QuestionHi there. I hope you can help me. In August 06 I began noticing abdominal pain and a bulge poking out of my upper right quadrant. It seemed to be growing over 2-3 weeks as well as the pain (upper right quadrant radiating a little left and down toward my groin...kidneys starting to hurt a little -right side). Saw an internist who briefly examined me and referred me for a ultrasound, blood work and urine sample and said she'd call me. Called the next day to say that I had a "raging Upper UTI" and put me on Cipro - 1,000mg for 10 days. No follow up planned. I took it, but didn't see it getting better. Pain in the stomach and right kidney was getting much worse. I began calling back to the doctor (through her nurse) in mid September saying that it was not doing better, that I was wiping blood in my urine, and I had a rotten yeast infection. The nurse called back on my voice mail saying she would send something for the yeast infection - nothing else. Kept calling - getting voice mail, return voice mail....vague responses from nurse. Made an appointment with Gastroenterologist mid October. By this time I look and feel like pale....well...I don't look and feel so good, and I'm almost doubled over in pain constantly. Gastro does blood and urine on site, (I guess) dips it, and prescribes 3 days of 1,000 ml Cipro..even though I clearly told them I'd already been on it and it didn't work. Schedules me for upper endo, colonoscopy and CT of right kidney. Endo and colonoscopy shows only inflammation of Esophogus, gastritis, spastic colon and internal hemmorhoid. It's been almost five days since the CT scan and I haven't got results back. However, the CBC revealed this:
WBC: 2.9 (4.1-10.9)
RBC: 3.47 (4.20 - 6.30)
HCT: 38.2
MCV: 110.1 (80-97)
MCH: 37.8 (26 - 32)
MCHC 34.3
RDW: 19.3 (11.5-14.5)
MPV: 10.7
Gran#: 1.1 (2.0 - 7.8)
Lymph: 1.4
MID: 0.5
Gran%: 36.7 (37.0 - 92.0)
Lymph: 47.7
Mid%: 15.6
CMP was fine. The WBC was repeated at the lab and confirmed. The Gastro said it might be a fluke and wanted to do it over. Which I did. Haven't heard back on anything else from Gastro.
Faxed new test results back to initial internist, and called. Actually got the nurse in person this time. Told her of the new labs...she "himhawed" around until she could pull up the old labs from August, and said the CBC was fine..that the problem was in my urinalysis,..and that the cultures came back and I was Cipro resistant. DUH! She never checked the sensitivity in two months. Meanwhile I've had this out of control infection on the wrong meds for two months. She said I was resistant to Penicillin. What?
In early August I saw my GP for strep and an ear infection. Three antibiotics later (including Amoxicillin-Clav) it's still there. Amoxicillin didn't work on it then.
So...here are the questions:
(1) Low WBC *and* Low RBC? What gives? Is it true that a low wbc means infection as well?
(2) What damage has\is being done in the two months that I've been declining since I've been on the wrong antibiotic?
(3) Should I just go ahead and skip the gastro and internist and go for the hepa...a blood doctor? I'm of the opinion that even if the third labs show better WBC and RBC counts, I'd like to know why it happened in the first place...no, I want them to fix it..I'm tired of not feeling right and hurting.
I'm having to ask elsewhere because the first doctor let me down, and the second doctor is taking 2 weeks to either refer me to someone else or give me test results.
Thanks for your time.
~Crystal
Answer(1) Low WBC *and* Low RBC? What gives? Is it true that a low wbc means infection as well?
Answer: just from these tests you appear to have a severe B Complex vitamin deficiency with the low counts and the MCV, which goes up also with pernicious anemia and alcohol overuse.
(2) What damage has\is being done in the two months that I've been declining since I've been on the wrong antibiotic?
Answer: no way to tell, not enough tests on liver or kidney functions, C reactive protein, or monocyte counts.
(3) Should I just go ahead and skip the gastro and internist and go for the hepa...a blood doctor? I'm of the opinion that even if the third labs show better WBC and RBC counts, I'd like to know why it happened in the first place...no, I want them to fix it..I'm tired of not feeling right and hurting.
Answer: yes, but due to your time already spent you may want to go to the emergency room of your local hospital and hold nothing back in the way or complaints, but do not complain about your doctors to them or they may not give you a good thorough evaluation.
We treat this regularly at our center but do not know what is available in your area
