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Monitoring labs for nutritional levels :
I know that not many of us have been getting lab work done recently because of COVID19 precautions. But, recently I have been having my home nurse take some blood-work and check my nutrition levels. When looking back at past order history for labs, it seems like my doctors would frequently order labs for nutrition levels for me. This includes: Albumin, Pre-Albumin, Glucose, Phosphorous, Calcium etc. Since I am starting on a new nutrition therapy, this is going to be monitored for me once a week to make sure my body is handling the increase in nutrition well.
I am curious if anyone receives routine lab work for nutrition levels? Have you had a nutritional panel of labs in the past? Do you know why the doctors ordered this for you?
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3 Replies
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Brittany, I think it’s a good idea to do that. Cullen frequently had nutritional labs drawn when he had PH because several of his treatments could easily deplete him of certain things. One that carried over to his post-transplant labs is calcium and glucose. He developed osteoporosis from medications so he takes calcium supplements and check on his levels. He hasn’t developed diabetes but it is something common that transplant patients can develop so we keep an eye on his glucose. Those are the two important ones but occasionally there are others.
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@colleensteele I know that for me they check on glucose levels often when I am receiving any type of nutrition therapy. My levels end up spiking really fast sometimes and then dropping down low within the next few minutes. Sometimes I had to get that huge shot to help get my levels back to normal when I was hypoglycemic. Other times it is borderline high after only a few bites of candy or something. I am glad they are monitoring him. Does he get bone density scans done too to monitor the osteoporosis?
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@braittany, I think this is a great way to check that you are retaining nutrition. This is important and just another way to monitor this for you. I have had some of those labs checked with my labs. Mostly my kidney doctor checks my albumin, phosphorous, glucose, and a few others. This is usually done every 2 weeks for me. Some of these are great for the rest of our medical team to have as well.
I also know that my PCP does some extra tests just for his own that includes these nutritional profiles annually, like as part of a physical. Not that I do not have enough of labs- hehe
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