does a white cell count of 12 mean leukemia

houtex54

You should discuss this with your doctor. White blood cell count of 12 is not likely to indicate anything at all. Normal adult range is 4 to 11.

KM67

Thanks I just got nervous when he mentioned the word Leukemia. And that he wanted to keep an eye on my count.

harka

Your doctor mentioned Leukemia with a white count of 12?!!!

KM67

yeah that's what concerned me. Maybe he's taking family history into account too. My grandma just died of cancer my mother has had breast cancer twice etc... I don't know I am not extremely worried but just don't want to be caught off guard you know.

harka

A white cell count of 12 is just a TEENSY WEENSY bit above normal and it doesn't mean anything. If it was repeated two weeks from the original one, I'll bet it would have been normal.

KM67

that's good to know. I just took another CBC and am waiting for the results. Thanks that makes me feel better.

kmarshy

Mine was 13 a few years ago and I was sent to a blood specialist and he did a differential and it came back with no abnormalities at the time. I had a left shift and neutrophilia. I have had a high white count now for 4 years and a couple of weeks ago it was 15 and now back to 13. I have had autoantibody tests cause my platelets are high too and my clotting was out. I have been back today and still none the wiser as all these other tests are normal. I am in the UK and my doc is writing to the hospital to see if they want to do any more tests but highly unlikely they would do a marrow test at this stage. I do ache a lot and very tired all the time too. I have not got a clue what mine is..

I asked this morning about CML though..

KM67

I wonder sometimes if doctors really know what is happening half the time. I hope they find out what's going on with you though.

jhfreybaby

If you have a cold or stressed that can bring up your white blood count. But if it keeps coming back high then you need to have a bone marrow test done. I went to the Doctor for two years and my count kept coming back at 12-15, he kept saying it was just stress. Finally after two years of hearing this nonsense from my doctor I got mad and told him it is not stress, I am tired, something is wrong. Then he finally went back through all my old tests and saw that I had a pattern of high white count. He sent me to a hematologist and I had a bone marrow biopsy done and it was confirmed that i have leukemia, cll. I was 42 when it first developed. My count as of yesterday was 29. I go every three months. I am in the watch and wait faze, I am in stage 2. My Doctor told me yesterday that if I want treatment they can go ahead and start it. When I got home it hit me and I really got angry. What is up with that. I am not a Doctor I don't know when I need treatment. So I think I am going to go and get a third opinion. i was told if you do treatment too soon that it will not work when you really need it. I have been told so much stuff that now I am so confused and frustrated. It seems like each doctor will tell you something different. Come on Doctors, this is my life we are talking about. Sorry I rambled on I am just frustrated and really have no one to talk to about it. I hope your tests come back negative for leukemia. I know this is going to sound gross but I knew someone that had a high white count and come to find out they had parasites in their intestines. So maybe that is something to get checked. That is an easy fix if it is parasites. take care and good luck

KM67

I am sorry to hear that you have leukemia. And I too am fustrated with doctors and hospitals. We pay all this money in health care but really are receiving no care at all. My daughter was just in the ER a few days ago and after 5 1/2 hours we still had no answer to why she was in sever pain. They sent her home and said lets wait and see if the pain goes away, if not you can always come back to the ER (yeah for another 200 dollar copay and hundreds of dollars in unneeded tests). I am usually a very patient overly nice person but I am ready to start rolling some heads. So I am going to take a very active roll in my own healthcare because if I don't no one will.

jhfreybaby

Thank you KM67 for the reply... I just don't get it either. are we all just lab mice? That is what I feel like sometimes. How long has your white count been up? I hope it is not Leukemia. You could just have a mild infection somewhere. I had a cyst on my ovaries several years ago and my white count was high but it took a while for the infection to get bad enough for me to notice the pain. After the antibiotics my count went back to normal. Even a bladder infection can cause your count to go up. Take care

KM67

It's only been a few months but they don't seem overly concerned so I haven't freaked yet so.... Thanks for your thoughtfulness though.

jhfreybaby

How is your daughter? Did you ever find out what was wrong? One time I went to the ER for a severe headache and they checked my urine and found that I had blood in it and they did nothing about either and sent me home, said I was probably dehydrated and to drink water. When I got my bill in I wrote the hospital and told them I refused to pay the hospital bill because the Doctors did nothing for me. It took a few months of letters but they eventually took care of the bill, so I did not have to pay for that ER visit. If we all did that maybe they will start doing their job. I told them I went to the ER for a severe headache and they did nothing, I said they found blood in my urine and if it were not for the nurse telling me I would have never known. The Doctor didn't even say anything about the blood. She came in the room and asked me if I was on my period? I said no I had cancer so I had an hysterectomy and she said well, there was a lot of blood. Just a thought for you. I told them I did not go to the ER to waste my time or money and there is no way I am going to pay for the hospital or for Doctors not doing their job.

KM67

She's still got a wicked stomach ache but the pain in the side is minimal thank goodness. well glad that they took care of the bill but that still didn't help your headache. I am going to follow up with my daughter at the gyno. She has had stomach aches and pains for a while now so obviously there is something going on in there that no one seems to be finding. I am not letting this go, I have been pacified for too long, told that it's nothing but she keeps ending up in the ER.