What Does The Following Blood Test Report Indicate?

Posted on Wed, 29 Jun 2016

Question: I am worried my son who is 17 years old going to turn 18 in a few weeks just got a bood test and his Hemoglobin is 18. other information WBC 13.1 RBC 5.77 HCT 53.2 Neutro 74 Lymph 17. It was suggested that he drink a lot of water and take another test. He has ADD so I am trying to get him to drink and eat more. He is 5'8 and 127 lbs. FYI he went to the local coffee sope to work on a computer program in the morning and when I went to pick him up for his doctor's appointment at 3pm the only thing he had to eat and drink was an iced tea. The doctor's told me not to worry but refered me to a Hematologist just in case the next test comes out the same. Thank you for your help.

Answered by Dr. Anil Parth Desai (39 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Hi i would recommend the following.

Detailed Answer:
Dear mam,
Thank you for choosing Healthcaremagic.

I did review your concern and also the blood report. The hemoglobin level is 17.9 which is higher than normal and so is the total white cell count which is only slightly high.
Most common cause of this increased hematocrit and white cell count is actually mild dehydration. Hence it is prudent to repeat the test after proper rehydration which would most likely normalize the counts.
In case the values are still high he may be evaluated for a condition known as polycythemia which can be due to numerous causes like some variant hemogobins, smoking, staying at high altitude, heart or lung disease with defective oxygenation and lastly blood disorder. However the chances of these are in reality low and first dehydration needs to be ruled out.

I hope this helps mam
Let me know if you have any other concern.
Sincerely,
Dr Parth Desai.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Naveen Kumar