High WBC -> high Neutrophil count

Hi everyone,

I am hoping someone can help me here.  I did a blood test about 3 months ago as part of my routine checkup, and my WBC came back at 13.1 I believe - everything else was normal.  I did another blood test a few days ago, and my WBC is 12.1, again, all my other stats are within normal range except HDL which was 33, with the minimum being 40.

Anyways, this time we also did a differential on my CBC - all results came back in range except for my ANC - this number came in at 8,480 - the to end of normal range being 7,800 from our lab.

I feel fine though, no sweats, no appetite loss and I do not have any infections or anything currently (I think at least, no fever, no vomiting), or even back when I did the blood test first time, I felt fine then.

So now I am really scared, and do not know what is causing this high neutrophil count.  I came across CML - and the article mentioned several things:

1) Alot of people do not feel any symptoms at the start
2) They became diagonosed off of a routine blood test

So I am starting to think that this is it.  My doctor is on vacation and will be back next week.  But what do yo guys think?  I can't seem to come up with any opther explanation (except my smoking perhaps).  


-scared bloody stupid

[PaulMD]

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) commonly presents with elevated white cells, but the breakdown of these white cells would usually reveal the abnormal or cancerous white cells circulating in your body.  If there are no abnormal white cells reported in your CBC, then CML may be unlikely, though still possible (it can also be that the abnormal white cells are still residing in your bone marrow and not in your peripheral blood).

Another point against leukemia is that, though your WBC is above normal, the white counts of patients with actual CML are more likely to be higher than that of what you currently have.

There are a lot of more common, less morbid reasons for elevation of WBC such as stress, bacterial infections, and even smoking can cause this.

Regards.

[CathyA1908]

My husband's Neutrophil count is bouncing between 8 and 17, his monocytes are 1.0.  No known infection.  Bone marrow biopsy is negative.  Symptoms are fatigue, weakness, headache, general malaise, and vary in intensity.  We are at a loss...  What direction do we head now?  What tests do we seek?