sample. Very important to understand the difference. MPV is not predictive or diagnostic in CC.

Your normal values are likely slightly outside the lab’s typical range. I wouldn’t be worried about this specific lab value. I hope everything goes well with the GI specialist and that things turn out benign.

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Question:

Results: Low WBC, Low Hemoglobin, Low Hematocrit

36: F 120 lbs 5’2”

I had routine test of  my CBC bloodwork done recently as part of my annual physical. Results came back out of range for WBC (3.6L), Hemoglobin (11.1L), Hematocrit (34.1L)

All other results were within normal limits. I had the same testing done one year ago, and all counts were within normal limits.

The only major medical history in the last few months is a car accident that resulted in a broken wrist and subsequent surgery. My surgeon says I am healing well.

I’m sure these Anaemia results could mean a multitude of things, but my mind immediately goes to something extreme (I.e. blood cancer). I’m sure my doctor will call me when she has an opportunity to review, but wondering if anyone here could interpret some potential reasons for these numbers to be off.

I also had a metabolic panel, lipid panel, and vit D report, all within normal limits.

Answer:

Not at all worrying. Your WBC is fine. Crit and Hgb are giving the same info here. Worth following up on, but pretty low. It seems that it needs to be more urgent. Common things being common, this is most likely iron deficiency.