Hi Give My Daughter the Shot! and all,
You have to collect and analyse your own data (and be your own advocate) what choice have you got.
We are seen by so many medical people that our files are too volumous to assess in their current format. These people generally look at a set of tests results, taken on the same day. RARELY, if ever, do these people look at a sequence of test results (be they blood tests or MRI tests, or whatever) taken over a period of time.
I only discovered the medical signs of my problems by looking at what the same tests look like over a period of time. For instance, on one MRI in 2002 (a few months after my fall) I had a ‘partially empty sella’ (so my pituitary gland was starting to be under pressure), but on an MRI taken in 2004 I had a more ‘fully blown empty sella’ (pituitary now as flat as a pancake). So it was progressing.
Another thing I spotted was by obtaining film copies of all of my xrays taken over the years since my fall and pegging them up, alongside each other in my patio window. I could clearly see the position of my head sliding backwards and forwards – something that had been missed by the medical fraternity – Craniocervical Instability!
With regard to the blood tests, I put them all on a spreadsheet (from 1978 onwards!) Then, bearing in mind my philosophy that, in my opinion not all ‘normal ranges’ are normal. I believe that some ranges include abnormal people, who are not yet symptomatic, or whose symptoms are at such a low level that they themselves assess them as normal.
With this in mind, I looked at all of my tests, looking for those results which were close to the limits, either low or high. I worked out how many tests I’d had, the minimum and maximum result and the average, shown as a percentage of the full normal range. Here’s a sample:-
On the LOW side:
WBC
RBC
Hb
Creatine Kinase
On the very low side:
HCT (at 3%)
PCT (at 5%)
25 OH Vitamin D (55% below normal range)
On the high side:
MCH
MCHC
RDW
ESR (ave 127%)
Cardiolipin Abs (IgM)
Protein S free antigen
C Reactive Protein (at 210%)
Lymphocytes run low at (26 tests, ave 12%)
Easinophils were high at (only had 1 test but it was 110% of the normal range)
Basophils were low (only had 1 test but it was 17% below the normal range)
Bicarbonate is always high (to over the normal limit)
Triglicerides usually high
Cholesterol both good and bad are high (but the ratio is low)
Gamma GT phases in and out of normal range (to over the normal limit)
Someone someday might figure out the significance of all this.
Regards
Barbara
(UK)
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Head & Neck Injury (June 2002); Mild Concussion; Post Concussion Syndrome; GERD; Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS); Peripheral Vestibular Dysfunction; Mild Radiculopathy & Small Fibre Neuropathy (right leg & foot resp.); Partially Empty Sella Oct 2002 (worse by Oct 2004); Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD); 3mm Cerebellar Ectopia (Chiari 0); Cranio-cervical Instability (CCI) with Posterior Gliding (PG) & Cranial Settling (CS); Brain Compression; Retroflexed Odontoid; Stretched/Elongated Brainstem; Mild Scoliosis; Ehlers Danlos (EDS) type 111; Osteoarthritis; Arrhythmias (Bigeminy and Trigeminy). . . and now Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Mineral (Mg,Mn,Cu,Zn,Selenium), CoEnzymeQ10 & Vitamin (C,D,B3,B12) Deficiencies!