Extremely high eosinophils!

[monty15400]

Hi,
My 31-year-old husband had his bloodwork done aobut 6 weeks ago for seizure medicine checkups.  At this time he started getting nauseous and had a change in bowels on a daily basis.  His CBC bloodwork came back with elevated eosinophils and slightly decreased neutrophils.  Over the past 6 weeks, his eosinophils are up to a whopping 48% with the same symptoms he has been suffering from, very bad bouts of nausea (all day long, with waves of increased nausea particularly about 20-30 minutes after eating), change in bowels (diarrhea, loose stools), pain in the right quadrant below the rib cage and pain under the sternum.  He also has an enlarged lymph (or possible salivary gland in his neck....about 2 mm) with neck pain, jaw pain and some stiffness, particularly when lifting.  This has been going on for 6 weeks with no relief except from Zofran, Reglan and Vicodin.  A colonoscopy and endoscopy revealed some minor irritation in the intestine but all biopsies were normal.  A cat scan of his abdomen, chest and neck reveal no obvious explanation.   A stool sample tested for ova/parasite came back negative but a stool culture is being done now along with another stool sample for parasites.  We've seen an ID guy who thinks he might have a parasite or type of infection but isn't sure.  We see the hematologist on Tuesday.  All doctors have said his count is higher than they've ever seen.  Is this dangerous or should we worry about it doing damage right now?  His count was not this high back in Nov. 07.  Is there a chance it is some kind of strange cancer?  We are waiting to hear about leukemia, Rheumatoid and Lupus.  Could this be a problem with his gall bladder or liver or pancreas?  We are very frustrated but are getting a lot done quickly.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.  We are also going to rule out hypereosinophilia syndrome.  I should mention too that he is an avid hunter and fisher, and has consume water from streams with a filter and came into contact with tapeworm in Largemouth Bass in the Delta in CA just about 10 days before symptoms started.  Thanks for your help!

Leigha  

[boron]

Salivary glands are only under the lower jaw and under the ear, so this is not exactly "on the neck". Enlarged lymph nodes and eosinophilia may be a sign of lymphoma. Lymphoma is often in the small intestine, and this may be found by "capsule endoscopy". In the lymphoma, other enlarged lymph nodes within the chest or abdomen would be probably found - CT or MRI would be needed.

Causes of eosinophilia:
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/symptoms/eosinophilia/causes.htm

[boron]

Well this suspiction about tapeworms should be cleared out first. Any parasite, including giardia and entameba, and of course intestinal worms, can cause eosinophilia. It was reported few weeks ago here on this forum, that stool test in obvious worms was false negative! Worms or their eggs frequently appear in stool, and may vbe seen with a naked eye. I'm not saying they are worms here, it's you who mentioned them.

Other frequent cause is allergy: to food (mostly to fish, shellfish, peanuts, tree-nuts), medications (any new med?), or to something what can be inhaled (new lacquer on furniture, new cleanser, mites, "fleas" in animal fur, pollens, industrial chemicals, or whatever. Nausea shortly after the meal speak for allergy, but skin or throat itching, face flushing or some rash should be also present in allergy.

Also search for "causes of eosinophilia".