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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Elevated MCV Levels?

Hi, I have had a high MCV level (102) with no other flagged levels on my blood test and no symptoms. I am a 52 year old female, 5 7 125 pounds, exercise daily and rigorously. Can a high protein/low carb diet cause a slightly high MCV? Or menopause/hormone replacement therapy? The high MCV started about the same time I started receiving bio-identical HRT pellet insertions. The only other thing of note is that I had an incidence of food poisoning shortly before the blood test and was vomiting for about 12 hours intermittently which may have depleted my B12 levels? Thank you.
Fri, 22 Dec 2017
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Pathologist and Microbiologist,  's  Response
Hello. Thanks for asking on Healthcaremagic. A high Mcv means that the size of the Rbcs in your blood is on an average higher than normal. Though this much is only slightly higher. In case your hb is normal then a slightly high Mcv could be due to a mild b12, folate deficiency. It could be due to a liver disease, hypothyroidism, vitamin c deficiency or immature rbcs in blood signifying increased synthesis due to increased breakdown. However since it is only slightly high and that too associated with normal hb it might not signify a major problem. Diarrhea or vomiting few days prior will not cause b12 deficiency and rbc morphology changes in a couple of days. Since we have reserves of b12 and folate it is more of a long term problem than acute.
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What Causes Elevated MCV Levels?

Hello. Thanks for asking on Healthcaremagic. A high Mcv means that the size of the Rbcs in your blood is on an average higher than normal. Though this much is only slightly higher. In case your hb is normal then a slightly high Mcv could be due to a mild b12, folate deficiency. It could be due to a liver disease, hypothyroidism, vitamin c deficiency or immature rbcs in blood signifying increased synthesis due to increased breakdown. However since it is only slightly high and that too associated with normal hb it might not signify a major problem. Diarrhea or vomiting few days prior will not cause b12 deficiency and rbc morphology changes in a couple of days. Since we have reserves of b12 and folate it is more of a long term problem than acute.