What does 5.2 mean?

[Melnz]

Hi guys I had a blood test when in hospital and have been referred back to gp for fbc re lymphocytosis, hospital visit was unrelated banged my head. All I got told was that my lymphocytes were high and she said it was 5.2 but that really means nothing to me? Should I be worried or should I just stay off the bloody internet 😂 google is freaking me the buck out. Thanks for ya time 😊

[AdrianUK]

I would definitely keep off the internet for now! Go see your GP who may want to do a repeat blood test and/or refer you to a haematologist to investigate. 5.2 is not a very high result compared to the levels sometimes seen with some conditions. But it’s certainly very understandable you want to get it looked into. Best to get medical input for sure tho. Even if we could help (which we can’t really) you wouldn’t want a bunch of people on the internet diagnosing you. That’s a doctors job!

[Melnz in reply to AdrianUK]

Thanks I definitely think your right I’m going to give the internet a break and just go docs 🙃

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

The upper reference range limit for lymphocytes is around 3.5, but higher counts can occur when you are fighting an infection (including an infection you may be unaware you have). If a higher count than usual is noticed, doctors wait a while for any infection to hopefully clear, then repeat the blood test. There are a number of different lymphocyte types, so if the lymphocyte count stays high, a special blood test called a Flow Cytometry test is performed to find which type is abnormally high and whether that is due to a clonal population (i.e. a blood cancer). If so, cell markers are checked to determine which blood cancer is causing the high count.

Blood cancers are rare and a count of 5.2 is more likely to be from an infection than a blood cancer. Some of our community members have counts of over 300, though most of us would have counts multiples of yours.

CLL/SLL is the most common adult leukaemia/lymphoma and this community is the largest on-line community supporting those with this blood cancer. In the unlikely event that you are diagnosed with CLL/SLL, we'll be here for you, but unless you have other symptoms, you'd be in the very early stages of CLL/SLL.

Neil