Does Covid boost ALS?

[JDG45]

I'm W&W for 2 years. Abs lymphs (ALS) were 82K in July. Got 1st Evusheld 8/23. Got Covid 8/31 and started Paxlovid same day. 5 days later, 9/5, felt great then went on a vigorous 31 miles bike ride (probably too soon for such exercise). Then rebound on 9/12 with positive home test. Never got fever but plenty of head congestion and sore throat. Never lost smell or taste. On 9/17 tested pos at home and PCR positive same day. Now on 9/21 feeling almost normal. Got CBC Diff test on 9/19 with ALS shooting up to 122K (50% increase in 2 months)! Still no noticeable swollen lymph nodes. Anyone else experience the sudden rise ( I hope) in abs lymphs being related to Covid? By the way oxymetalozone HCL nose spray was very effective to restore nose breathing.

[lankisterguy Volunteer]

Hi JDG46,

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When I read your posting I thought Oh NO!

ALS = Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that Stephen Hawking had

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyot...

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

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But it appears that you meant ALC / Lymph# Absolute Lymphocyte Count

You may want to edit your original post and change to ALC to avoid confusion for our members.

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A sudden increase in ALC like you report is unusual but possible. If the next blood test shows a similar or higher level of Lymphocytes, then most doctors will expect to begin treatment soon, however it would be more likely that the next test results will be closer to your 82k and not near your 122k. I hope your next appointment is in less than one month.

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Len

[LeoPa in reply to lankisterguy]

My mother succumbed to ALS and that's one of those diseases I'd not swap CLL for. Ever.

[SeymourB]

JDG45 -

I'm 67, on watch and wait for 11 years.

COVID gave me fever, headache, terrible nasal congestion, cough, loss of smell (even when I could get some air through my sinuses), hearing loss due to otitis media from a staph infection. My whole bout including secondary infection lasted over a month.

Compared to just before COVID, 6 weeks after 1st COVID symptoms, I had a 20% surge in WBC, including ALC and AMC on my tests a month and a half after first COVID symptoms. They later went back down on my next tests 8 weeks after first symptoms.

I get most of my testing done through Quest Diagnostics, but recently went to M.D. Anderson to consult on treatment due to spleen and fatigue. That feeling great feeling fools me every time, and I try to use my fitbit to keep from doing too much.

The fact that your ALC is 20K above mine, yet you can do a 31 mile bike trip says something about your disease and my lack of fitness due to fatigue. I can barely walk a kilometer without suffering some major fatigue a day or 2 later.

The thing I like to bear in mind is that blood tests cannot measure bone marrow, lymph nodes, spleen or tissue concentration of cells. Blood values can go up both due to stimulus from infection causing cells to divide, as well as drawing cells from secondary lymph nodes and tissues into the blood. Just how much of which type of cell varies with the person and the severity of infection.

The thing to judge by will be your next set of tests some months down the road. I think. That last set of tests was only 2-3 weeks after first symptoms, and a week after the rebound, which is just a continuation of the original infection, unless you got exposed to a different variant. Your immune system was still reacting to stuff, I'm sure. I wouldn't sweat the numbers yet. You could always ask your hemo/onco to retest sooner.

=seymour=

[skipro]

I had a jump in ALC from 80K to 120 K after the vaccinations and a possible covid infection. these went back down after a few moths

[JDG45 in reply to skipro]

My ALC went from 112 to 98 in 4 days when the home test went from positive to negative.