CLL with Anaemia

[terryo55terry]

I am 77 years old and on W/W. Currently my wbc 61, lymph124, haemo has dropped over the last 3 months 132 to 59- I have no loss of weight, no night sweats and no lymph nodes- I am booked in for bone marrow biopsy within the next 10 days to see if CLL causing low haemo or if it is something else. I also have pulsatile tinnitus. I was 1st diagnosed in June 2020 and then my wbc 22, lymph 138, haemo 132. I feel ok but a bit fatigued in the evenings and my oximeter daily reading is 99%/64. I had covid over 3 months ago and got over that fine. Wondering if anyone else has similar symptoms and any advice would be much appreciated - Many thanks Terry

[lexie]

If you haven't had a colonoscopy lately maybe schedule one to rule out blood loss there.

[SofiaDeo in reply to lexie]

An occult blood test is faster & less invasive. Colonoscopies are more thorough & give more data, though.

[LeoPa in reply to SofiaDeo]

They are more risky and more expensive too.

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

Hi Terry,

The pulsatile tinnitus is most likely due to your low haemoglobin, for which you should be having packed red blood cell transfusions to maintain it above 80. Has this been discussed? Encouragingly, your pulse oximeter reading is excellent, considering your anaemia and you are doing well only feeling a bit fatigued in the evenings!

Have you had a DAT/Coombs blood test to check if you have Auto-Immune Haemolytic Anaemia (AIHA)? What's your platelet count been doing?

Finally, your WBC/lymphocyte counts don't make sense, because your WBC count can never be lower than your lymphocyte count, given your WBC count is the total of all your white blood cell counts. What's important here is the trend and I can't work out what's happening with what you've shared.

I hope your BMB goes well and you get some answers and a resolution to your anaemia soon afterwards.

Neil

[Summer1968]

I was diagnosed in 2015 with CLL and was on Watch and Wait until 2020 when I had a drop in my haemoglobin which dropped down to 69. I ended up having two blood transfusions then my specialist informed me I had haemolytic anaemia which she treated with oral cyclophosamide and Rituximab which put me into remission from CLL. My WBC is slowly rising again which apparently is to be expected but I still feel fine!

[LeoPa]

I don't understand the numbers. Lymphocytes cannot be higher than white blood cells.