Is your platelet count elevated most of the time?

My understanding is that if there is a high white blood cell count then there is an infection somewhere that the white blood cells are fighting.

Emi’s have been low the last 4 months.

I’m going to do some research on this for you & I’ll let you know what I find out.

Kelly

I found this:

White blood cells help fight infection in your body. A normal white count is between 4,500 and 10,000 cells per microliter. Causes of an elevated white count include:

Infection
Certain medications, such as corticosteroids, antibiotics or anti-seizure drugs
Severe physical or emotional stress
Chronic bone marrow diseases such as a myeloproliferative disorder
Acute or chronic leukemia

A high white count doesn’t identify a specific problem. Instead, it may indicate an underlying condition and should be evaluated by your doctor.

It’s from the Mayo clinic website.

I also found info that says that inflammation can cause a high white blood cell count. Maybe if his CIDP isn’t under control that is causing high inflammation which is then causing his white blood cell count to be high.

It doesn’t sound like his is extremely high though. I did read that anything over 30,000 is indicative of leukemia. So I do know that you don’t have to worry about that.

To figure out the white blood count in microliters they take the count and multiply that by 10. (I think) So if his count is 534 they times that by 10 and the result is 5340, which according to the Mayo Clinic website is within “normal” range. I guess it also depends on the lab that does the test too. Some labs have different ranges. Is Dell’s dr concerned about it at all? Has he tested Dell’s inflammation levels? (I forget the medical term for that)

I hope that helps some.
Kelly

:confused: arent the platelets the red cells? My husband’s are erratic as well, in march used to be 1200 now he’s down to around 600.Nobody can explain why, he’s neurologist says that high platelets is not something that you would find in people with CIDP, we’ll see a endocrinology Dr about this and maybe he’ll tell us or find the cause of this.

Mom’s just a bit of haematology. Red cells are red, shaped like doughnuts, a torus to the mathematician; they carry oxygen on the pigment haemoglobin to supply oxygen to body tissues.

White cells are a variety of clear envelopes with granular nuclei; some are T cells, some are B cells, as a group these are granulocytes dealing with defence and immunity; another group of white cells are monoytes, envelopes with a single robust nucleus, these are the rubbish carts for removing waste material resulting from the work of the granulocytes.

Finally there are platelets which provide some of the factors needed to cause blood to clot and stop bleeding.
Excess platelets (600-1000) is thrombocythaemia, it is only significant with abnormal looking platelets, an abnormal bone marow and abscence of the Philadelphia chromosome. DocDavid

I’ve always been told to consider Platelets as the sticky stuff in blood, if that helps. They are different from white cells. My whites are elevated – if the CIDP is being treated with prednisone than your white count and blood sugars will be high.

BTW – find it strange that prednisone makes your blood sugar high but you gain weight rather than lose weight like a person who would be an untreated diabetic. Just a question….

Cheryl

Prednisone (steroids) do very strange things to the body! It makes many of the “blood counts” read unusually high. And bone density goes down. The weight gain is from fatty deposits made as a result of the medication. DocDavid can explain this better with his medical background. I can only explain it from what it did to me ~ and it was totally ‘crazy making’ as it also affects the mind/thinking processes 😮

[QUOTE=DavidBod]Mom’s just a bit of haematology. Red cells are red, shaped like doughnuts, a torus to the mathematician; they carry oxygen on the pigment haemoglobin to supply oxygen to body tissues.

White cells are a variety of clear envelopes with granular nuclei; some are T cells, some are B cells, as a group these are granulocytes dealing with defence and immunity; another group of white cells are monoytes, envelopes with a single robust nucleus, these are the rubbish carts for removing waste material resulting from the work of the granulocytes.

Finally there are platelets which provide some of the factors needed to cause blood to clot and stop bleeding.
Excess platelets (600-1000) is thrombocythaemia, it is only significant with abnormal looking platelets, an abnormal bone marrow and absence of the Philadelphia chromosome. DocDavid[/QUOTE]

Can the cold sweats be explained by the high platelets as in your explanation of the the red cells? Carrying oxygen to the body tissue- to much oxygen in the blood will give you excessive sweats??? Does this make sense?

