Why would Hgb and HCT be high?
High Hgb is known as polycythemia. This means you have too many red blood cells. Polycythemia vera is a cancer of the blood in which your bone marrow overproduces red blood cells. With polycythemia, a blood test also shows that you have a high red blood cell count and high hematocrit.
What increases hematocrit?
What can I do to increase my low hematocrit? Increasing the consumption of red meat (liver in particular), fish and shellfish (oysters, clams, shrimp, and scallops), dried fruit (apricots, prunes, and peaches), green leafy vegetables, beans, iron fortified breads and cereals, all rich in iron, may help.
Is high hematocrit bad?
A higher than normal hematocrit can indicate: Dehydration. A disorder, such as polycythemia vera, that causes your body to produce too many red blood cells. Lung or heart disease.
What are the symptoms of high hematocrit?
What does it mean if your hematocrit is high?
- Tiredness.
- Shortness of breath.
- Flushed skin.
- Sweating.
- Dizziness.
- Joint pain.
- Itching.
- Headaches.
Why would hematocrit be high?
What happens when hematocrit is too high?
Common symptoms include fatigue, weakness, and low energy. If a person has too many red blood cells, they have a high hematocrit level. A person may experience dizziness and headaches, which can be a sign of the condition polycythemia.
Is it bad if your hematocrit is high?
A hematocrit test measures how much of your blood is made up of red blood cells. Red blood cells contain a protein called hemoglobin that carries oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body. Hematocrit levels that are too high or too low can indicate a blood disorder, dehydration, or other medical conditions.
Does stress affect hematocrit?
Stress is believed to increase hematocrit. Groups of patients with generalized anxiety disorders and normal volunteers matched on age and sex were compared on resting levels of state anxiety, trait anxiety, depression, pulse rate, blood pressure and hematocrit.
What happens if hematocrit is too high?
If you’ve taken a hematocrit test and hematocrit is high, this means that you have more red blood cells than what’s considered to be healthy. High hematocrit levels could indicate underlying medical conditions like: Dehydration. Carbon monoxide poisoning.