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What Causes High WBC Count?

Posted on Fri, 2 May 2014

Question: My doctor recently ran tests for chronic leukemia and everything was normal. I had had two tests three months apart show elevated white cell counts of 12200 and 13200. I had no other symptoms. I am 67 years old, treating for OCD(30 mg per day cymbalta down fom 120mg per day three months ago), taking levothyroxine for thyroid, diabetic on insulin(last A1c 8.2), high blood pressure(losartan), quadrouple bypass(carvediol), cholesterol(atorvastin), and triglycerides(krill oil). My doctor indicated certain medicine, stress, diabetes,and several other causes could be the problem. Please adivise possible csuses to the best you can with the information. We are going to continue to test the white blood cell count, but she did not seem concrned that it was serious. Thanks for your insight.

Answered by Dr. Luchuo Engelbert Bain (2 hours later)

Brief Answer: Emotional stress, drugs, exclude infection Detailed Answer: hi and thanks for the query, A white blood cell count greater than 11 000 generally needs to be checked. It is however important to note these are simply ranges, and generally counts between 12 to 13 000 are not very disturbing. The bone responds to all stress situations, and the commonest causes of mild increases in white blood count levels are often due to very benign conditions. Even emotional stress could raise white blood counts. It is interesting that there was no evidence of leukemia or blood cell malignancy in your case. Common infections should also be ruled out. Most are usually benign. Even common viral infections could raise white blood cell counts. Drugs area a very common cause of increases in white blood cell counts. Stress on its own can explain hyperleucocytosis. I would suggest you stay calm and simple do regular checks of the white blood cell count. Excluding an infection by doing cultures and a c reactive protein measure could be useful. It is most probable in your case the emotional stress and drugs should be at the origin of these raised white blood cell count. A proper clinical review and follow up remains important. Kind regards as I wish you good health. DR Bain

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D

Follow up: Dr. Luchuo Engelbert Bain (4 hours later)

Thank you for your excellent response. Could diabetes also account for high white cell count?

Answered by Dr. Luchuo Engelbert Bain (11 hours later)

Brief Answer: You are right. but we need caution Detailed Answer: Hi and thanks for your follow up query, You are very correct. A state of chronic raised blood glucose as is seen in diabetes, stimulates an inflammatory reaction in the body, and most persons with diabetes will generally have higher white blood cell counts. It is however always imperative to rule out an infection or a tumor or leukemia as you rightly did, when one finds a diabetic in a state of raised white blood cell count, before attributing this to the diabetic status. Though white blood cells could be raised, it is rarely too far from the normal. In your case, it is reasonable to attribute this to diabetes, since other serious conditions have been ruled out. thanks and kind regards. Dr Bain

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj