Blood count during hepC treatment

[justtry]

I am on hep.C treatment 12 weels. My white blood cell count is 2.6 and hematocrit is 35.8.
My doctor wrote that blood counts are low because of the  interferon.
But I actually didn't note anything unusual in my feeling. What should be a normal
blood cell count? What kind of ilness or side effect can I get from low blood?
Thank you
justtry

[Cindy10]

Although your blood counts are low they are not terribly low on tx. If you wbc gets lower than 2 it just means you are more suseptible to colds, flus and infection. So try to avoid sick people. As far as the HCT its not bad considering. If it goes to low you will feel tired, winded (anemia) and just reduced energy. I think you are in great shape right now and hopefully you will maintain these levels throughout tx. Good luck!

[justtry]

Thank you, Cindy,
Your comment is hopfull for me

[Lady Lauri]

Hi justtry. Here's a few of the ranges to watch. Hgb is a big one in this also. Ask your Dr. for a chart of the normal ranges or get copies each labs to keep. Your HCT is in normal range, your WBC's are low. Low Hgb can cause extreme fatigue, low WBC''s increase your risk of colds, infections. Much more to this but a little for you here.
Good Luck in tx!  
LL

RBC   3.8-5.1
Hgb   11.5-15.0
HCT   34-44%
PLT    140-415
WBC   4.0-10.5
Neuts  1.8-7.8

[Susie2007]

Actually it is not your white blood count being too low that is a problem. It is the neutrophils (part of the white count) that may become a problem. The neutrophils are the part of the white blood cell that fights infection. In fact having a low neutrophil count or white count does not increase your chance of getting sick. What happens is if you do get sick it increases your chance of having a hard time getting better. So look for the part of the CBC that says either absolute neutrophil count (normal is 1500-7800), or granulocytes( same refernce range ). They worry when the ANC gets below 500. There are drugs to help raise these numbers. Mine got so low, I spent 6 months on the shots to raise the counts. My ANC actually got to 9. It was horrifying and very scary.

The other value that often drops is hemoglobin. That is caused by interferon and to a bigger degree by ribavirin. Approximately 12-16 is normal. Below 10 and you might feel pretty tired, achy, short of breath, etc. They use procrit to raise those levels.

I hope you don't drop any lower and I wish you an SVR.