With each beat of your heart, your red blood cells carry vital oxygen to all your organs and tissues. Hemoglobin (Hgb or Hb) is the oxygen-carrying protein that gives your blood its red color. When hemoglobin levels are normal, your body is getting the oxygen it needs.
Hematocrit (Hct) measures the percent of your blood that is made up of red blood cells. The higher the percent of healthy red blood cells, the more oxygen your body has to use.
Hemoglobin and hematocrit may both be checked, but Hgb is more often used for those on dialysis. Why? Because the Hct level can change based on how much water is in your blood, while the Hgb level will be stable. Since dialysis removes water from the blood, it's better to check a level that won't change.
Anemia is very common in people with kidney disease. It is very important to find anemia as soon as possible, so it can be treated.
How Do I Know if I Have Anemia?
Anemia has many effects on the body, which can include:
- Fatigue/loss of energy
- Feeling cold all the time
- Shortness of breath/chest pain
- Pale skin, gums, and fingernail beds
- Trouble concentrating
- Dizziness/lightheadedness
- Headaches
- Changes in menstrual cycles (women)
- Difficulty with erections (men)
- Slower than usual growth (children)
If you have any of these symptoms, be sure to tell your doctor! Anemia may also reduce your ability to fight infections.
To learn more about anemia and what you can do about it, see Module 6—Anemia and Kidney Disease.
Hemoglobin and hematocrit are also used to see how well anemia treatment is working and if anemia drug doses need to be changed.
But, you might wonder, "How do I know when my lab values are not normal?" This is a good question and one that applies to every test we talk about. We'll try to answer it in a way that will make it easy for you.
What's in Blood, Anyway?
Because your blood has the vital job of carrying oxygen and other nutrients to every cell in your body, it has many parts. Here are just a few:
- Red blood cells – carry oxygen
- White blood cells – fight disease
- Platelets – help the blood to clot
- Plasma – straw-colored fluid that other blood cells float in
- Serum – fluid that remains after blood has clotted in a test tube
- Whole blood – all of the above
