Low lymphocytes

[bluejourney]

Does anyone know if it’s common to have low lymphocytes with Hashimotos? The rest of my latest blood count results were ok, but my lymphocytes were flagged as low, at 0.86 x 10 9/L (1.2-3.65 x 10 9/L.

[tattybogle]

Hi bluejourney ,

I did quite a lot of 'looking it up' .. because i found on my records i had low lymphocytes at the time of Autoimmune hypo diagnosis and for several years after wards.

My lowest was perhaps a little lower than yours (the lab range used in your test is lower than was used at the time i had mine),

my results from 2003 to 2008 were 1.2 / 1.0 /1.4 / 1.1 range [1.5 -4]

In 2016 they were normal 2.9 [1-3].

So yours 0.86 (1.2 - 3.65) MINUS 13.88%

mine 1.0 (1.5 - 4) MINUS 20.00%

Most of the references i found referred to "slightly HIGH lymphocytes commonly associated with autoimmune hypo".. That clearly didn't apply to me.

The references i found to 'low lymphocytes' in general gave me the impression that 'a little bit low' is not a concern , but 'very low' can be a serious concern (and you can easily terrify yourself if you go looking up papers referring to 'low lymphocytes')

My slightly low levels obviously never bothered the GP ,as it was never commented on either to me, or on my notes .

I really can't remember how 'low' was seen as a cause for serious concern. i just remember i stopped worrying about mine when i found it out , and stoped being cross that the GP never mentioned it.

.If you do have any conversations with GP about what it means in your case, i'd be interested to know what they say .

Out of interest i had extremely high TPOab >3000 [0-50] at diagnosis . I never worked out if this had any bearing on my low lymphocyte level ...and from the little i understood of what i was reading about lymphocytes and hashimoto's i would have expected the opposite . ie high lymphocytes with high level of TPOab.

But to be honest i didn't understand a lot of the research i was reading . i also couldn't work out if the 'lymphocytes' measured in the the full blood count are even the same 'lymphocytes' that cause hashimoto's damage.

So all in all ...i'm none the wiser really ,and gave up looking.

[bluejourney in reply to tattybogle]

Thanks very much for your reply. I’ve tried to make sense of whether lymphocytes are usually expected to be up or down with autoimmune hypothyroidism without success, but I was surprised they were low, as I’m on Fludrocortisone which has a side effect of raised lymphocytes. I just worry that my immunity is rather susceptible, especially with so many bugs going around at the moment. Maybe as I’ve just had a Levothyroxine dose increase the lymphocytes will rise a bit. I’m glad your lymphocytes returned to normal. I’m not holding my breath for a discussion with the NHS endo who did the tests. I’ve been given a follow-up endo appointment to discuss the results in 14 months time!!!! What relevance they’ll have by then I have no idea.

[tattybogle in reply to bluejourney]

Ok .. i won't hold my breath either ... lol.