What does a female's hematocrit level of 22 mean?

Answer 1

A Hematocrit is a fancy name for a blood cell. Your doctor ordered the blood test. You should ask him or her for the interpretation. It could mean something as simple as you are eating too much meat and not enough vegetables. It could mean you should stop taking vitamins with iron, or it could be more serious. How high is high? Is it slightly above the cut off mark. Is it way above the cut off mark. There should be a number compared to the normal range. That should give you a clue as to how far out of the normal range you are. You are entitled to a copy of your lab reports after your doctor has reviewed them. Get them and keep them for future reference and ask your doctor what it means.

Answer 2

Not sure if this is asked as a personal health inquiry or as a student looking for information needed for academic coursework, but here goes...

Red blood cells are the cells in your body that carry oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body. Think of them as sacks of a protein called "hemoglobin". Hemoglobin is what actually gives your red blood cells the ability to carry oxygen. A high hematocrit simply means that you have a higher concentration of hemoglobin in the blood.

First of all, it could indicate dehydration, or normal amount of hemoglobin, but too little blood (plasma) volume. If this is the case, depending on how high the hematocrit is, rehydration might be needed.

It could also be compensatory. Many people with chronic diseases of the lung could have a higher RBC count, which is their body's way of compensating for a decreased lung capacity. If there's not enough oxygen, a way to keep blood oxygen levels closer to normal is to increase the amount of oxygen-carrying cells so that more of the oxygen in the air that is breathed into the lungs gets into the blood, improving stamina back to more normal levels.

Interestingly enough, professional athletes sometimes try to artificially increase their hematocrit in order to enhance stamina and performance. This is commonly known as "blood doping". Many professional athletic organizations (most famously cycling's regulatory body) also require competitors to submit their own blood for regular testing in order to catch people who are using banned performance-enhancing drugs like EPO, which stimulates the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells (RBC), having the same effect of improving stamina. So if a competitive athlete who has been submitting blood regularly for testing has a suddenly elevated hematocrit, it could be a result of blood doping.

There are other, more rare causes of an high hematocrit, some more serious than others. If this is a personal health inquiry, ask a doctor if you should be worried or if you should do anything.

Answer 3

A test result of 10.1 would be considered below normal for both men and women. Consult your doctor for treatment. It may be as easy as taking Iron tablets for you.

Answer 4

You need iron. See a Dr. That's extremely low.