TOPIC: Can anyone help me understand test results?

Hello Folks,

Would anyone here be able to help me understand these test results?

Primarily I need to know which ones are Low, High, or Fine, but the stats mean nothing to me at the moment! (Yes, I could Google every single one, but if you understand these, it sure would be helpful).

Fibroscan 4.5kPa (June 2015)

Blood Results (22nd Dec 2015)

ALB 44
ALP 41
AST 21
BIL 9
CAL 2.37
CCA 2.29
CRE 100
FER 190
GGT 18
HB 159
PHOS 0.94
POT 4.2
NA 142
PLT 142
WBC 4.00
NEUT 1.49
AFP 3

Thanks for your time,

Tom

Tomas_73 wrote:
T...
Here are some low to high ranges from my docs:

Fibroscan...don't have. Never had one, but important. Someone will chime in.

ALB-3.3/4.9
ALP-5/60
AST-10/50
BIL-.2/1.3
CAL-8.3/10.4
CCA-?
CRE-.60/1.5
FER-?
GGT-?
HB-?
PHOS-?
POT-?
NA-?
PLT-130-450
WBC-4.0-11.0
NEUT-1.6/9.3
AFP-?

I'm not in the health industry...so I'm no expert. Some of these ranges have changed or are
different with different blood labs. I have docs from 3 labs that have different ranges since
2007. The above ranges are for reference purposes. My docs have told me that ALP,AST,
PLT, WBC,ALB are somewhat important liver readings, but the fact that they might be out of the
range does not necessarily mean you are in trouble. I would suggest you have someone in
the health industry interpret the readings. One other point. These ranges are from the USA.
Don't know if they are the same world-wide.....e

Hi Tom
4.5 kpa is a good score for fibroscan! Mine was 4.4 kpa in 2013, practically the same, and I remember the consultant saying it was the same score as his and classed as a normal liver.

The most important one is your fiber scan at 4.5 you're a F0/ F1 which is
at the very low end your liver is in good shape.

Some relate to liver functions I think yours look in normal ranges.

The rest of the functions have importance I would request your Dr explain them and what they
mean ,as a rule if something is way out of range its brought to your attention.

That's a very good set of results Tomas. With your liver functioning so well, and you being treatment naive, you're probably an ideal candidate for clearing your hepc on the new DAAs.

Thank you everyone who has replied. Much appreciated.

Hi Tomas,

For somebody with HCV it really does not get better than that prior to treatment.

With low fibrosis you chances of cure are at the higher end. No 100% cast iron guarantee but good reason to be optimistic.

Thank You Dr Freeman

Yes, for results I am most fortunate and grateful.

It is partially "luck of the draw", but I have made determined lifestyle changes over the last 8 years.

I probably contracted HCV over two decades ago; injecting drugs. Alcohol was always a problem, that escalated. But in 2008 aged 34, I hit rock bottom, so turned my life around, and quit drinking and smoking completely. I exercise a bit, but more importantly I believe my diet is exceptionally good.

So as doctors around the world will advise their patients, I concur: abstain from drinking, quit smoking, eat healthily.

Still, I have not been able to shake off extra-hepatic symptoms of Brain-fog, fatigue, aches and pains, and chronic depression. These are with me, day in, day out, year after year. But soon I shall be rid of this disease, and be one step closer to fulfilling my potential. I've lost my youthful years, but to feel well, before I become old, will be a reprieve.

We are all the product of all the people we have ever met, and the things we've done and have between now and whenever our time runs out to do whatever it is...

My mum once told me something useful:

"Life is not a trial run."

Get cured and find your new future, whatever it might be.

James-Freeman-facebook wrote:
I know an elderly retired couple (both, funnily enough, former doctors). The lady has an artist studio in the attic room, and on the door of the room is a home-made notice that made my jaw drop the first time I saw it:

"TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE"

On my first freefall skydive I asked my jump master, Captain Ron Llywelyn SAS this question:

Hey Ron, how long do I have to pull the ripcord?

He said:

Well James, I'll tell you. You've got the rest of your f$&@ing life to pull that ripcord...

Yesterday is the story that delivered you to today. In front of you is a blank page and you can write today's story any way you want. You can scribble on the pages, tear them out, or write your masterpiece.

There is a disconnect between my last post and those since. Perhaps my comments where too abstract, thus I was misunderstood.

I was attempting to provide some context, for my good blood results, despite having had HCV for a long time, as we are all here in the process of managing our health with the virus until we have finished treatment.

