Mild anemia in men?

[matchar]

I just got some abnormal results from my annual health check (31Y Male):

Low Hb and Hct (mild anemia?), High Eosinophils.

 

I saw a GI doctor today but their English wasn't great and I'm still quite confused.

 

It seems like the high Eosinophils could be caused by a parasite but from reading online it seems like it wouldn't really cause the mild anemia.

 

I eat a lot of pork so I would be surprised if it's a diet issue.

 

Can anyone advise?

Thanks 

 

 

[Lorry]

Hb 13.5 is nothing to worry about. I think in my lifetime I have only once had a Hb higher than that. 

Eosinophils 7.2 is unusual.  I had this once. Yes, I did worry about worms.  At the next CBC it had disappeared. A single unusual lab value doesn't make you sick. You can check it again in a month if it worries you. 

 

More important: Do you have any symptoms?  If no, then you are a good example that shows why "annual health checks" for 31 year-olds are useless screening.

Edited December 21, 2022 by Lorry

[jak2002003]

Wow.  I am so glad I do not get these anual health checkups.  I worry about everything and I would make myself more ill from STRESS unless everything was 100 percent what it should be. Lol

 

That result is nothing to worry about. Just make sure to eat foods higher in iron over the next year.  Liver is a good one... And delicous.  

 

Parasites would not affect your iron levels unless you were literally over run with them.. 

 

Its actually been found to be healthier to have a few parasites, and it's natural.  Keeps your immune system switched on and prevent allergies from the immune system attacking your own cells. 

 

 

[still kicking]

7 minutes ago, jak2002003 said:

Wow.  I am so glad I do not get these anual health checkups.  I worry about everything and I would make myself more ill from STRESS unless everything was 100 percent what it should be. Lol

 

That result is nothing to worry about. Just make sure to eat foods higher in iron over the next year.  Liver is a good one... And delicous.  

 

Parasites would not affect your iron levels unless you were literally over run with them.. 

 

Its actually been found to be healthier to have a few parasites, and it's natural.  Keeps your immune system switched on and prevent allergies from the immune system attacking your own cells. 

 

 

Like this 

 

[scubascuba3]

My Eosinophil is also higher, everything else is good, I don't know a cause yet and no symptoms, I've kinda forgotten about it and will see if it reduces eventually

[JimmyJ]

Why not go to a testing lab and get a fecal test for parasites?

[matchar]

Yes the doctor already suggested a stool test for parasites and occult blood which I will try to take on Saturday.

 

Since the health check was 2 months ago and my employer only gave me the results yesterday (funny how the results said see a doctor immediately), I also had a repeat blood test taken yesterday and also a tumor marker blood test. I'll get the results next week.

 

My main worry is bowel cancer or something as bleeding in the digestive tract seems like a common cause of low haemoglobin in men.

 

Unfortunately I haven't done a health check in years so I don't have a baseline Hb to compare with but they never told me it was low before.

Edited December 21, 2022 by matchar

[Wardp]

Have you had your ferritin levels checked also? 

[scubascuba3]

1 hour ago, matchar said:

Yes the doctor already suggested a stool test for parasites and occult blood which I will try to take on Saturday.

 

Since the health check was 2 months ago and my employer only gave me the results yesterday (funny how the results said see a doctor immediately), I also had a repeat blood test taken yesterday and also a tumor marker blood test. I'll get the results next week.

 

My main worry is bowel cancer or something as bleeding in the digestive tract seems like a common cause of low haemoglobin in men.

 

Unfortunately I haven't done a health check in years so I don't have a baseline Hb to compare with but they never told me it was low before.

Report back if you get an answer to your eosinophil result, i had an occult stool test recently which also checked for parasites and nothing, but it is a very small sample so I'm not sure how reliable it is

Edited December 22, 2022 by scubascuba3

[matchar]

1 hour ago, Wardp said:

Have you had your ferritin levels checked also? 

No I don't think so.

[jak2002003]

18 hours ago, still kicking said:

Like this 

 

Mmmm.. Looks tempting. ????

 

I do eat raw meat, like prawns, laab buffalo, blood soup etc.  Been eating it for years and never noticed I have worms or anything, and never been ill from it. 

 

The only raw meats I would never eat are chicken because high risk of salmonella, and pork, because it can have one kind of parasite that is not designed to live in humans and makes serious bad health problems when it forms cysts in the brain!!!!

 

 

Edited December 22, 2022 by jak2002003

[Sheryl]

On 12/22/2022 at 6:44 AM, matchar said:

Yes the doctor already suggested a stool test for parasites and occult blood which I will try to take on Saturday.

 

Since the health check was 2 months ago and my employer only gave me the results yesterday (funny how the results said see a doctor immediately), I also had a repeat blood test taken yesterday and also a tumor marker blood test. I'll get the results next week.

 

My main worry is bowel cancer or something as bleeding in the digestive tract seems like a common cause of low haemoglobin in men.

 

Unfortunately I haven't done a health check in years so I don't have a baseline Hb to compare with but they never told me it was low before.

Stool test for parasites & occult blood makes sense. 

So would a repeat blood count. 

[scubascuba3]

9 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Mmmm.. Looks tempting. ????

 

I do eat raw meat, like prawns, laab buffalo, blood soup etc.  Been eating it for years and never noticed I have worms or anything, and never been ill from it. 

 

The only raw meats I would never eat are chicken because high risk of salmonella, and pork, because it can have one kind of parasite that is not designed to live in humans and makes serious bad health problems when it forms cysts in the brain!!!!

 

 

The blood in the soup is pork or chicken?

[matchar]

Stool test was negative for parasites and occult blood.

 

Haemotologist said it's anemia of inflammation since my MCV is normal but still don't know the cause. It could be from my chronic prostatitis.

[scubascuba3]

28 minutes ago, matchar said:

Stool test was negative for parasites and occult blood.

 

Haemotologist said it's anemia of inflammation since my MCV is normal but still don't know the cause. It could be from my chronic prostatitis.

any news on eosinophil?

[internationalism]

parasite test should be done multiple times, minimum 3x. Chances of detection are low, 10-15%.

Also occult blood 3x over time.

No harm trying several different antiparasitic medicines. If there would be strong reaction it would indicate you do have them.

[Sheryl]

3 hours ago, matchar said:

Stool test was negative for parasites and occult blood.

 

Haemotologist said it's anemia of inflammation since my MCV is normal but still don't know the cause. It could be from my chronic prostatitis.

Did you repeat the CBC?

[matchar]

4 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Did you repeat the CBC?

Yes the results were nearly identical but eosinophil slightly lower.

[matchar]

6 hours ago, internationalism said:

parasite test should be done multiple times, minimum 3x. Chances of detection are low, 10-15%.

Also occult blood 3x over time.

No harm trying several different antiparasitic medicines. If there would be strong reaction it would indicate you do have them.

I did ask about this but the haemotologist seemed quite knowledgeable with good English and he said it was unnecessary because if I had bleeding then my MCV would be low.

 

He agreed only one parasite test is not that reliable but this type of anemia wouldn't be caused by parasites.

 

With regards to my eosinophil count he said he calculated the absolute value or something and it's actually normal.

 

He advised to repeat the CBC in 2 months to see if anything changes since I don't have any noticeable symptoms.

[scubascuba3]

1 hour ago, matchar said:

 

With regards to my eosinophil count he said he calculated the absolute value or something and it's actually normal.

 

 

That makes my Eosinophil count seem better also (eosinophil % x white blood cells). Normal is less than 500