Hello all - in preparation for my appointment tomorrow I requested and picked up print outs of my blood tests from the las couple of weeks - I asked for the whole of 2020, but...
Anyway, total white cell count seems always to be low, I think I remember questioning this before but I have no idea what it means and it hasn't made any difference to my treatment. Lymphocyte and platelet count also low.
The c reactive protein says < 5.0 mg/L
I'm sure someone here will be able to tell me what that means! I've googled it but it doesn't seem to be straight forward and I'm guessing it is a 'normal' or healthy level?
thank you in advance 🤗
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Brychni
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Yeah, normal. Varies by lab. Mine always comes back on the online portal as < 4.0. The local hospital to us do actually process it as a figure, it just gets reported that way because normal values aren’t of interest.
People vary, and the ranges given by the labs are pretty generic. So you could have natural levels of things like WBC and platelets that are just out of range. If only around 10% out they will probably not worry too much.
Quite often the important thing is not the actual numbers, but the trends. So has your WBC stayed at the level it is for some time, or is it continuing to drop? Doctors can miss things, they are human, so always good to keep track of your own results.
Unless you are a doctor.....know what meds you are on & have examined you recently.....it really isn’t possible to make a decision on your low wbc ...this can be caused by a lot of RA drugs...but as your doctors don’t seem worried - yours can’t be at levels to cause concern.
So certainly nobody here can hazard a guess....unless we have an incognito consultant in our midst?
If your rheumy team seem happy with your results...why not try to relax and listen to their opinions at your consult tomorrow......as you say. It is not straight forward ....unless you are a trained clinician who will hopefully put your mind at rest tomorrow,
Well they were worried initially because it delayed starting mtx and sulfasalzine as I seem to remember and the nurse mentioned it in my last conversation on the phone, although I can't remember why she said it mattered. It's been low since diagnosis, long before I started the hydroxychloroquine. I was surprised to see that it is still low,( it goes up and down from about 3) as I was told it was because of arthritis, both rheumy nurse and GP told me this, so I had expected that mtx would sort that out. Clearly not.
Still, I've stopped taking both now so it's all immaterial, just wanted to be in full knowledge of the facts before I go in tomorrow.
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