Judi, prednisone suppresses the adrenal glands allowing the blood sugar to rise. It increases appetite leading to obesity. No one is obese in the absence of food. Bone is built by osteoblast cells and broken down by osteoclasts, as with all body tissue there is a constant removal and re-building. Prednisone upsets this balance leading to protein reduced, calcium poor bones which have a low density and break easily.

Dandana, no, raised platelets does not cause sweats. Red cells carry oxygen and are increased physiologically in those accustomed to living at very high altitudes and in a rare marrow disease called Polycythaemia Rubra Vera or Osler Vaquez disease. (don’t I love medical terminology) DocDavid

I hope no one minds if I ask a related (?) question about blood — my Neurologist is concerned about my low white cell counts while I am on CellCept – I have lab work once a week and my counts bounce from 5.9 to 3.2 usually staying around 4.1 or 4.2 — My infusion doctor, a hemitologist/oncologist, assures me that he is not impressed by this level and I shouldn’t be concerned, however I am not at a full dose (2,000 mg?) of CellCept because of my Neuro’s concern. I was switched from Imuran to CellCept in July – introduced at 1000 mg and following week up to 2,000 mg. put back to 1,000 mg after 2 weeks. Health has remained fine, no colds or flu. Any one on CellCept and getting theraputic results at 1,000 mg?

DocDavid ~ the ‘moon face’ and ‘hump back’ are peculiar to someone on steroids. What causes that with the obesity? Thanks.

Bonney, any of the immune suppressants, cellcept, imuran, methotrexate and mycophenolate that are used to inhibit CIDP can cause suppression of the bone marrow. The first feature of this is reduced production of white cells
‘leukopaenia’ which does not matter upto a point. Hence your haematologist’s assurance.
Judi, the hump back is due to partial collapse of the thoracic vertebrae. The moon face is a result of changes to some of the adrenal/pituitary hormones. DocDavid

[QUOTE=Bonney Daubenspeck]I hope no one minds if I ask a related (?) question about blood — my Neurologist is concerned about my low white cell counts while I am on CellCept – I have lab work once a week and my counts bounce from 5.9 to 3.2 usually staying around 4.1 or 4.2 — My infusion doctor, a hemitologist/oncologist, assures me that he is not impressed by this level and I shouldn’t be concerned, however I am not at a full dose (2,000 mg?) of CellCept because of my Neuro’s concern. I was switched from Imuran to CellCept in July – introduced at 1000 mg and following week up to 2,000 mg. put back to 1,000 mg after 2 weeks. Health has remained fine, no colds or flu. Any one on CellCept and getting theraputic results at 1,000 mg?[/QUOTE]

Hi Bonney,
I was on 1000mg, and did not see any positve result. My neuro just increased me last week to 2000 mg daily. I am hoping for at least something to work, as the CIDP is rampaging through my autonomic system, besides the motor & seral nerves. But yesterday I got my current weekly blood test’s results, and my current white clood count is 22.1, (normal for this lab is 4.5 to 10.5), which is way high again. I have been running high and low as infections come in, (a blod clot where the venal catheter was and became infected, then I had a lung infection). So, even though I feel okay at the moment, I must have another infection again. This WBC is the highest I have ever had, so maybe it is because I am on the Cellcept, and my autoimmune is way down and can’t fight infections. Today is my last dose of plasmaphereses, and they take the venal cath. out after the last dose–maybe there is an infected blood clot again…yeesh.
But, for the past few months I have been running low with the RBC, HGB, and Hct, though my platelets have been in the normal range.
I have had no comment from either my neuro, nor my G.P.–they just keep taking the weekly tests…
Let me know if you see anything beneficial from the Cellcept…thanx.
Kedaso

HI, Kedaso – Thanks for your reply, I will gladly keep you posted on how CellCept works for me – Hope your last pp went well and that you can go a while without having to have a cath! – Bonney