POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: MiniPozToyota on March 18, 2013, 05:44:49 pm
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I gave labs on 13 Mar 2013 and I received my results today witch three months ago
was 659 cd4 now this month was 371 cd4. They want to redo them to check to see if
its just a low cd4 now or that the lab messed up with sending out the blood work.
Where I get my labs drawn at they have to send them to another city to get checked
so within that time period the blood cells start dying off... does anyone know how
long after you have your blood drawn that the blood work should be looked at? what
if it was soposed to go out but somehow missed the mail and was left a day late?
anyone else have this issue before?? I talked to my father who is a Dr. but not for
blood work or anything and he said that the longer you wait to have blood tested the
worse the test is going to be bc the cells die off... kinda freaking out about this
cause such a looooow dip my Dec labs at a out of state hospital was in the 800's.
Thanks.
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For the CD4 test, while quicker is always better -- if drawn in the proper tube (usually EDTA tube) and, more importantly, stored properly -- ie. not too cold or too warm, testing should be done within ~48 hrs of collection. This is from an article put out by the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP).
Of course, many things can impact your CD4 level besides issues with testing or transport. If you were recently ill, time of day, etc -- can impact your results.
While a redraw is prudent, I wouldn't spend much time worrying over this one result (I know easier for me to say, than for you to do).
Mike
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The labs before last, mine dropped a couple hundred points. I was stressed at the time I did the blood work. This happened before. I am not sure about storing and time frame for CD4. However, I remember they were having issues a while back with viral loads. The way the blood was being stored (wrong tube, freezing, or something) was causing patients to have higher viral loads than what was real. Whatever happened, they realized there was a problem.
On a side note-- This last time, my doc called me. He had never called me before, so I was already worried. He said my CD4 was 232. I could feel my heart drop into my stomach. He got a call and had to call me back. I kept wondering wtf. He mixed me up with other patient. Mine were back to where they usually are. He needed to call me about my very low Vitamin D level of 11. I was a tad upset with him.
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Thanks, yeah I got my VL load back and it's UD had labs drawn again at the hospital that actually checks the blood count there so hopefully by Friday I'll know something.
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Thanks, yeah I got my VL load back and it's UD had labs drawn again at the hospital that actually checks the blood count there so hopefully by Friday I'll know something.
Well, once you are on meds, the UD VL means far, far more than any CD4 result.
Mike
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Must have been someone not doing their job and sending off to the lab in time, re did the labs and my cd4 is 867 and VL UD so I probably wont be going back to that hospital.
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Must have been someone not doing their job and sending off to the lab in time, re did the labs and my cd4 is 867 and VL UD so I probably wont be going back to that hospital.
Another possibility is that your outlier result was, in fact, a true result. So many things can impact your CD4s, that this simply can't be discounted.
Now -- labs can and do make "errors" and couriers can, and do, mishandle specimens, but if they were constant issues it would be known and it would be rectified.
Just had to throw this out there because folks are always very quick to blame the lab for a result that seems outside their norm -- I've worked and labs and had the occassional "mishap" -- but I always owned up to it and called the doc and/or patient to let them know a new specimen was needed. I would NEVER report results that I knew could be erroneous -- NEVER.
So -- you can avoid that hospital, but if it was a "true" result, it could appear again anywhere and if it was a lab or a handling error --- they too, can (and do) happen at all labs.
Glad your repeat test came out as you hoped though.....
Mike