Question: I am a 64 year old female. My hemoglobin. Came back at 15.6, he!atocrit 46 and RBC 4.88. My doctor says all this is great. However I have read on internet that the hemoglobin and possibly hematocrit are high and could signal problems....some pretty scary problems. I am at the high end of normal according to my lab but out of range according to !any on the internet.My a1c was also only 3.8 which my doctor is also good with bit, again, internet says some scary things about that as well. Blood lipids were excellent. Other kidney and liver as well. Only out of range was indirect bili at .1 above. Total bili normal.

When reading about diseases where the bone marrow produces too much red blood cells or different blood cancers, and etc, are those at higher hemoglobin levels and/or with other things off? My rbc is more in the middle. Why are so many ranges lower than my labs ref range? Also I read that rbc declines with age. Mine went up. To me that makes more since to go up after menopause. My friend is a PA. She got me started because she said she tries to keep her hemoglobin low by donating blood because high hemoglobin affects heart and brain etc especially as we get older? Mine was 14 something 4 years ago. Is that too much of a jump? I am about 16 or 17 years beyond menopause.

Also, I haven't had any glucose tolerance type tests... Should I, now? Just had a1c repeated. Don't have results.


But it's only been 11 days since last blood draw so don't know if they'll be a change. Had it done to test accuracy. The lab offered it for free because I was worried.

I had been drinking plenty of water when I had the blood draw. It was in the morning and fasting but I was drinking water in the way to the lab. Don't think I would have been dehydrated. If I had hemoglobin in the 14s while menstruating, why would it go down when not losing blood? I don't understand that and mine certainly hasn't. In fact, I after menopause, I noticed my complexion got pinker... Pink cheeks, etc... Healthier look. Should I have iron levels checked? Does high hemoglobin cause blood to clot more easily? I used to think hemoglobin being high normal was a healthy thing. My doctor thinks it is but others say it's not. Very confusing.


Also, I have never had the other test for glucose you refer to. I assume it is the 2 her post eating one. No one has suggested I needed it... Just fasting and a1c. Though 3 years ago, when I had blood work while not fasting, glucose was 106. I had probably eating within 2 hours then.

You didn't answer whether you recommend testing iron/ferritin levels.

http://www.YYYY.YYYY.nih.gov/YYYY/articles/PMC0000/#!po=1.42857
This is an interesting article. Don't know if you have time to read it but it's a group of medical researchers apparently in the UK who propose changing ref ranges of hemoglobin for women to the same as men. They state that the ranges were adopted using menstruating women, many of whom are iron deficient and carry that into post menopausal years as it takes a long time to replenish low iron stores. They propose that the rangesshould be tthe same for optimal health as humans and othermmenstruating primates are the only ones that have differing values. Anyway, that's the gist of it. If there right, my value is more in the center. I was always higher than most women... Never anemic. Even in childbearing years, and I commonly ran in the 14s. Doctors always commented on my excellent hemoglobin. So I'm wondering if my high end number on a women's ref range, and being above range on some, yet perfectly in range on all ranges for men, isn't an indication of better health? That's what these reaches are proposing. Sure made me feel hopeful!
I will let you know about the a1c. Maybe that's the same. I'm so afraid of being out of range. Maybe I'm just too healthy for ranges... Lol


Sorry for typos including incorrect grammar, there for they're. For some reason it wouldn't allow me to correct.


Read one other study that studied several thousand post menopausal women and found that those with hemoglobin of average hemoglobin (they considered that to be 14)and higher had fewer health problems than those with lower. Apparently, from their graphs, many had hemogbims in my range and many more higher... And all healthier than the low group.

Thank you. I enjoy talking to you as well. I will let you know about the results.

I get told all the time to stay off the internet! I guess I am too analytical...