High White Blood Cell Count

So my white blood cell count has been up since February of this year. However, my doctor went back through my records and the first time it was high was in 2014.

So I had labs done in June 2016 and it was high. Had my labs done again in Sept 2016 and it was high again. Those labs were done at the hospital I am having my VSG at. I had an appt with my PCP a few weeks later (this October) and She repeated my WBC and it was still high. Then I had my WBC taken a week later at some of my final labs done at the hospital doing my VSG and they were high again.

They rechecked them today but I haven't gotten back my results yet but I am going to call tomorrow. I am sure it will be high again. I think normal is up to 10 and mine have been from 11 - 15.8. :/ 

I have a hematologist/oncologist appt on Nov 4th and so I hope I can find out more then.

I honestly doubt its anything crazy like Leukemia as I feel pretty healthy other than just being overweight. I've heard they can be high due to other reasons like stress, meds, or allergies.

Has anyone else had issues with their WBC being high and it turn out to be nothing really?

They said they will wait on my hematologists findings before I will be 100% certain about my VSG surgery. I am scheduled for 11-16-16 and they didnt cancel it or anything. I still have my appt and did all my pre-op stuff today too so I feel like they will most likely go forward with it.

It kinda irks me though that my WBC has been high since 2014 off and on and they are just now acting like it could be an issue.

Don't worry, consult your doctor again before panicking.

Yes, this is something you need to continue to work with your doctors about.  Since you have not had surgery yet we understand your concerns.  I did a search to see if anyone else had ever posted about this and found couple of threads.  Here is the link:

http://www.obesityhelp.com/search/?q=what+blood+cell+count

The only time I had a high white count was 2 years after surgery, the first time I drank wine, ended up in the ER and my white count was so high they were talking liver cancer.  I saw my bariatric surgeon and told him about my labs and the high count and he looked at me and asked did you drink alcohol?  I said yes and he said that was why.  That was 10 years ago.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you find out.

Thanks so much :)  you're very helpful. Hopefully I'll know more on the 4th and they won't have to cancel my surgery. 

Fingers crossed they don't cancel but keep in mind we want you to be safe first.  

Keep in mind that it simply may be a case of that level of WBC is normal for YOU. 

I also had a high WBC, like to the point where leukemia was thrown on the table. However, I also have an anemic condition called thalassemia minor. I went to a hematologist because of the high WBC and he said that its common to see that in obese thalassemia patients. He went on to say that if I didn't have thalassemia he would be sending me for more testing for leukemia. This was actually the last straw that got me to start the process to have the surgery.

All my blood work is "abnormal". My red blood cells are too small, my iron is always low, my wbc was high (but has come down since surgery :) ) and a bunch of other things I don't recall off the top of my head. None of  this affected my ability to have surgery. 

On a side note - I feel you when you say it irks you they knew about this 2 years ago and didn't act. I've suffered with anemia my whole like, taking obscene amounts of iron for years and years with no affect. I almost had to have a blood transfusion when I was pregnant with my first son because my iron dropped so low. Then in my 30's I switched primary care doctors and she asked me if I had ever been tested for thalassemia, which of course I hadn't because I didn't even know what it was. Sure enough, thats what I had. I'm damn lucky that all that extra iron didn't cause liver or kidney damage!

Thank you for your response :)

I have had anemia for years now. My iron is usually on the low side. I have been taking iron for years now. I take 65 mg twice a day. I have started taking it with orange juice so hopefully it absorbs better.

I am glad you were able to find out what was causing your high WBC counts.

You need to get it checked out but it's probably nothing. Some people just run a little higher as their baseline and 15 really isn't all that high. Mine regularly runs between 11 and 17. I had a workup with a hematoligist a couple of years ago and they didn't find anything wrong. He said if I had anything serious (leukemia, cancer, etc) I would have other symptoms and other labs would be off and the wbc would likely be much higher. Of course they need to do the workup and see what all your other inflammatory markers are, but chances are it's nothing. Get the workup done and then you'll know your baselines going into the future. Leukocytes has just become another diagnosis in my long list of problems. Almost anything can elevate your white count ... An infection, a cold, stress, trauma, nutrition, medication, fatigue and perhaps most important is inflammation which is both a cause and a symptom of being overweight. Once you have your surgery and loose some weight, you will probably see your wbc and all your inflammation markers go down. I just had my gastric bypass 8 days ago. My bbc was 13 before surgery and 16 a few days after. Of course, it's normal for it to go up a little after surgery just from the stress on your system. It doesn't mean you have an infection, although you might. Just remember, an elevated wbc would only be a small piece of the puzzle that would lead to a more serious diagnosis. When I had my workup from the hemotoligist, he did a slew of blood work, a breast exam and said he would have done a pelvic/pap and a rectal exam if I wasn't already current on my yearly and had already had a colonoscopy. He did a full body exam, feeling for enlarged lymph nodes and organs, a urinalysis and a CT scan of my abdomen and pelvis. Also took a very detailed medical and family history and a close look at all my medications. After all that, he did find out I was anemic and put me on iron and I did have a bladder infection and was on antibiotics for about 10 days. That was it. He finally determined my elevated wbc was from my higher baseline caused by general inflammation and the fact that I frequently needed to be on prednisone for my asthma. He took me off all prednisone for 2 weeks, including my daily asthma inhaler which had a low dose of prednisone in it. He then rechecked the cbc and it was down but still not in the normal range. It's certainly something to be aware of and keep an eye on. And if you have a family history of cancer or leukemia, it would be even more concerning. Best of luck with your workup and your upcoming surgery ... I hope you will soon have all this behind you and can move ahead with the  next exciting chapter of your life. Blessings, Gretchen

Thanks for your response Gretchen! I am so ready to have this week over with. I feel pretty good but I have been somewhat stressed out the last few years. We went through buying a new home in 2014/15 and that kept me very stressed then the end of 2015 was pretty bad for us. 

I feel like everything is okay I just hate they waited until now to try and find out what was going on so close to my surgery date. 

Hopefully, I will know more on Thursday but I am sure I may not know anything until the week after as far as lab results go. 

I definitely know I am anemic. My iron is always on the low side.