Why would your RDW be high?

Why would your RDW be high?

High results If your RDW is too high, it could be an indication of a nutrient deficiency, such as a deficiency of iron, folate, or vitamin B-12. These results could also indicate macrocytic anemia, when your body doesn’t produce enough normal red blood cells, and the cells it does produce are larger than normal.

Is a high RDW bad?

A high red blood cell distribution width (RDW) may be associated with adverse outcomes in patients with heart failure and risk of death, and cardiovascular events in people with previous myocardial infarction.

How do you treat high RDW?

Eat a healthy and nutritious diet in order to prevent nutrient deficiencies. It is important that your diet includes enough iron, folate, and vitamin B12 [8, 11, 12]. Correcting nutritional deficiencies can help improve red blood cell production and decrease RDW levels.

Can methotrexate cause high RDW?

MTX treated patients had significantly higher RDW compared to subjects without this drug (p < 0,001). In RA patients without MTX treatment, we found RDW level significantly different between those with versus without a CV event, whereas this difference disappeared in subjects receiving MTX.

Why is RDW high in iron deficiency anemia?

As iron deficiency progresses, decreased erythropoeisis develops. New erythrocytes are smaller, causing the RDW to increase slightly, as there is a mix of older normocytic cells with younger microcytic cells. Laboratory findings include low ferritin, low MCV, high RDW, and increased transferrin.

What does high RDW and normal MCV mean?

• A high RDW indicates a large variation in size of RBCs. If the MCV is normal and the RDW is high, there is a mixture of large and small RBCs. If the RDW is normal and the MCV is high, the RBCs are likely all macrocytic. If the MCV and RDW are both normal, the RBCs are likely all about the same normal size.

What are the side effects of high red blood cell count?

If you have a high RBC count, you could experience symptoms such as:

• fatigue.
• shortness of breath.
• joint pain.
• tenderness in the palms of the hands or soles of the feet.
• itching skin, particularly after a shower or bath.
• sleep disturbance.

What foods to avoid if you have low hemoglobin?

Foods to avoid

• tea and coffee.
• milk and some dairy products.
• foods that contain tannins, such as grapes, corn, and sorghum.
• foods that contain phytates or phytic acid, such as brown rice and whole-grain wheat products.
• foods that contain oxalic acid, such as peanuts, parsley, and chocolate.

What is considered a high RDW?

A high RDW means you have both very small and very large red blood cells. You may also have a “normal” RDW. A normal RDW range is 12.2%–16.1% for women and 11.8%–14.5% for men.

What are the symptoms of methotrexate toxicity?

Patients should be advised of key symptoms of methotrexate toxicity such as a sore throat, mouth ulcers, fever, dry persistent cough, vomiting or diarrhoea, and to report if any of these occur.

What does RDW 15.4 mean?

Higher RDW values indicate greater variation in size. Normal reference range of RDW-CV in human red blood cells is 11.5–15.4%. If anemia is observed, RDW test results are often used together with mean corpuscular volume (MCV) results to determine the possible causes of the anemia.

Can iron supplements cause high RDW?

After iron supplementation, RDW-SD increased in 88% of the subjects. In this study, increased RDW values are indicative of enhanced erythropoiesis as a response to iron supplementation.