Increasing white cells

[cleolynn]

Hi, my white cells have increased from 43 to 5 and now 59 over a year. My GP asked me to call and sounded a bit panicky but I said I have my regular haematology consultation in the next 10 days. Should I be concerned?

[cleolynn]

Sory that shouldve said 43 to 56 and then 59!

[Shedman]

It looks like a trend - but it is doubling interval that becomes concerning where that is within 6 months..

Haematology may suggest more frequent blood tests. That is all.

Some don't need treatment even with 150-250,000 count.

You'll soon be able to ease your GPs immediate concerns.

[Newdawn Administrator]

I assume you mean your WBC and not your Absolute Lymphocyte Count (ALC). A rise of 16 in your WBC over a period of a year is absolutely nothing to get excited about at all! GP’s tend to over react more to these rising levels but if doubt if it would even make the average haematologist blink.

You need to be plotting your ALC not your WBC but not until it’s over 30. Doubling over a 6 month period causes more careful monitoring but at the moment you really don’t need to be anxious about this at all. I suspect your GP may be a bit of a CLL novice if this panics him.

Newdawn

[kaymack]

If your red cell and platelet counts are not decreasing significantly (due to crowding in the bone marrow by malignant lymphocytes), I wouldn't worry.

[scryer99]

I wouldn't sweat it too much. That rate of progression is not too bad.

As your counts climb, though, be prepared for panicked reactions from doctors who are not familiar with your case or with CLL. When I went in to the ER the third time for what turned out to be spleen issues, the ER doc came in clearly concerned about my ALC being in the 150s. I simply laughed and said "I have leukemia, just call my hem/onc". All was fine (on that front, anyway). It was a good thing, actually, as my oncology team got to weigh in on the spleen treatment, which ultimately saved me surgery and kept me clinical trial eligible down the line.