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It's always something

I received the results of my latest blood work today, and what seemingly has become a trend lately, something never seen before has shown up.

This time it's Polychromasia, and the indication was I have a 'few'.

Now if you read the explanation of Polychromasia, I hope you're not as confused as I am, especially about the following statements.
A slight degree of polychromasia is normal.

So is a slight degree the same as 'few'?
Increases in polychromasia suggest an increased bone marrow response. [and] No polychromasia correlates with non-responsive, anemic patients.........

I don't know, but both those statements sound like polychromasia is a good thing.

I'm just not so sure that is an accurate interpretation. Hopefully my expert source in this area will respond to my concerns shortly, with a more enlightened explanation.

Anywaze, other than that, with the exception of a 20% jump in my lymphocyte count, and the fact I got dropped from the group this morning, sooner than I was hoping, my RBC, hemoglobin and platelets either showed a very slight uptrend, or at a minimum they remained stable.

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Becky said…
I don't know how you can read this stuff without going cross eyed. Erythrocyte? Cytoplasm?

And Romanowsky stains? Weren't those found at the Imperial family's murder scene?

All in all sounds like good news?
9:01 AM
Marc said…
I'm just not confident in that interpretation, and I'll hold judgement until I get an expert to educate me on the subject.
9:09 AM
Alan Posner said…
Marc,

I'm certainly no expert in hematology, but if memory serves me, polychromasia is simply the release of RBC's from the bone marrow before they are completly mature. If there are only a small number it's probably nothing to worry about. I suspect extreme excercise can do it, as can hypoxia from high altitudes.

Would just keep on eye on it.

Alan
11:17 PM
Marc said…
Well thanks for telling me that after I just finished punishing myself riding in the hills of Whittier this morning.

Anyways, my expert source has told me that you are basically correct. It's an indication of the bone marrow trying to increase the amount of red blood cells (RBC's) to correct an anemia. And as we all know I am anemic.

Also when a patient is being treated for anemia, if there is no polychromasia then that means it's either the wrong treatment or the bone marrow isn't functioning.

So it doesn't sound necessarily like a bad thing, at least in my case, except for the fact it may be an indication of a malfunctioning spleen.

Remember, it's always something.
3:55 AM
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