Just got My First Set of Labs Since 2005

[tyrellclay]

WOW, ok, so I went to a regular family physician to have these done and don't have an appt with my NEW HIV Doc until august(he is apparently in high demand.  So I am trying to read these, which really sucks because all it gives me is VL and LogCopies???  Since i have not had labs done in so long I am not sure how to read these and neither is the family physician.  VL i get, but why didn't they do a CD4 count??  I don't know, but what are LOGCOPIES? someone give me some advice on this.  VL is 125K and logcopies are 5.10??

Signed,

No Clue

Thanks

[CallMeSid]

Hi.

125,000 = 10^5.10

That is, 125,000 copies per ml is 10 to the power of 5.10.  It's just a different scale or a different way or reporting the same number.  Kind of like how 100 = 10*10 or 10^2 (or 2.0 log copies).  (I'm actually VERY surprised that your family physician didn't know how to read that!)

My (limited) experience has been that the CD4 count comes on a separate lab report.  When my blood is drawn for CD4 and VL, a total of 3 vials are taken and I receive 2 separate lab reports.  Perhaps the report with the CD4 results were misplaced or misfiled or there was some hold up at the lab?  They may have inadvertently not been ordered?

Hope that helps.  Just curious:  why the long time since your last labs?

[Miss Philicia]

My (limited) experience has been that the CD4 count comes on a separate lab report.

I just changed from years with LabCorps to Quest -- LabCorps was on the same report, Quest is on a separate page.

tyrellclay, if your doctor ordered the test properly there should be a line that says "Absolute CD4+ Cells" and the number after that is what you are looking for.  Also, of interest generally is the line directly before or after that which says "% CD4 Helper"

You may wish to refer to the following link and find the section about reading your lab results where all of this is explained in detail: http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/Introduction_4702.shtml

[Inchlingblue]

If I were you I would ask the doctor to do a CD4 count and percentage. The request for labs has all the technical terms that doctors are familiar with as far as ordering this (I believe it's called a "CD4/CD8 Panel" and I think it's a subset of a general lymphocyte analysis).

The point is that he should have ordered this, maybe he did, you can ask just to make sure, maybe the results were not in yet. You might want to call and make sure.

If he did not order this test, I guess if you waited since 2005 maybe you feel comfortable waiting until August when you see the HIV doctor, that's up to you.

[Assurbanipal]

Hi Tyrell

Don't know if that is a high viral load for you compared to what it was in the past or not, but compared to other people who are not in treatment 125K is fairly high.  No need to panic or anything, but it is probably not a good idea to wait til August to get your CD4 counts; instead get them done now if you don't already have them.

And it might not hurt to call the HIV specialist with those numbers and ask if they can take you in for an appointment a little earlier.  In particular if your absolute CD4 count is under 200 or the CD4 % is under 14% you should call the HIV specialist and ask for an earlier appointment -- if your CD counts wind up at those levels you want to be taking medicine to protect you from pneumonia or other sickness.

Take care of yourself
A

[Inchlingblue]

Tyrell: I hope I didn't sound too flippant, above, when I said "it's up to you" to wait until August or not. On the one hand there is no reason to "panic" about this because that never does any good and for all we know your CD4s could be at a decent level.

But what Assurbanipal wrote is very accurate. A viral load of over 100k is considered high. If you are able to confirm that your regular doctor did not do a CD4 count, it would be highly recommended for you to call the HIV doctor and tell them that you know your viral load is 125k and you don't know what your CD4 count is and that the last test was in 2005 so, under the circumstances, can they see you sooner than August.

You've come this far without getting sick with an OI, you should try to keep it that way. Best of luck and keep us posted!

[next2u]

hello t,

will you be switching to a regular testing schedule?

best,
d