Question re:- White blood cell count

[gillsky8]

Having had further blood tests today, my ESR Sedimentation rate is normal again 8mm/h

I have now reduced my steroid daily to 15mg.

So my question is , having reduced the steroids and the ESR is remaining normal, is it likely that the White Blood Cell count which was high on initial dose of 25 mg and then dropped when I was taking 20mg is likely to have dropped further now I am on 15mg.

It just seems logical to me that the white blood cells must be fighting the PMR infection again if I am able to reduce the steroids in this way.?

I also had a couple of abnormal results last time, so I wonder if some of these might have re-balanced.

Feeling very very well on 15mg. next test 12.5 in the coming week.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

PMR is not an infection - it is inflammation but that also tends to result in higher white cell counts. However, they don't achieve any reduction in the inflammation, that is due to you being on an adequate dose of pred which is probably the most effective antiinflammatory drug we have available to us. The WBC count may have fallen further but you will have to wait and see what the results say.

[gillsky8 in reply to PMRpro]

In which case why does the white blood cell count rise with PMR please? Is it because they are fighting the inflammation separately?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to gillsky8]

It is a physiological reaction in response to the inflammation being there, but it isn't strong enough to do the job. That's why we need pred.

[gillsky8 in reply to PMRpro]

Ok thank you I just wondered if because the level seemed to be dropping whether there was an association between the two.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to gillsky8]

In that the pred is reducing the inflammation yes - less inflammation, less to stimulate the WBCs

[SnazzyD in reply to gillsky8]

Pred also tends to make the Neutrophil count rise which reduces with dose. Mine were ok on diagnosis day before Pred and then rose quickly after that for the next test.

[Gimme in reply to SnazzyD]

Thanks for that snazzy, I have just had some bloods down and wondered why my neutrophils were slightly raised.

[agingfeminist]

One reason why your white blood cell count is high is because about half of your white blood cells are neutrophils. Pred has complicated effects on the life of neutrophils but the bottom line is that taking higher doses of pred results in the number of neutrophils in your blood dramatically increasing.

[Allotmental]

As others have said, it may be the pred’s impact on neutrophils that is causing the WBC to be high. Can you see the breakdown on your results? If it is just the neutrophils and WBC that are higher than the normal range then this is a possible explanation.

I had blood results yesterday and it was the first time in two and a half years that my neutrophils and WBC were in normal range. I am on a very slow taper currently at 3mg.