I Am Male 49 , Smoking & Obese . Hypertension

Posted on Thu, 2 Jan 2020

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 2 Jan 2020 Answered on

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Question : I am male 49 , smoking & obese . Hypertension , medically controlled (co-diovan 320/25 + concor 5 mg + physiotense 0.4 ) . I did some blood test . And found out red blood cell , hemoglobin and ferritin elevated . I 'll share the results . Can these results indicate Polycythemia vera ???. I am very worried . I did some tests cause I have some symptoms . How high should the hemoglobin be in order to diagnose Polycythemia vera ? Polycythemia secondary ? .Thanks .

Answered by Dr. Shailja Puri (6 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Few investigations to rule out polycythemia. Neurologist consultation.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting your query on Ask a Doctor.
Headache associated with high haemoglobin, high hematocrit and red blood count may be due to polycythemia.
I suggest you to get renal function tests especially blood urea nitrogen (BUN) to rule out secondary polycythemia.
If BUN is within range then primary polycythemia needs to be ruled out by getting V617F mutation and exon 12 mutation.
In addition, vitamin D level is low. Vitamin D supplements needs to be taken to correct the deficiency.
Keeping in view the numbness in arm, nausea, vomiting; a consultation with neurologist is suggested.

Thanks and take care
Dr Shailja Puri

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Nagamani Ng