Anyone Had Blood Volume Testing?

[futurehope]

Hi, y'all,

My next goal is to get my blood volume tested. This will be next Thursday at the Washington Hospital Center using the DAXOR BVA-100 equipment.

Has anyone here already had blood volume testing? What were your results? Are you being treated to help raise your blood volume? Is the treatment improving how you feel?

I'm asking all these questions because I think I read an article by Dr. ? stating that treating people with CFS for low blood volume did NOT help. It was just one piece of the puzzle.

So, I'm especially interested if you've been treated for this.

Thanks in advance.

[Ernie]

Hi,

I take Procrit and it is helping me.

[lalalisa]

Hello!

I'm glad to hear that you are going to be able to get this test done! (we had talked before because I also had the Daxor BVA-100 test at Washington Hosp. center)

One suggestion....call the nuclear medicine department a day or two before and make sure they have ordered the radioactive dye for your procedure. They forgot to order it for me and I had to wait another day for the procedure (after flying across the country and driving 2 hours to get there it was pretty frustrating!)

The results are great to have - for me it's been great to have proof on paper as to why I feel badly. (at least one of the reasons) (so many of my symptoms are just vague and can't be explained on paper)

My results:

Total blood volume: 19.4% deficit

Red Cell volume: 34.5% deficit

Plasma volume: 10.8% deficit

Unfortunately even though I am technically hypovolemic Procrit hasn't helped me. But there is still hope! According to the dr's I've seen Procrit actually helps most POTS patients who are hypovolemic so it's definitely worth a try!

Please let us know how your test goes.

Take care,

Lisa

[Lukkychrm42]

I'm asking all these questions because I think I read an article by Dr. ? stating that treating people with CFS for low blood volume did NOT help. It was just one piece of the puzzle.

Hi-

I'm not being treated through pharmacological means yet. I was interested that you wrote this, because I read a similar article saying that CFS patients often turned out to be hypovolemic, and that treating that could help a lot. Yes, it's one piece of the puzzle... just like all of them...

From the paper I read by Cort Johnson at least, it seems that Dr. Stewart says that while it can't account for all the circulatory problems in POTS patients, treating the hypovolemia can improve fatigue. Also, though, the paper says that Dr. Stewart says POTS is a milder form of CFS... which... I think a lot of us might take issue with particularly those who have both... maybe just the way it's worded.. hmm.

[lthomas521]

Make sure that you are lying down for the test, especially for the part where they take the huge blood specimen for tagging the red cells. The last time I had the test, I "fell asleep" (i.e., passed out) when they took the specimen out and "woke up" (i.e., came to) when they put it back.