Elevated RBC

[5 A Day]

Hi everyone. I am looking for some more info.
I was diagnosed with type 2 in Sep 2023, along with hashimoto disease and an underactive tyroid.
I was tested 5 weeks ago for type 1 and Lada, because my sugars still high and I feel extremely fatigued.

I am still not so patiently waiting on these results, but today I received a call from my gp practice letting me know some results have came back saying my red blood count is elevated. I need to go for more bloods to have a full check done.
My questions are
1) is this normal being a diabetic
2) is this something to worry about
3) does this mean more medication

I am really sad I have all this going on at the moment. I am still not feeling better even though my blood sugars have came down significantly. I was on daily readings on 20 +, they are now down to 7-9.
I am on full dose of metformin, 40mg of gliclazide, 14mg of rybelsus (as of today) and levothyroxine......Alot of meds concidering before Sep I took zero meds.

I used to be so happy, cheerful, full of energy, sociable. But now I am a completely different person. I feel sad, down, zero energy, have no social life what so ever as I am constantly tired and no motivation.

Thanks for taking the time to read this

 

[JITR]

Maybe this will help to answer some of your questions: https://www.verywellhealth.com/red-blood-cell-rbc-count-1942659

 

[Martin.A]

I'm not aware of any link between diabetes and an elevated RBC but if yours is elevated then the usual procedure would be follow-up tests to ascertain the cause, which is what your GP Practice has said.

Sorry to hear that you're struggling with everything but at least your BG is down. A drop from 20+ to single figures shows that things are heading in the right direction, which has to be a positive.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi everyone. I am looking for some more info.
I was diagnosed with type 2 in Sep 2023, along with hashimoto disease and an underactive tyroid.
I was tested 5 weeks ago for type 1 and Lada, because my sugars still high and I feel extremely fatigued.

I am still not so patiently waiting on these results, but today I received a call from my gp practice letting me know some results have came back saying my red blood count is elevated. I need to go for more bloods to have a full check done.
My questions are
1) is this normal being a diabetic
2) is this something to worry about
3) does this mean more medication

I am really sad I have all this going on at the moment. I am still not feeling better even though my blood sugars have came down significantly. I was on daily readings on 20 +, they are now down to 7-9.
I am on full dose of metformin, 40mg of gliclazide, 14mg of rybelsus (as of today) and levothyroxine......Alot of meds concidering before Sep I took zero meds.

I used to be so happy, cheerful, full of energy, sociable. But now I am a completely different person. I feel sad, down, zero energy, have no social life what so ever as I am constantly tired and no motivation.

Thanks for taking the time to read this

One of the things about high or low RBC count is that it can make the result of the HbA1C test inaccurate as it is a test that measures the amount of glucose that sticks to the RBCs over a period of time. There is another test, the fructoseamine test which is better but is not usually offered, I suspect it is more expensive to do.

 

[Inka]

I’m not aware of any link with diabetes either @5 A Day Its good you’ve had the Type 1/LADA tests done. They do take awhile to come back unfortunately, but hopefully yours will be back in the next few weeks.

Sorry you’re not feeling yourself. Any illness or health worries can have a big effect on a person, so be kind to yourself.

 

[s'nic]

I was diagnosed with type 2 in Sep 2023, along with hashimoto disease and an underactive tyroid.
I was tested 5 weeks ago for type 1 and Lada, because my sugars still high and I feel extremely fatigued.

I am still not so patiently waiting on these results, but today I received a call from my gp practice letting me know some results have came back saying my red blood count is elevated.

I hadn't come across hashimoto disease so I looked it up and saw that one of the symptoms was Breathlessness.
Do you experience breathlessness?

Both my RBC and haematocrit were high and the doctor pretty much ignored that and focused on cholesterol, blood sugars and kidneys. So they did not seem overly bothered by it (of course yours may have been higher than mine). Mine were
red blood cell (RBC) count .. 5.6 10*12/L ... (3.80-5.50 are normal/ expected levels)
haematocrit .......................... 0.48 L/L ... (0.37-0.47are normal/ expected levels).

I ask if you get breathlessness as I have problems with that (my average blood oxygen is 95-96% using a pulse oximeter).
While many conditions cause a high RBC if someone has lower amounts of oxygen in their body the bone marrow may manufacturer more red blood cells in order to carry enough oxygen throughout their body.
Obviously you need to find out the specific cause for yours, but try not to worry too much while awaiting tests.

 

[harbottle]

Elevated blood sugar can cause elevated red blood cell count:

Hyperglycemia effect on red blood cells indices

OBJECTIVE: Hyperglycemia has an effect on all body tissues; one of them is the bone marrow. This effect is related to protein glycation and other chemical

www.europeanreview.org

This study shows that hyperglycemia increases the red blood cells count, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC).