Complain about blood tests

Now for the second time I have had a medical scare simply because the japanese calculate certain blood tests differently or have different reference ranges for a blood marker.

This time it was egfr which for a couple days i have been scared that i have kidney failure just to figure out it’s a different calculation in Japan.

The first time it was i think K2 or something as a cancer marker and the Japanese just have a higher reference range because they eat natto a lot. That time i had to do all kinds of cancer screening

Ugh

Edit: since Sone didn’t get the point. The concern is that they’re applying race specific variables to the calculations and not actually considering my race. I am not japanese. They are also not informing me of the race specific variables and how that affects the numbers – instead they are just mis-diagnosing me incorrectly with potentially fatal diseases

6 comments
  1. >This time it was egfr which for a couple days i have been scared that i have kidney failure just to figure out it’s a different calculation in Japan.

    Nearly the same for me. They’re all concerned because a couple of numbers are two or three points above the limit of 30. In the US, that limit is 60, and docs really only worry once you hit _double_ the limit (so, 120).

  2. Yeah it sucks when doctors are cautious. Why can’t they just be cool and say it’s all good bro?

  3. I understand had a couple of health scares over the last few months and one was because of an incompetent doctor. The worst part is waiting and not know for sure … one doctor told me hospitals want to make money so they like doing a lot of tests …

  4. I’ve not experienced it to that degree, but in the yearly health checks they always look at the Asian BMI charts and say I’m too fat. While I am carrying about 5kg extra right now for not training since the first round of COVID closed the gym, I’m still within a healthy body fat % according to an inbody scale.

    I did have one small scare at my first health check when I entered the room and the nurse who had to draw blood took one look at me and suddenly got really nervous at seeing a foreigner. After the first glance, she wouldn’t look at me, and her hands were shaking (which made me nervous about her stabbing me with that needle. Yet she got the right spot on the first try. Never had any issues like that any other time.

    Though back when I had shoulder surgery, during my hospital stay they brought me nothing but 2 slices of bread an a little packet of jam for EVERY SINGLE MEAL for the first 2 1/2 days. Everyone else was getting ramen or curry or whatever. Apparently us Western foreigners eat bread. Finally started seeing other stuff after I asked about it.

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