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White Blood Cell Count - 19,000 - What does this mean?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 1/8/2009 7:59 PM (GMT 0)
My doc just called and he really freaked me out with his tone and my high WBC count. He wanted to talk to another doc and then maybe put me in the hospital or start remicade immediately. Does this sound right? I feel pretty good today. Only one bloody bowel this morning, no fever, no chills, I'm at work, etc.....
Posted 1/8/2009 8:02 PM (GMT 0)
I know that is a high count and well above what is considered the normal range.
Posted 1/8/2009 8:09 PM (GMT 0)
Well, apparently the normal range is 4.5-11.0 th/uL (so around 4,500- 11,000).. Right now, mine has been at least 14.5 for the past two months, last time my doc said it was pretty high but most likely indicative of inflammation. WBC also goes up when you're under a lot of stress as well. Did he tell you what the rest of your blood levels looked like? Are you anemic as well?

Not sure why he'd jump right to hospital admission though, has your CBC been abnormal before? Mine just wanted to wait and see if it would go down (which it didn't) but some doctors take things more seriously than others, which isn't necessarily a bad thing!!
Posted 1/8/2009 8:57 PM (GMT 0)
At least your doc is proactive and if you can get off the peed once on remmicade that would at least be a good thing. I've been curious to see how I would respond to remmicade but I certainly do like the idea of having to use it though. Feel better.
Posted 1/8/2009 9:02 PM (GMT 0)
Prednisone does increase the WBC tremendously. I was at 14,000 myself after taking 40 mg of Pred for 2 weeks. Don't they do any other tests on you? Lipase? CBC? Hepatic panel?

Posted 1/8/2009 9:31 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the replies thus. I believe he did all the standard blood work + liver, kidney functions as it was a blood draw to mainly make sure I'm handling imuran o.k. He only mentioned the WBC count being way out of whack, so I assume the rest is normal.
Posted 1/8/2009 11:12 PM (GMT 0)
Pred does make WBC high. On pred mina actually got to about 25,000. I was sent to a specialist to make sure I didn't have luekemia or anything else going on. It turned out to be just inflamation and pred.

My last WBC was high as well, 16000. He ran a few more tests and said it was fine. It just means there is inflammation in your system somewhere, it doesn't always mean fever or anything. Having bloody stools I would expect you to have a higher WBC. Its a good thing your doctor cares and wants to look into it more but I wouldn't worry to much.
Posted 1/11/2009 8:13 PM (GMT 0)
I have had a chronic elevated WBC for 5 years - well before my UC diagnosis. I was seen by a hematology oncologist to rule out any types of cancer. I had a bone marrow biopsy amongst many other tests done. My Dr. said that some people can just simply be "outside of the norm". So what is normal for one is not always normal for others. My counts are typically between 12-18,000 at any given time.
Posted 1/12/2009 6:51 PM (GMT 0)
     I would think Imuran would lower the white count.  I am on 6MP and my white count was down to 2.4.  I am NOT happy about this but my GI doctor said that the low white count signifies that the 6MP is doing its job.  Yeah, but I have to be extra careful about germs.  With a white count that low I can catch anything that comes down the pike and don't have the antibodies to fight it off!

     Another thing.  I was on prednisone for seven months last year.  My white count never went above 7,000.

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