Is it possible I Have Leukiemia?

Question:

So , I posted a thing about me being very sick and my doctor thinking I had mono , and strep , in Januray. I had not gotten blood work done , up untill a month ago. I was still getting very sick , very often , and always been extremley tired and always very sore. When I got my blood work done a month ago it showed very abnormal high white blood cells , and my doctor brought up the idea of it being lukeimia and to come back in a month , I went back today , and am getting my results next week. Does anyone out there maybe been through this experience , or if youve had it , how did they discover you had it?

Answers:
i had a lot of patients who had leukemia.

they would indeed have a number of constitutional complaints including:
1) fatigue
2) body malaise
3) fever
4) joint pains
5) pallor
6) rashes (may range from pinpoint red rashes to large ecchymoses/bruising)
7) bleeding episodes (from as little as nosebleeds to outright blood loss per rectum)

the leukemia or any other blood dyscracia (as any blood/bleeding disorder is referred to) would usually be diagnosed by parsimony with the above signs and symptoms plus a Complete blood count, a peripheral blood smear and possibly a bone marrow biopsy.

as to your question about the white blood cell count, majority of patients would indeed have high counts. the high counts may involve the WBC count, or the thrombocytes. they may also include a variety of immature cells (promyelocytes, blasts, etc). if you see "blast cells" more than 20% of the count, it is indeed leukemia.

however there are other patients with normal WBC counts. the thing that is abnormal in their white cells would be the differential count, showing the immature cells.

now, a high WBC may not be indicative of a blood dyscracia in the following:
1) infections (including the so-called leukemoid reaction)
2) steroid use

i hope this helps you..

Is it possible I Have Leukiemia?

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