Anyone Have Leukocytosis aka High White Blood Cell Count? (bladder, allergy, x-rays)

[Forever Blue]

Had dr appt the other day & blood test showed I have this condition I've never heard of in my life. How serious is it? Anyone know anything about it? Dr wants me to do another blood test NOW to see more into it, but I want to wait at least 2 wks to take another test to try to get the WBC (white blood cell) count down.

I looked up to drink vinegar, green & black teas, take garlic, & there was more stuff...pretty much avoid foods rich in sugar, fat and salt. I take quite a variety of vitamins already all along.

Do you or anyone know if the OTC allergy meds Sudafed or Zyrtec raise the count? I've been taking it these days. (I'm not on any other meds for anything currently.)

I've watched a couple of youtube vids & one of them did say it may have to do w/ autoimmune conditions. Now I have hidradenitis suppurativa aka HS, which is better described as autoinflammatory because your own cells are attacking each other ('auto-') and the cells are from the immune system, causing inflammation ('-inflammatory').

Anyone have any tips, etc. they can give please? TIA!

[Mikala43]

How high was it? Mine can come in high on occasion, but it was nothing. Do you have a copy of the results?

[Forever Blue]

Originally Posted by Mikala43

How high was it? Mine can come in high on occasion, but it was nothing. Do you have a copy of the results?

Thanks for replying! So, how soon after the 1st blood test do you take the 2nd when it's back to normal? I'm just a little worried since I never heard of this before & don't want it to turn into anything serious.

I don't have the document w/ results yet, but I'll mk sure to ask them to give it to me. So far, dr just said orally. They didn't even know the results came in until I mentioned it since I did the bloodwork 3 business days prior to my appt. (They seem a little bit of not-staying-on-top-of things like I wish they would, but they're not too bad & only like several min from me & I like my new dr herself).


If it's something I can do to make it go down, you better believe I'll do it ASAP to prevent further & probably more drastic actions by the dr from having to be done.

It's like if the dr says something like, "I may have to put you on high blood pressure meds, high cholesterol meds, etc." Well, most people aren't going to think to themselves, "I'll just keep my weight the same & keep eating junk food, etc., so I can HOPEFULLY get on these meds & those will help me out." No, they'll hopefully do all they can to prevent having to get on meds or more, so they want to lose weight, exercise more, & eat better, so they have a better report the next time ASAP to avoid the meds.

Also, back around very early July, I had to go to urgent care in which I was told I had HFM (hand, foot mouth) virus, which I have no idea how in the world I got that, so I've been recovering from that. There's no meds to really take for that. It's just time that it takes to gradually go away. Well, that's some type of infection I believe, so that may have to do w/ this high wht blood count, I suspect.

THEN, about a full month later in very early Aug, I dev this cough out of the blue w/ NO other symptoms. It was a lingering cough, so I took Mucinex for about a full wk, then when saw dr the 1st time about it, she said Sudafed & Zyrtex, which I've still been taking now.

I just want this high WBC to be down. I've never had so much stuff happen to me like this all at once in my entire life.

(Not lookging for pro advice, just finding out others' experiences because some others out there must have it too.)

[Mikala43]

Any infection can cause your WBC count to rise. If it stays up, they will probably test WHICH of your WBC is elevated to give them an idea of what could be wrong.

I used to get tested every 3 months, and a few times mine were elevated, then back down. It was never anything.

I always get access to my labs, if it is not done automatically (like a medical portal), I tell the lab company to send a copy to me.

Note: I know nothing, I am not a medical professional. This is just stuff I have gone through

[Medical Lab Guy]

I can write a whole book on the subject and so I will give you a short overview.

White blood cells are all distinctly different in types and elevations can be seen in inflammation and in primary hematologic disorders. The neutrophil is called the acute inflammatory cell that we see with inflammation and the biggest cause for inflammation is infection. The lymphocyte and monocyte are called chronic inflammatory cells.

Among the primary hematologic disorders are chronic myelogenous leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. I don’t mention acute leukemia because that is an obvious condition that when detected is considered a medical emergency and you would have known by now if it were that.

There are preset laboratory criteria on when we look at a blood smear and when we submit the blood smear for review by a pathologist. Significant elevations such as over 30,000 which we call leukemoid reactions where it could be leukemia or a benign reactive process simply based on the count. There are situations where the total count might not exceed that but there might be an elevated what we call an immature fraction of white cells. Normally there is a maturation process of white blood cells that goes from a very immature cell to a more mature cell to finally a fully mature cell. Normally we see fully mature cells in the blood and those other immature cells are typically present and stay in the bone marrow where the blood cells are formed.

So the first thing that needs to be done is a careful evaluation and looking at the blood under the microscope to see what is going on. There can be clues if an infection is present due to bacteria where one can find toxic changes in the neutrophils or one can look at the lymphocytes for reactive changes associated with viral infections. One can also look for changes that are more typical of primary hematologic disorders based on the distribution of the cells maturity spectrum if present or simply changes consistent with lymphoma or leukemia.

The other parameters are also important such as anemia and or thrombocytopenia indicative of bone marrow involvement.

The white cell count can change quickly based on daily activity and stress as it is impacted by daily hormones and so it is suggested that one draw blood at the same time of day to normalize activity level. If you were to walk up and down a flight of stairs it might elevate your white blood cell count. The changes seen with such hormones are all mature cells. Normally these are mild changes.

Another common mistake that people make is looking at the percent distribution of the type of white cells present rather than the absolute counts. The absolute counts are what determine if that cell type is high or low and not the percent distribution.

