Slightly Elevated WBC and Abs Lymphocyte Counts, what is going on??
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hello,
I've been a lurker to this sub for a couple weeks now, I've been trying to search through the sub history to see if anyone has had similar issues to myself. I am a 29 year old male living in the US. 170lbs and 5'7. I have been having some health related concerns for about half a year now with no real answers.
It started in September of 2016 when I noticed a slight pain in my thoracic spine, I figured that it was a combination of sitting at my desk job and bartending part time. Overtime, this discomfort would come and go, sometimes it would be more pronounced and sometimes it would go away. That has been the case still to this day. The pain hasn't been super severe, and it is very tolerable.
What I am concerned about is my recent blood tests. In the doctors quest to find out what has been ailing me, they initially had a CBC preformed and subsequent follow-ups to track the results. As you can see by the link below, I have had slightly elevated WBCs and Abs Lymphocytes, and as you can see they have fluctuated a little bit. What has concerned me (and not my PCP) is my most recent Abs Lymphocyte count which is at 4600/cu mm. It is my understanding that at 5000/cu mm, a patient would be diagnosed with CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia). Am I reasonable in my concerns considering my levels are 400 away from that 5000 threshold?
I apologize for the rambling, but this has me very concerned and unsure what to do next. Any doctors or patients have experience with this, I would greatly appreciate your input!
-P
0 likes, 7 replies
sweetmelissa pcschult
Posted
No.. it is not possible to have any kind of cancer diagnosis just based off of your abs. Lymphocyte count. The raised abs lymphs are a symptom of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, not a diagnosis. There are just so many different things that can cause a slightly raised WBC, that most the time, people never ever know why they were raised. Don't even bother with the Abs blood counts, as doctors seem to only look at the total White Blood Cell count and yours is not high. It is something that should be retested in about 4 to 8 weeks though. Our bodies just pick up too many germs throughout our days, most that don't even make us feel bad, but yet our bodies send our White blood cells to attack these germs, and get rid of them. This is happening constantly, and our blood cell counts are changing constantly too. Also.. again, please don't worry about Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, as Abs Lymph count above 5000, is not a cancer diagnosis.
pcschult sweetmelissa
Posted
Thank you for your response to my post Melissa, I greatly appreciate it! What has left me mainly concerned is although my WBC is only slightly elevated, it has not gone down in over 2 months. It's concerning to me that i haven't gone back down to normal levels. As you can see by the picture of my counts, they seem to be slowly elevating.
sweetmelissa pcschult
Posted
Has your doctor givin you any antibiotics yet? That is usually the first response from doctors from a slightly elevated WBC that won't go down, or keeps going higher. If your doctor did not try antibiotics yet, then perhaps give him a call and ask for some. Tell him that your concerned and worried and that your stressing pretty bad, that way he will give you a prescription for some to help ease your mind. A lot of doctors though, are pretty strict with antibiotics and usually wait until the WBC count is really high before giving giving them, as antibiotic use can cause resistance to viruses and bacteria if use too frequently. So that may be why your doctor did not prescribe them yet. But again, if your really stressed about it, you should let your doctor know because a lot of doctors will work with you and help ease your mind, and he may give you some. Do you know if your WBC counts are higher then your normal? Sometimes people just have a naturally higher count then others, as the range for the WBC is just a reference and not definite. Say.. if your WBC was usually like 6.00, and now, all the sudden it's high, then I would say to try antibiotics. If your WBC is normally 10.00, then just keep an eye on it and get retested in a month or so.
pcschult sweetmelissa
Posted
sweetmelissa pcschult
Posted
Okay.. so I would say your normal is around 7.00. So, yes, call your doctor to see if he will give you a an antibiotic. If it's a mild infection, which is the most likely cause, then it will bring your count back down. You'll still need to be retested in a month or so. Like I mentioned earlier, just let your doctor know that this is really bothering you and that way, he'll work with you, and most likely give you the antibiotics.
tamara06002 pcschult
Posted
sweetmelissa pcschult
Posted