Scared for mydaughter-- elevated white blood cells

[smschex]

To echo what others have said, 17,000 is elevated, but not outrageously high. It is important to look at the differential which tells which kind of white blood cells are present. In bacterial infection, neutophils are high; in a viral infection, lymphocytes are higher. In mono (which is a virus) you see a lot of "variant lymphocytes." If her red blood cell count and her platelet count are normal (both are also shown on a CBC), leukemia is very unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely.

I assume the "5 day antibiotic" you were given is zithromax? I would not expect it to make much difference one way or the other. Remember antibiotics only treat bacterial infections. They don't do anything against viral infections. The body fights those off with elevated white blood cells and fever and time.

Don't let numbers alone scare you. You have to look at the whole kid. If she is feeling well, chances are she will be fine.

 

[Rosered]

Funny the doctor said she was sure it wasn't viral because of the elevated white blood cells. Could she have been mistaken? Guess it's good that I'm seeing her own doctor tomorrow.

You have all been so helpful and have made me feel so much better. I can't thank you enough. I do tend to freak out about medical things especially when it comes to the kids and looking things up on the internet does not help. I am going to stop doing that.

Thank you for all the support.

 

[krcit]

My oldest dd used to vomit non-stop with strep. I know a lot of kids get stomach pain/issues with strep. My dd also never had a sore throat with strep and she had it 13(yes I said 13!!) times in one year until they took her tonsils. Good luck. I hope your dd is ok and gets a good report tomorrow!

 

[Christine]

Funny the doctor said she was sure it wasn't viral because of the elevated white blood cells. Could she have been mistaken? Guess it's good that I'm seeing her own doctor tomorrow.

You have all been so helpful and have made me feel so much better. I can't thank you enough. I do tend to freak out about medical things especially when it comes to the kids and looking things up on the internet does not help. I am going to stop doing that.

Thank you for all the support.

I was always told by my doctor that a virus will not elevate the WBC but a bacterial infection will (as will other things like my gastritis). Sometimes, if my doctor didn't quite know what was wrong with me (bacterial or viral) he would run a CBC to see if he should use an antibiotic. If there was no WBC elevation then he wouldn't give an antibiotic.

 

[Disney Doll]

I had a doctor who used to say "If you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras". In other words, usually things are exactly what they seem. An elevated white count means an infection somewhere. Her body is responding,she is on an antibiotic. It'll pobably take a day or 2 to simmer down.

 

[daemom]

Nausea/vomiting has been a sign/symptom of strep in our family. Take a breath........

 

[Rosered]

Thanks for the continued support from everyone. She was feeling fine last night and earlier today. Right now she is feeling bad again. Tired and weak and she has no temperature but she says she's cold and feels warm to the touch. No nausea or vomiting since yesterday morning. Tomorrow can't come soon enough.

 

[krcit]

Please keep us posted. I hope she's feeling better.

 

[Rosered]

I will keep everyone posted. Thanks

 

[mjkacmom]

Our pediatrician's office called me when they got my dd7's routine bloodwork back, because they were elevated. They asked me if she was sick that day, I said no, they asked if she was sick now, I said no, and we just let it go, figuring she had some kind of minor infection. That was a year ago, and she's doing fine!

 

[smschex]

I was always told by my doctor that a virus will not elevate the WBC but a bacterial infection will (as will other things like my gastritis). Sometimes, if my doctor didn't quite know what was wrong with me (bacterial or viral) he would run a CBC to see if he should use an antibiotic. If there was no WBC elevation then he wouldn't give an antibiotic.

Both viral and bacterial infections can cause an elevated white blood cell count. You worry more about bacterial infections with a very high white count, but you have to look at the differential to get a better idea. A predominance of neutophils points toward bacterial, while more lymphocytes makes viral more likely.

 

[momof5boys]

Funny you would mention it. At work this weekend we are still dealing with a stomach bug that is on it's 4th week in our area. The doctor and I were talking about how almost everyone had an elevated WBC, not what we would expect with a stomach virus by there it was! Hope she's feeling better!

 

[swkmom]

A few months ago my DS 10 had strep throat, he was put on an antibiotic by a weekend health clinic, it didn't get any better and he was worse by Monday so I took him to our doctor. His white blood cell count was 22,000 and he was put on an additional antibiotic.

The doctor was concerned and said to make sure he stayed hydrated and took the antibiotics, he also referred him to an ENT. DS lost 9 pounds that week because the strep infection was so bad but he did get better. And the tonsils are coming out next month.

I freaked out too when they told me his count was 22,000 turns out it was just a bad strep infection. Hope your daughter is feeling better soon.

 

[Rosered]

UPDATE!!!: So the urine and strep test came back negative but her doctor says in is a viral infection. She said the other doctor was not sure what it was and that's why they made us come in today but this doctor, who is a hemotalogist (sp?) reviewed the blood work and said the only thing abnormal was the white cell count, everything else is fine so that means it's just an infections. What a relief!!! I can breathe again. I did ask them to do the blood work again, just to be sure and they did. They will call me back with the results, she said it should show that her white cell count is going down.

Thank you all for your support and advice and for calming me down when I was going crazy. I will update once we get the new blood test results. Meanwhile my daughter is still feeling pretty weak and tired but the doctor said that's to be expected for a few more days.

 

[Tuffcookie]

OP, Thanks for coming back with the update!

Continued prayers for your DD!

TC

 

[smschex]

Wonderful! Thanks for the update.

 

[nhelen79]

wrong post. sorry