[Medical Lab Guy]

Originally Posted by Forever Blue

Thanks for replying! So, how soon after the 1st blood test do you take the 2nd when it's back to normal? I'm just a little worried since I never heard of this before & don't want it to turn into anything serious.

(Not lookging for pro advice, just finding out others' experiences because some others out there must have it too.)

There's nothing you can do if it is a primary hematologic disorder to get the count back down and so one does not need to wait. Repeat testing is in order as the doctor mentioned. We can tell and there are plenty of secondary tests that one can do to separate things out.

Sorry that you are nervous about it but all things are on the table right now.

[Williepaws]

Originally Posted by Forever Blue

Had dr appt the other day & blood test showed I have this condition I've never heard of in my life. How serious is it? Anyone know anything about it? Dr wants me to do another blood test NOW to see more into it, but I want to wait at least 2 wks to take another test to try to get the WBC (white blood cell) count down.

I looked up to drink vinegar, green & black teas, take garlic, & there was more stuff...pretty much avoid foods rich in sugar, fat and salt. I take quite a variety of vitamins already all along.

Do you or anyone know if the OTC allergy meds Sudafed or Zyrtec raise the count? I've been taking it these days. (I'm not on any other meds for anything currently.)

I've watched a couple of youtube vids & one of them did say it may have to do w/ autoimmune conditions. Now I have hidradenitis suppurativa aka HS, which is better described as autoinflammatory because your own cells are attacking each other ('auto-') and the cells are from the immune system, causing inflammation ('-inflammatory').

Anyone have any tips, etc. they can give please? TIA!

I had one once but I was in the ER with a bladder infection that contained blood. The ER took blood and urine. Decided that the bladder inf was a classic type but then the Blood work came back and they went off the deep end. The WBC was almost in the danger zone they said. I had no temp, felt fine except for the bladder inf, etc. They wouldnt let me leave, admitted me and gave IV antibiotics. When the resident came in the next morning he said he thought he would find a very sick patient! Obviously I wasnt. but they wouldnt discharge me until the next blood test which was in a couple hours or so showed the WBC falling. it did enough to satisfy them, so they discharged me and sent me home with a prescription for more antibiotics. That was 6 years ago maybe. They never could determine the cause.

[kitty61]

Lymphocyte is the medical term for white blood cells.



Lymphocytosis is the medical terms for high WBC. High white blood cell count isn't like high blood pressure. You can't exercise it or diet it down to an acceptable level. The white blood cells are part of the immune response triggered by an infection. The more the infection grows, the greater the nbr WBCs.


You have to heal the source of the infection before the count will return to normal. With such a high wbc you must have one hell of an infection possibly life or death. Please, don't leave it too long before you take the second test.

[Forever Blue]

Thanks a lot guys for all your very helpful posts!

I definitely had planned to take another blood test...scheduled the next already. I'm just a little worried since I never heard of this before & don't want it to turn into anything serious. Just trying to find out others' experiences because I figure some of you out there must have experienced high WBC too.

So as I said above, back on July 4th, I had to go to urgent care in which I was told I had HFM (hand, foot mouth) virus, which I have no idea how in the world I got that as cautious as I am. There's no meds to take for that. It's just time that it takes to gradually go away. Well, that's some type of infection I believe, so I wonder if that has anything to do with this high wht blood count, I suspect.

THEN, about a full month later in very early Aug, I dev this cough out of the blue w/ NO other symptoms. It was a lingering cough, so I took Mucinex for about a full wk, then when saw dr the 1st time about it, she said Sudafed and Zyrtex, which I've still been taking now, but I've been taking less these days.

Lastly, all that was on top of the autoinflammatory condition I've had for about the last 2.5 yrs now.

I don't know what's happened. 2022 hasn't been my yr healthwise.

[Forever Blue]

Update

What a vicious circle! So I learned, then did a little online reading as well as confirmed with my dermatologist that HS and a high WBC count are connected, but I know many may have a high count due to various other reasons. (I happen to have an autoinflammatory skin condition called hidradenitis suppurativa (aka HS)).

My GP was concerned (not seemingly knowing that HS and a high WBC count are connected) and referred me to a hematologist, which that dr tended to agree about the connection, but to be safe is ordering me another blood test to test for other things, so that's completely fine!

BUT, as I was reading how to lower a high count, I saw some symptoms of having a high WBC count and they are things I'm experiencing also:
- knee joint pain - I'm most concerned about this one!
- decreased appetite
- chills - I do feel cold more often
- fatigue - I don't feel tired, but I know I've been sleepy and going to bed a LOT earlier at night
- sweats - I've woken up a few times at night sweating (in the winter, even when it was raining)

There are several other symptoms too, but I personally haven't had them (fever, allergy symptoms, itching (w/ or w/o rash), wheezing, etc.

Widening and leaking of blood vessels - This is a scary, more serious CAUSE of the high WBC count. My foot got recently swollen and after some x-rays, MRI, ultrasound, it seems I have a leaky vein and have to wear compression socks. I sure don't want to have a vein ablation!!!

The thing is, I've been suffereing from HS for about 3 yrs now since Feb 2020, but haven't had the above symptoms until maybe starting 1-4 mos ago...I think starting w/ feeling sleepy a LOT earlier, but feet swelling and knee joint pain are my worst symptoms. I've started taking glucosamine for joint pain, so I hope that helps.

Has anyone been prescribed anything to help w/ some of many of these symptoms? I see my hematologist in another several wks and I want to bring this up to her about these symptoms I've been experiencing. (I did tell her I have HS.)

Originally Posted by Mikala43

How high was it? Mine can come in high on occasion, but it was nothing. Do you have a copy of the results?

Here's the results of last 2 blood tests:

9/14/22 - 11.6
12/8/22 = 15.4