My point was that: I really advocate informed dietary decisions, and abstinence from harmful habits, specifically for us with HCV. Because, despite years of hazardous behavior regarding my own health, I appear to have achieved good blood results, via those redeeming changes I made.

I confess, I marvel at how people can be grateful for medical intervention while admitting they smoke, or drink, or eat poorly. It's a naive self-deluding hypocrisy; like the patient that goes to McDonalds on the way home from a stomach bypass operation. (True anocdote btw).

So I am attempting to encourage others to take as much control of their health as possible, while acknowledging that new DDAs are the magic bullet for the outstanding obstacle of HCV which is otherwise beyond our control.

I have always fought with depression yet mostly remained productive throughout, but what a hellish existence it has been to fight something you cannot beat; HCV. A race towards the freedom from HCV, against the march of passing years and aging, produces an ever shrinking oasis; a portion of ones life free from ailments, in which the individual can flourish.

Those are some good points you raise Tomas.

I don't know if there are any good research statistics on this (I've never come across any), but I doubt there's any argument against living healthily giving your body the best chance to defeat this virus.

But (and there is a but), following a particular lifestyle does not make a given in how your health will end up. Taking myself and the people I know (sure, anecdotal) I drank like a fish, probably to the point of alcoholism, for over thirty years (having hepc throughout) until I stopped a couple of years ago. I also always ate what I wanted and have been overweight to varying degrees for most of my adult life. On the plus side, I've always excercised well, kept fit, and since I was diagnosed with hepc about 13 years ago I have taken high daily doses of curcumin and milk thistle. My bloods before starting treatment last September were similar to yours (apart from a high GGT of 357), and a fibroscan I had last November gave a 'normal' reading of 4.7. Whilst I would not advocate anyone, with or without hepc, following my lifestyle, I have pretty much got away with it.

My brother, who has been an intravenous drug user on-and-off throughout his adult life and drank moderately when off the drugs, started suffering liver failure over 10 years ago and had a liver transplant about 2 years ago.

A mutual friend, who used intravenous drugs with my brother briefly over 30 years ago and drank and smoked fairly moderately afterward living quite a healthy lifestyle, died from liver failure over 5 years ago. He'd stopped drinking and smoking 4 years before he died.

Another mutual friend, who also used intravenous drugs briefly with my brother in the early days, has drank and smoked heavily for the rest of his life but otherwise kept fit and looked after his weight. He's still doing ok health-wise.

The point I'm trying to make is that, whilst you're right about looking after yourself, it's still something of a lottery. And living a particular lifestyle certainly doesn't preclude one from getting cleared from hepc.

Sorry if Doc James and Myself appeared to take your thread offtopic with our exchange, but there was an important point in there which addresses the point raised in your last paragraph. I've always tried to have a positive outlook and live my life to the full, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it so far. As Doc James said, the future is always a book full of empty pages in which one has the ability to write many different stories. And we do try to keep a sense of humour on this forum .

Anyway, thanks for the thoughtful post. It made me think about a few of my perceptions, for sure.

Hi Tomas and Alsdad,

So I am attempting to encourage others to take as much control of their health as possible, while acknowledging that new DDAs are the magic bullet for the outstanding obstacle of HCV which is otherwise beyond our control.

I have always fought with depression yet mostly remained productive throughout, but what a hellish existence it has been to fight something you cannot beat; HCV. A race towards the freedom from HCV, against the march of passing years and aging, produces an ever shrinking oasis; a portion of ones life free from ailments, in which the individual can flourish.

Says it all.

The last sentence about the potentially 'new found oasis' is something I expect we may hear more of as people move through UND to 12 SVR then 24 SVR.

Cancer may be a word, but for me HepC feels like it has been a sentence. The disease, no matter how much the medicos have tried to make it not so, has been disenfranchised from the mainstream. The feelings post Hep C, perhaps similar to grief, need not be disenfranchised as well if people like you continue to share their thoughts.

Reading an article last year in the Sydney Morning herald about Dr Freeman and Greg Jeffries has given me better health since early November 2015 through to now and I hope beyond. If it is a second chance, I agree that I have to make the best for it: - for me, family, those who may have stuck their necks out, and the people like you who share their thoughts here.

Yours

J.

P.S.

I also remember my last DRP. I thought I had lost the plastic handle, that is until I was on the ground and found the handle still sitting there on the harness. I had yanked the velcro strip open instead.

Stayed mute about that and used two hands for the first 3 sec delay and consequently was pointing straight down when the bag left my back going between and hitting my lower legs on the way though. It was in interesting commotion when the canopy opened and the shroud lines started spreading.

Quite a day to remember, that one, in the mid 1980's.