Good evening. New here and a bit off topic - the forums which may have been able to help are a bit quiet, and you seem like a friendly lot.
Had results for recent urine sample. Silly doc didn’t put any units for any of the urine or blood results. Can anyone give me an idea what the range is foe Leukocytes (WBC). There is no ‘normal’ really as there shouldn’t be any in a healthy sample, but I know there is a reading above which the Leukocytes is considered too high.
Merci mes amis
There are a couple of problems with giving you an answer.
Most people on this forum use blood rather than urine for 99% of the testing they get done. And secondly leukocytes are rarely mentioned here.
I've found a reference range online for leukocytes in urine but it uses a unit of measurement I've never come across before :
If you’re healthy, you can still have elevated leukocytes in your bloodstream and urine. A normal range in the bloodstream is between 4,500-11,000 WBCs per microliter. A normal range in the urine is lower than in the blood, and may be from 0-5 WBCs per high power field (wbc/hpf).
If your doctor suspects you have a UTI, they’ll likely ask you to provide a urine sample. They’ll test the urine sample for:
WBCs
red blood cells
bacteria
other substances
You’re bound to have a few WBCs in your urine even when you’re healthy, but if a urine test identifies levels above 5 wbc/hpf, it’s likely you have an infection. If bacteria are detected, your doctor may perform a urine culture to diagnose the type of bacterial infection you have.
A urine test can also aid in the diagnosis of kidney stones. An X-ray or CT scan can help your doctor see the stones.
Source : healthline.com/health/leuko...
Given that picking a random reference range from the internet isn't the most reliable idea you have two choices.
1) Ask the receptionist at your GP surgery to give you a print out of your results for the blood samples and the urine samples.
2) If the print out doesn't give you the information you wanted you could ask the receptionist for the contact details of the lab that did the testing and phone up and ask them.
Thank you for going to so much trouble humanbean. Very kind of you.
I had a urine test done in hospital (a long story which I may come back and tell one day - a nightmare experience.) I have no signs of a UTI. This doctor phoned me 11 days after I left hospital to say that I had very high leukocytes shown on the lab culture. No nitrites or any other nasties. He said I had to have penicillin. I told him that occasionally I did have leukocytes only and was never given a/bx by my doctor unless there were nitrites in urine. We had a slight squall and he said I had to have penicillin. I asked him why I was only being told now and he said that he’d ‘only just noticed them’. I looked at my discharge letter and saw
WBC Leukocytes 1504 - no units
Thought this sounded high so did a little research and found that very high leukocytes were indicative of some other conditions.
I feel very ill and have been in hospital twice in a month. The consultant looking after me is beyond useless. He told me I needed other inpatient tests but that they were too busy with a long waiting list.
I’ve used the dip tests and the highest recorded range on deep purple band is 500.
I’m not going to criticise the NHS but many of the doctors who work in it are frightening in their lack of knowledge and understanding of basis medical issues.
Thank you
I agree with humanbean that you need to find out from the laboratory - and not just trust what you find somewhere on the internet.
Having said that, the link below is quite detailed and explains quite a bit.
One thing comes up which is that Leukocyte esterase is a screening test which indicates white cells in urine - but as a dip strip test which has just coloured bands as ranges. No numbers.
Urinalysis
webpath.med.utah.edu/TUTORI...
Thank you so much for this. Much appreciated
Just to add to yesterday’s post. Have a friend who’s a GP. Sent him a text to ask him this question. He says he’s never heard of leukocytes so high. Wish I hadn’t asked him.
Did he have any suggestions to make as to what you should do about it?
No! I know we shouldn’t Google, but I’m still trying to find out what it means. Will let you know when I do
kidney stones are frequently suggested. The hospital doctor also told me that my calcium levels were too high. I asked him if he’d test my parathyroid but he didn’t seem to know what the connection was. He didn’t do the test anyway. 😡
So, rather than actually doing his job and finding out what he needed to know, he decided to just give up? I'm not impressed.
A good source of info on the parathyroids and their effects is this one :
parathyroid.com/ --- a US site
parathyroiduk.org/ --- a UK site
I've seen complimentary comments on the US site. I have no idea how the UK site compares.
Thank you. I’ll look at that. He didn’t do PAT test but I have all the symptoms. My Vit D is 89 so that’s not the reason. He’s told me to stop Vitamin D and reduce calcium in food. As I’m osteoporotic that’s not a great idea.
He’s as much use as a chocolate teapot.
A lot of awful things happened while I was in hospital. I’ve formally complained to them and CQC. I can’t believe what’s happening.
Just came across this.
healthhearty.com/does-white...
Cagney and Lacey investigate 🤓
Elderly people (over 40 years of age) showing white blood cells in urine must consult a specialist and undergo cystoscopy to rule out cancer.
The medical definition of "elderly" is very cruel! (And very flexible too.)
The article is quite good. Definitely one for you to bookmark.
It occurs to me that people who have infections that are not in the kidneys or bladder or anything in between - say, a chest infection - will be producing lots of leucocytes that can be detected in blood.
But once those leucocytes have done their job are they still recognisable as white blood cells? How are they excreted? Do they end up in urine? (I don't know the answers to these questions, and am just thinking aloud.)
What I'm getting at is that I wonder if the leucocytes originated somewhere else in the body rather than in the bladder itself. But I don't even know if that is possible.
I'm just thinking that if you are given antibiotics thought to be effective in combatting urinary infections, but the original infection is actually somewhere else, that could be the source of your high leucocytes in urine.
Good thinking humanbean and I’ve wondered that myself. I’ve been in and out of hospital with bowel problems. Unshiftable constipation, which doesn’t even respond to an enema, and pain. They’re querying diverticulitis, redundant colon or a possible malignancy in sigmoid colon. In other words, they haven’t got a clue. Colonoscopy will confirm but the waiting list is very long.
Take care if you are returning blood samples
Difficulty with getting blood samples- hypo. symptom?
Urine iodine test results
Private thyroid test - finger prick home sample vs clinic sample
RT3 in urine too low, meaning?
