Exercise and Neutrophils

[Elam]

I read that very strenuous exercise can cause a drop in neutrophils. I was on a trial with Ventoclax and was taken off the the meds due to neutropenia. My neutrophils numbers were recovering nicely for the first 3 weeks. I then did some pretty strenuous hiking over about 4 days. My bloodwork a few days later showed a big drop in neut#. Could this have been the cause?

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

It's possible. Actually strenuous exercise causes a spike for an hour or so in your neutrophil count as neutrophils stored in your spleen are released into the blood stream. That's done to support muscle repair ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

and perhaps infection protection from the likely higher injury rate during exercise.

Because your bone marrow is constrained in neutrophil production rate (hence the splenic reservoir), it takes time to replenish those used in repair. (It takes about 10 days for neutrophils to mature sufficiently for release into the blood stream).

Neil

[DRM18]

I could be wrong, but I'd keep exercising anyway, assuming the good outweighs the bad.

Just don't run a marathon or anything.

[DriedSeaweed]

At what neutrophil level did they decide you should stop venetoclax?

If your marrow isn't packed with CLL then there could be an autoimmune response destroying neutrophils. I have that issue.