Colds and lymphocyte proliferation

[Elle_V]

My SLL has been fairly stable for the year and a half that I've been diagnosed. The past 2 months my 5 year old twin girls (who just started school) keep coming home with colds, we are sick more often than we are well. My last lymphocyte count took a bit of a jump. I'm still in the normal range for SLL but I have many more swollen lymph nodes along my neck that seemed to just happen within a couple of weeks. My WBC count is a little high, but it's been higher with other bouts of flu. Is it possible that these colds are stimulating my immune system and causing my lymphocytes to proliferate? Do catching colds increase both normal lymphocytes and the cancerous ones?

[AussieNeil Administrator]

With CLL, we report the same wax and wane of neck nodes as those without CLL, but for some of us, the swollen nodes persist well beyond what's considered normal. Perhaps Jm954 or Cllcanada can add more, but I suspect it will depend on your particular flavour of CLL; whether you have the mutated or unmutated IGHV gene (i.e. your CLL can be driven by exposure to a specific antigen) and probably much more.

You also need to look at the WBC differential to see which white blood cells are reacting to an infection. Normally about 60% of our WBC is comprised of neutrophils (until CLL upsets the balance - and you may or may not progress to the 'CLL' flavour of CLL/SLL). There are also eosinophils, monocytes, basophils and within the lymphocyte count, various T lymphocytes.

Check out this post for links to templates to track your blood tests if you are interested: healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

Neil

[Jm954 Administrator in reply to AussieNeil]

If, as Neil and bkoffman say, you are able to mount a response, viral infections will temporarily cause an increase in lymphs and enlarge your LNs, so in some ways it's good news.

Good idea from Neil to track your blood tests and if you put them in the spreadsheet you can generate graphs which easily illustrate trends and blips. The main things you need to track are Hb, Platelets, absolute numbers of Neuts and Lymphs but they are all on the sheet provided by Neil. This is another link to one of Neil's posts about information and tracking of blood tests. cllsupport.org.uk/cll-sll/s...

[Elle_V in reply to AussieNeil]

I'm in Toronto, Canada, and from Cllcanada's posts, if I understand correctly, we don't get tested for IGHV. When you say exposure to a specific antigen, anything in the environment, ex a type of food? I'm interested in this because I took 3 months off and lived in Greece where I was calm and ate a lot of locally grown foods (unfortuanately can't afford to do it forever) and my ALC was exactly the same when I got back. It seemed to jump after a month of my going back to work full time...stress or food change?

If someone has an unmutated IGHV gene, are there tesst that can be performed to figure out what antigens cause proliferation?

I am tracking my results on a spreadsheet.

Thanks!

[AussieNeil Administrator in reply to Elle_V]

Research has shown that the B Cell Receptors on CLL are not random as you would expect, but do show commonality, implying that there may be some antigen drivers behind this illness. There's a marked preponderance to sensitivity to yeasts and fungi related antigens. Unfortunately this kind of testing is only available through research labs...

Neil

[Elle_V in reply to AussieNeil]

I read an article you had posted about beta glucans. That's what has gotten me thinking. I've started eating maitake and shitake mushrooms and did a yeast cleanse using oil of oregano and some other natural oils.

[Elle_V in reply to Elle_V]

What I meant to say, was that maybe I shouldn't have done the above

[AussieNeil Administrator in reply to Elle_V]

How much of a jump? There could something in your work environment causing the increase or it could be random variation - or you could be in the small percentage who have their CLL driven by beta glucans. Watch your trends long term. It is unfortunately difficult to discern correlations, but if you found that you always saw your ALC stabilized while you were away from home or on a specific diet, then you might be able to identify the driver and by avoiding it, extend your time in watch and wait.

[bkoffman CLL CURE Hero]

Infections will temporarily bump up your ALC. Follow the trend. That's what matters.