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Blood Chemistry

I appreciate if you can shed some light on possible causes for high albumin but low globulin in a 14-year-old girl presenting with weight loss and secondary amenorrhea but no psychological features of typical anorexia nervosa. She moved to the country at the beginning of the year and since then has lost almost 20 percent of her body weight, with changes in gut symptoms including constipation, fullness after meals, stomach aches. She has low T3 but normal TSH and T4, which left her conventional endocrinologist stumped because he can’t give thyroxine in a weight loss patient. I’m going through gut testing and other blood markers, but her previous doctors have already done some standard tests and found high chloride, low liver enzymes, raised albumin, low globulin, normal hemoglobin, which is why I’m curious as to why albumin is high in a patient with poor oral intake. She eats animal protein but can’t stomach the quantity as before.

Dr. Amy Nett: Good question. So in terms of the high albumin, I would think about dehydration, particularly given that...

Question on the pros and cons of the HDRI functional methylation profile versus the Doctor’s Data profile.

Dr. Amy Nett: The HDRI methylation profile actually has a lot more markers than the Doctor’s Data. Doctor’s Data basically...

There is a question about the connection between MMA and creatinine and she said that it seems that, I think this was regarding some of the content in the blood chemistry, she said it seems that there is a connection between serum creatinine and MMA.

Dr. Amy Nett: Neither Chris and I are certain about a relationship between blood levels of MMA and creatinine. So...

I’m struggling with the blood chemistry unit to make sense of the results. Quite often the results come without showing the units they’re measuring, which is obviously something I need to consult whoever is giving the results. But when I turn to the Kresser course material, specifically week 20, part two of the functional medicine Blood Chemistry unit, we get conventional ranges and functional ranges on the chart. But again it doesn’t list the units which are being measured. I can work out often which they probably are, but sometimes it’s actually impossible. So I can’t tell if the results I’m looking at are in range or way out. Can this be remedied? Can you write the units that a result is measuring? When it comes to the reference guide you’re giving us in an app, will it be possible to clarify this? It’s so time consuming to try working this out instead of just being able to get on understanding the material.

Dr. Amy Nett: So the charts that you’re talking about. So for example on week 30, part two, what we’re...

Going over last week’s material, and I see it says women with PCOS, lupus, and diabetes have similar rates of heart disease to men. What they have in common is they are all associated with increased iron levels. I’m curious about this because many of the women I know of that have been diagnosed with PCOS tend to lean more towards anemia. Potentially because the anemia isn’t iron deficiency related. But there are so many I can’t believe none of them are. What is the connection between PCOS and increased iron levels?

Dr. Amy Nett: Okay, so as you mentioned though, you’re right. Anemia is not always due to iron deficiency and...

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