Weird CBC reports

[Rosiehiker]

Hello I have been in watch and wait for 11 years. In September my WBC was 30.9 and my lymphocytes at 25. My iga .41 and igg 4.21. Total protein 58. Everything else in normal range.

I had to get a cbc done BEFORE going on sulfasalazine because of macular edema in January. These results came back quite surprisingly with WBC 12 and Lymphocytes 7. My CRP at 6.9.

Then repeated a month later as I had started the sulfasalazine and came back almost exactly the same.. and now with monocytes low at .1

I have read. reports that high CRP can be concerning as pointing to a secondary cancer.

I.dont know why my WBC and Lymphocytes have went down to a third..even before taking the meds

My family dr.is not at all concerned. My hematologist was not ccd on the results

Should I be sharing these results with my hematologist and try and figure out what is going on?

Thank toy.

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

Hi Rosie,

I see that you've been in watch and wait for around 11 years, during which your lymphocyte count seems to have remained fairly stable. ALC can vary considerably in some of us, particularly when it is at a fairly low level, like yours. See the attached ALC counts observed over 9 months from 21 low stage CLL patients. From your report, the sulfasalazine can't be involved.

Your CRP isn't high according to my pathology lab, which reports the reference range as being under 8.0. Given CRP is a measure of inflammation and infection, you might expect your CRP to be towards the upper end of the reference range or even higher due to inflammation from your ankylosing spondylitis. CRP can climb well over 100 during infections.

Monocytes can bounce around considerably, including excursions above the upper reference limit, without haematologists becoming concerned.

By all means discuss this with your haematologist when you see them next, but while bearing in mind I'm not medically trained, I doubt they will have any concern with those results.

Neil

ALC can bounce around +/- 50% or more, particularly when relatively low

[Rosiehiker in reply to AussieNeil]

Thank you! That makes me feel better..I was concerned when my CRP was elevated for 2 consecutive draws. The threshold on.my lab report is 5.

[Vlaminck]

I would definitely share these results. Do you know that here at University of Virginia, they do not test for CRP, or at least never have with me. Would be interested in knowing. Maybe I'll ask for that next time.