Hemocrit/ Hemoglobin! Keep an eye on ‘em!

[Andy024]

Do you use controls with that meter high/low.

I'm always concerned about capillary testing only because you gotta make sure that drop of blood doesn't have exudate or fluid mixed with the whole blood. If it's accurate I'll buy one myself and all of us should pick up one as it would be an excellent tool to keep track as your hgb rises to the point you need to therapeutic phlebotomy.

Does it use a strip that you fill from your finger and then slide into the machine?

Each batch of tests comes with a chip you insert to the reader to provide the batch calibration. You slide the strip into that groove you can see at the bottom of the pic, power up and then a few seconds later you're prompted to put the sample drops in the strip (also included are the 10uL capillary squeezey tubes to take your sample). Should also add that the HCT is calculated and maxes out at 51%.

 

[Deezznutzz]

These are quite handy (ebay) and I've tested myself in the car outside Quest many times, and this handheld reads typically 1 point higher than the lab.
View attachment 167141

What do you call that thing when you search it on eBay LOL

 

[Fenrir51]

hemoglobin meter analyzer

 

[hijoshiki]

Each batch of tests comes with a chip you insert to the reader to provide the batch calibration. You slide the strip into that groove you can see at the bottom of the pic, power up and then a few seconds later you're prompted to put the sample drops in the strip (also included are the 10uL capillary squeezey tubes to take your sample). Should also add that the HCT is calculated and maxes out at 51%.

>51% out of range, that's not good for most of us that have problems with high hct.

I need a machine that will at least get me up to 60%.

I supposed I could take normal saline and some edta tubes, draw off blood and make some very slight serial dilutions to bring it down to where it's readable and calculate the dilution at which it reads, but running the target dilution in duplicate and check the analyzer value with a hct that is done with whole blood in an edta tube after it has settled for 72hrs to see if my math is correct. The problem is I'd have to buy a volumetric pipettes and or calibrated pipette with disposable tips....that's $$$.

The truth is I could just as easily run my high hct using a spun micro hematocrit machine using a glass capillary tube, but those damn centrifuges cost a fortune even though it's not used in labs anymore. I just as easily buy a centrifuge that has buckets that swing out as opposed to a fixed position rotor.

There's a lot of things I could do if I wanted to spend $$$$$.

 

[Deezznutzz]

>51% out of range, that's not good for most of us that have problems with high hct.

I need a machine that will at least get me up to 60%.

I supposed I could take normal saline and some edta tubes, draw off blood and make some very slight serial dilutions to bring it down to where it's readable and calculate the dilution at which it reads, but running the target dilution in duplicate and check the analyzer value with a hct that is done with whole blood in an edta tube after it has settled for 72hrs to see if my math is correct. The problem is I'd have to buy a volumetric pipettes and or calibrated pipette with disposable tips....that's $$$.

The truth is I could just as easily run my high hct using a spun micro hematocrit machine using a glass capillary tube, but those damn centrifuges cost a fortune even though it's not used in labs anymore. I just as easily buy a centrifuge that has buckets that swing out as opposed to a fixed position rotor.

There's a lot of things I could do if I wanted to spend $$$$$.

This one goes to 70%
https://www.amazon.com/Healthcaretuye-Hemoglobin-Analyzer-Monitor-Lancets/dp/B09LRR5N23/ref=asc_df_B09LRR5N23/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=563688529845&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17009862511037999153&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026807&hvtargid=pla-1645106263379&psc=1

 

[hijoshiki]

This one goes to 70%
https://www.amazon.com/Healthcaretuye-Hemoglobin-Analyzer-Monitor-Lancets/dp/B09LRR5N23/ref=asc_df_B09LRR5N23/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=563688529845&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17009862511037999153&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026807&hvtargid=pla-1645106263379&psc=1

Looks like the reviews show poor accuracy.

There may be no substitute for just drawing blood into a 10ml EDTA tube and leaving it in a vertical position for 3 days calculate by (packed cells/total volume of tube) to get the hct% using a high quality millimeter scale

 

[Bumpygooch]

To update my previous post, labs came back, HCT down to 51.1 from 56.9. Also frank 5L water prior to draw. Endo wants me to reduce test to 100/week, which I won’t do. So, either I try double reds end July/early august, if eligible or just whole blood every 8 weeks. I’m going to start supplementing curcumin, green tea, IP6 and grapefruit seed extract, I guess. See if that makes a difference. Have read about telmisartan as a reduction agent. Was running 80mg/day for weeks, so, I’ll say it didn’t have much of an effect.

 

[Fenrir51]

So I just looked at my blood work from a couple of months ago. I donated a double red, 17 days later I had a blood test done and my RBC/Hemo/Hema are all within half a percent of each other from my last test without having donated beforehand.

 

[hijoshiki]

The problem is test meters and even point of care anazlyers we used in the hospital setting aren't all that great compared to a $200K hematology analyzer. Point of care glucose analyzers were good($1500), but if you were out of range or close to out of range that was a problem.
The only way to know if a meter is testing accurately would be to test the linearity on a regular basis and that could only be done with Correlations: side by side testing with an expensive hematology analyzer to see how far off the meter is, otherwise I wouldn't trust the results especially when it comes to the huge range of hgb for a steroid user with 14g to 24g/dl potentially.

That's why I think the old manual method of ordering 7ml or 10ml(larger volume tubes are more accurate) EDTA anticoagulant tubes, butterfly needles (23g to draw blood/19g or bigger for therapeutic phlebotomy), vacutainer hubs and using either a stand or a bucket of BB's to keep the filled tube up right for 72hrs is equipment that anyone on this forum can buy. Self phlebotomy is easy with either a tactical tourniquet or what I use is a patella knee band as it allows me to wear it comfortably for up to 20 minutes while performing therapeutic phlebotomy, it's easy to adjust and prevents too much pressure when wearing it for 20 minutes.