I've had high white blood cells for over 2 years?

[rainbow11]

I was just wondering a little bit on this? I went into the emergency room the other day because of severe pains in my stomach, and they ran blood tests and they thought it was my gallbladder, but it turned out it wasn't because the ultrasound and catscan came back all normal. A doctor came in to talk to me and He told me that I have high whie blood cells for over 2 years now,and they have never been down only increasing. They talked a little big about Leukemia? Could this be possible.. ?? please get back to me.

Thanks.

[Rae1]

High white blood cells could mean many different things, not just leukemia. Leukemia normally produces extremely high white blood cell counts. On a reference range of ~5-11, your WBC count would normally be in excess of 16 or 17. If your counts are under 15, you are more likely to have many common conditions, from allergies and asthma, to obesity (not saying you are! :)), high stress levels, chronic bacterial infections or sinusitis, the list goes on.

Of course with a chronic high WBC count doctors want to make sure to rule out the worst first, then dig deeper into the issue -- that's just good common sense. If they've constantly risen, that may be a cause for concern. Fortunately, and I hate saying this as much as the next person, Leukemia is quite treatable today. That's absolutely worst case scenario for you, though. Follow up with your docs and try seeing a hematologist to get to the root cause of the issue.

Take care

[Jaybay]

It could still be your gallbladder.  The ultrasound and CT scans are great for identifying stones, but if you have acalculous gallbladder disease (no stones, but infected) it can cause the symptoms you describe.  See a gastroenterologist to check into it.  A simple nuclear medicine test called a HIDA scan can evaluate if your gallbladder is functioning well or not.

[rainbow11]

My white cell count has been 19 to 23 in the past 2 years and hasn't gone any lower than 19, it keeps increasing. I do have extremly bad asthma, and i am allergic to cats... I have an appt. with the hematologist coming up.  They didn't menchion Leukemia to me.. I was acaully the one who brought it up because of the fact I was looking it all up online, Then the doctor talked to me about it and said its a possiblity and i need to get a test done with my bone marrow. I seem to be extremly tired throughout the day. I seem to be dosing off every other minute, and its affecting my life!! It's almost like i am a medical mystery!!!

Back in 2004, i was ammited to the hospital with extremly HIGH liver enzymes, and i was very sick...and the doctors didn't know what was going on with my body.. then it passed after 2 long weeks of being hospilized but at the end of that sickness my hands, and feet all peeled off.. and i had a huge hair loss.. I wonder if this could be in any connection?
I just want this all to pass.. I am scared to death even though i haven't be told whats wrong with me!!!

[Enoch Choi, MD]

Jaybay is right, the CT scan and ultrasound can be negative in people with gallbladder problems, I've seen patients like that.  Get a HIDA scan to be more sure about your gallbladder.

A bone marrow biopsy is a good idea to consider leukemia.

The high liver enzymes could have been related to a gallstone or gallbladder problem, did they look into that?

Go ask your doctors until you get satisfactory answers.  Keep asking!

Dr. Enoch Choi, MD
Palo Alto, CA

[yerbaby]

i have high white blood ceels and hair loss am tired but also scared to go to doctors as all my family have died from some form of cancer, i just feel i cant go to the doctors im to scared at the mo to hear the truth. my dad died 3 weeks ago and only had cancer for 7 weeks but my condition was before he was diagnosed.thanx s

[vanillasugar]

Hi, I have had a long history or respiratory alements.  I was always sick.  I was finally diagnosed with having asthma.  Once I was on my daily inhaler I noticed that I wasn't getting sick as often until about 3 weeks ago I started to get a cold that turned into what I thought was laryngitis pretty much right away.  Now I have been without a voice for almost 3 weeks.  It hurts to try and talk and my throat feels really swollen.  It also feels like my neck is bruised on the left side.  It is really sensitive to touch.  I finally went to the doctor and they thought for sure that it was thyroiditis so ran all the tests for that.  My thyroid function test came back normal along with my white blood count test and mono and strep.  My voice is not getting better in fact is seems to be getting a little worse and am noticing a change in my breathing that my inhaler isn't helping.  Any ideas on what might be wrong with me.