Blood Results All Normal Except Fasting Blood Sugar

[CGally81]

Now, I've been gluten-free since early August 2009, after suffering symptoms since March 2009. I'd only been accidentally glutened twice that I know of, during the month of August - frosting on a gluten-free cupcake (didn't know chocolate frosting had gluten - it came from barley), and crackers on fish (should have seen that coming, but the fish itself acted like an antidote as well, and the symptoms were gone within an hour).

Anyway, I took a blood test in mid-September. My doctor admits he knows little about gluten intolerance, which is refreshing, as I'd heard of people whose doctors told them "it's all in your head" or "you look healthy to me", etc. At least he admits he's unfamiliar with the disorder, but he did order a comprehensive panel.

The results came back and he said they were "disgustingly normal"; whether he meant that as good (i.e. I'm healthy) or bad (he doesn't know what's wrong), I don't know. But I looked through it, and things like calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, etc. are all in the normal range. White blood cells were in the normal range. Peptides, which he said are an indicator of diabetes or pre-diabetes (he wanted to rule out why I was hungry all the time, a common recovery symptom), were also normal. The only thing abnormal, which I myself consider part of the recovery, was that my fasting blood sugar was a little high. It was 106 (normal range is 80-99 according to this test). But then again, I was hungry all the time, and I'm still in the "hunger" phase of recovery, so that makes sense. That, in and of itself, he told me, was not a sign of diabetes.

So, apparently my results are very normal. He didn't check for vitamins, as he said he only wanted to do so if he saw signs of a deficiency. But I'm taking a multi-vitamin everyday and I do think that if my vitamin levels had gotten low, they should be getting back to normal now.

What does this mean for me? Gluten did little damage? (Despite the awful symptoms!) Am I really "healthy" overall, celiac aside? I still of course refuse to touch gluten with a 10-foot spoon. But what does this mean in general?

[ang1e0251]

Exactly which blood panel did your dr run? Did he run an antibody panel? If you post your results here, you'll be told what they mean.

[CGally81]

Exactly which blood panel did your dr run? Did he run an antibody panel? If you post your results here, you'll be told what they mean.

CBC (includes diff/plt)

White blood cell count - 3.9 thousand (normal = 3.8-10.8 thousand/uL)

Red blood cell count - 5.01 million (normal = 4.2-5.8 million/uL)

Hemoglobin = 15.5 (normal = 13.2-17.1 g/dL)

Hematocrit = 45.6 (normal = 38.5-50.0%)

MCV = 91.0 (normal = 80-100 fL)

MCH = 31.0 (normal = 27-33 pg)

MCHC = 34.1 (normal =32-36 g/dL)

RDW = 13.1 (normal = 11-15%)

Platelet count = 195 (normal = 140-400 thousand/uL)

Absolute neutrophils = 1876 (normal = 1500-7800 cells/ uL)

Absolute lymphocytes = 1502 (normal = 850-3900 cells/uL)

Absolute monocytes = 363 (normal = 200-950 cells/uL)

Absolute eosinophils = 140 (normal = 15-500 cells/uL)

Absolute basophils = 20 (normal = 0-200 cells/uL)

Neutrohiles = 48.1%

Lymphocytes = 38.5%

Monocytes = 9.3%

Eosinophils = 3.6%

Basophils = 0.5%

C-peptide = 2.6 (normal = 0.8-3.1 ng/mL)

Urinalysis, reflex

Color = yellow (normal = yellow)

Appearance = clear (normal = clear)

Specific gravity = 1.016 (normal = 1.001-1.035)

PH = 7.5 (normal = 5-8)

Glucose = negative (normal = negative)

Bilirubin = negative (normal = negative)

Ketones = negative (normal = negative)

Occult blood = negative (normal = negative)

Protein = negative (normal = negative)

Nitrite = negative (normal = negative)

Leukocyte esterase = trace (normal = negative)

WBC = 0-5 (normal = < or = 5 /hpf)

RBC = none seen (normal = < or = 3 /hpf)

Comprehensive metabolic panel w/EGFR

Glucose = 106 (normal = 65-99 mg/dL)

Urea nitrogin (bun) = 20 (normal = 7-25 mg/dL)

Creatinine = 0.94 (normal = 0.80-1.30 mg/dL)

eGFR non-Afr. America = >60 (normal = > or = 60 mL/min/1.73m2)

eGFR African American = >60 (normal = > or = 60 mL/min/1.73m2)

Bun/creatinine ratio = not applicable (normal = 6-22 (calc)

(Bun and creatinine ratio is not reported when the bun and creatinine values are within normal limits)

Sodium = 142 (normal = 135-146 mmol/L)

Potassium = 4.2 (normal = 3.5/5.3 mmol/L)

Chloride = 105 (normal = 98-110 mmol/L)

Carbon dioxide = 28 (normal = 21-33 mmol/L)

Protein, total = 7.0 (normal = 6.2-8.3 g/dL)

Albumin = 4.7 (normal = 3.6-5.1 g/dL)

Globulin = 2.3 (normal = 2.1-3.7 g/dL (calc))

Albumin/globulin ratio = 2.0 (normal = 1.0-2.1 (calc))

Bilirubin, total = 0.5 (normal = 0.2-1.2 mg/dL)

Alkaline phosphatase = 45 (normal = 40-115 U/L)

AST = 23 (normal = 10-40 U/L)

ALT = 58 (normal = 9-60 U/L)

Hemoglobin Alc = 5.5% of total Hgb

Non-diabetic = <6.0%

TSH, 3rd generation

w/ reflex to FT4 = 1.54 (normal = 0.40-4.50 mIU/L)

T3, total = 152 (normal = 97-219 ng/dL)

Proinsulin = 17.3 (normal = <=18.8 pmol/L)

Squamous epithelial cells = none seen (normal = < or = 5 /hpf)

Bacteria = none seen (normal = none seen)

Hyaline cast = none seen (normal = none seen)

There it is, all typed up from what I got back from the blood testing place. The sheet itself bolded the two abnormal elements, and I bolded them here to make them easy to spot. Many things were squarely in the normal range, while others were at the edge of it. But apparently I'm mostly all normal. Anyone know what all this information means?

[ravenwoodglass]

Looks to me that with everything in normal ranges that you are doing great. How are you feeling? I did notice he didn't test for B12, ferritin or folate. Ideally those as well as a bone density scan should be done also.

[CGally81]

Looks to me that with everything in normal ranges that you are doing great. How are you feeling? I did notice he didn't test for B12, ferritin or folate. Ideally those as well as a bone density scan should be done also.

How am I feeling? Up and down. I'm still in recovery, but I haven't been glutened since August. My hunger levels sometimes go up for days at a time, and sometimes down for days at a time. On some days, eating food can cause me to feel tired for a short while afterwards, which eventually passes, while on other days, it doesn't. I guess it's still part of gluen withdrawal, or recovery side effects, or whatever you'd call it. It's only been 2 months so far.

[ang1e0251]

What does this mean for me? Gluten did little damage? (Despite the awful symptoms!) Am I really "healthy" overall, celiac aside? I still of course refuse to touch gluten with a 10-foot spoon. But what does this mean in general?

Were you looking for the blood work to tell you organ or vitamin problems? If you were looking for whether you still produce antibodies, he didn't test you for that. I guess I wasn't sure what the testing was for.

My dr generally ran those tests for any yearly checkups I did and even during the years I had undiagnosed celiac disease, those tests all showed normal for me. I never had a celiac panel run.

[tarnalberry]

Yes, there are no celiac disease blood tests in there. It's good that other things are normal, but if you were expecting celiac testing, it's not there.