Why do i have high red blood cells?

Are you feeling like a superhero man or woman with an abundance of red blood cells lately? Maybe you’re wondering why your doctor has told you that you have high red blood cells. Well, don’t worry, my dear reader! It’s not because you are secretly Thor or Wonder Woman.

High red blood cells may be caused by various factors such as dehydration, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), smoking cigarettes excessively (not advisable), living at high altitudes where there’s lower oxygen pressure in the atmosphere amongst others. In this article, we will explore why high red blood cell counts occur and how to manage them.

Symptoms of High Red Blood Cells

Before diving into the causes and management options available for high RBCs let’s first examine some symptoms associated with it (brace yourself!) :

  • Headaches
  • Fatigue
  • Shortness-of-Breath
  • Dizziness
  • Weaknesses
    In severe cases:
  • Chest Pain
  • Vision Problems
    Hopefully~~ishly~~ these symptoms did not frighten you too much if they sound familiar to what your body is experiencing.

What Are Red Blood Cells?

Red ~~hot salsa dip on Mexican night~~blood cells are tiny discs each containing hemoglobin which transports oxygen around our bodies from our lung to every part of our system required by our organs tissue groups among other elements.
RBC production mainly occurs in bone marrow which creates millions of new ones daily . Healthy adult males should range between 4.5-5 million per microliter and healthy females between 4-4.5 million per microliter makes sense right aka party poopers ruling out any hopes wolf whistles

Now let’s discuss reasons for elevated levels of these awesome little things!

Causes of High Red Blood Cell Counts

What could possibly amp up the production even further of these already important RBC’s? Hydration my friend! No, not juice or coffee but gallons of water which aids healthy production amongst other vital functions shocking right! However with this on its own, it doesn’t necessarily warrant increased cell count. In cases where elevated levels are recorded then your doctor pays more attention to alternative explanations and factors such as:

  • Smoking
    This ‘ol bad habit just might hike up your red blood cells through carbon monoxide build-up – definitely not the way we want to stick around.

  • Sleep Apnea
    (snooze-a-holic alert; they know themselves) This condition causes interruptions in breathing while asleep thus limited oxygen supply hence causing an increase in red blood cells count.

  • Congenital heart disease (CHD)
    People who suffer from congenital heart disease exhibit higher levels due to their hearts having had an additional workload over time

These mentioned examples bring us to ask ourselves what if something else could affect our health status and cause raised RBC counts?

High Altitude Living

Aha! For those mountain climbers or vacationers who fancy going ~above~ beyond sea level OH YEAH BABY!

Living at high altitude regions like that found in Bogota or Tibet can stimulate extra RBC production since there’s reduced atmospheric pressure meaning less dilute air so you breathe in less molecules of oxygen per breath (creepy). The body therefore adapts by making more hemoglobin transporting molecules which helps carry some amount of required oxygen.

Therefore imagine living near Pikes Peak; atop a plane, train or mountain- special consideration most likely has been given for changing both training programs and skin care products given the air pressure changes because among other things athletes competing at higher altitudes benefits from these adaptations raising their endurance performance compared to her lower elevation colleagues BOOM!

Polycythemia Vera

If after reading all these reasons/justifications above none of them matches your predicament then it calls for a detailed medical diagnosis possibly that after tests, and examinations polycythemia vera PV, a rarer condition has been established.

In this illness your bone marrow produces too many red blood cells (is there such thing as too much perfection? ) This rises the risk of thrombosis otherwise known as excess blood clotting which could lead to vascular attacks like heart attack or stroke (no thanks).

Management Options

The good news is that once the reason behind having high RBCs is diagnosed managing them wouldn’t be much hustle. These are options amongst others:

1) Medications
Blood thinners are prescribed by doctors in consideration with their patients’ wellbeing and health status where necessary; remember each treatment plan differs from individual case findings.

2) Blood Letting aka Phlebotomy
Imagine donating blood minus asking you to do it voluntarily- yeah I’m talking about sorta tax dodging/avoidance since you forced yourself into giving those precious fluids next time ;). This procedure helps remove excess cells essentially re-diluting present ones therefore reducing numbers whilst at the same time maintaining levels primarily enabling phlebotomist reduce viscosity making other bodily functions easier (win-win)

3) Reduction of caffeine
This element can sometimes work against one’s body goals leading undesirables outcomes so an option would be limiting its intake sorry coffee addicts besides its doubtful stopping completely though still unsure probably.

4) Oxygen therapy
If responsible ~enough~ they funnily like creatures don’t we suggest living atop mountains peaks but suffering sleep apnea concurrent oxygen supplementation remedies respiratory difficulties during slumber improving symptoms similar effects experienced by traveling with supplemental respiration on high altitude locations BOOM!

Conclusion

So my dear superhero friends, while being enamored by our crazy human bodies ability to adapt don’t forget things happening inside aren’t all that humorous such as having high red blood cells.

Clearly, you could identify with some of the symptoms explained earlier on therefore getting appropriate medical intervention during instances what not aint no prudence ignored!

In summary try keeping those RBCs in-between healthy average counts to prevent any potential life-threatening abnormal increase movie script plot-twist and going forward it will be up-to-you implementing the management means given (sometimes simpler options are better right?) listed here for possible successful treatment outcomes!

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