Home› General Training Discussions

Puzzling blood results

afrostafrost
in General Training Discussions

Yesterday my husband was at the doctor to go over recent blood work that he had done.  Apparently, the results of the blood work indicated that he has something called congenital spherocytic anemia.  This being concluded on the basis of the red blood cells being poorly shaped and broken (I think).  However, people with this condition are typically anemic and often jaundiced.  Tony is not.  This is also a genetic disease.  No one else in his family has this and none of our 3 children has this.  So all very puzzling.

However, on November 5 he raced the ITU Long Course Worlds in Las Vegas (no swim that day, but 120 K bike and 30 K run).  On November 10 the blood sample was drawn.  Could the race have damaged the red blood cells?  Could this be what is driving this somewhat odd result?  

Any thoughts or comments about this would be greatly appreciated.

 

---Ann.

Comments

  • tim cronktim cronk
    Ann, I had blood work done a couple days after a marathon and had some bad liver numbers. Retested 3 weeks later and all was normal. Not sure about his specific test but after some research and speaking with my doctor apparently it's fairly common to get incorrect numbers shortly after endurance events. Probably best thing to do is have him take it easy for a couple weeks then retest. Good Luck Tim,
  • jhbinscjhbinsc
    Has he gotten a referral to a hemtologist? Without seeing a smear it is hard to make an intelligent comment. However, frequently people will have some abnormal lab values post a long course event but typically more related to liver or kidney tests. There is a lot on "foot strike hemolysis" in the literature but this would not result so much in misshapen RBC's I believe. CSA does result in premature destruction of RBC's similar to foot strike hemolysis. SO there could be some confusion if your doc is not familiar w/ lab results from long course athletes.
    Regardless, due to your confusion and perplexing presentation, I'd seek a consultation w/ a hematologist or at the very least request a repeat blood draw at least a month out from hard training or racing. CSA has a good prognosis w/ treatment so please do not get too worried. I'm sure it will all be resolved soon enough.
    Best wishes, Jeff
  • wieczynskiwieczynski
    Ann--I have nothing to add other than I hope all turns out well and this is just a blip.
  • afrostafrost
    Thanks all for your insights (and good wishes). Tony is booked in to see a hematologist in the next couple of weeks. So we'll see what that brings. And maybe even a second test in a few weeks may look different if this was indeed race damage.

    Thanks again for your help!

    ---Ann.
  • jhbinscjhbinsc

    You bet. Let us know how things turn out. Thinking about you guys.

Sign In or Register to comment.