Low White Blood Cells - Okay to train?



tomUK

New Member
Oct 20, 2003
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Hello -

Looking for a little advice in the hematology department. I have recently been diagnosed as having a low white blood cell count. The differential is normal, but the general count is low.

Doctor seems clueless and has refered me to hematology to investige further. Is there anyone here who could advise if it is still okay to workout?
btw, my WBC count is 3.4. Normal range I am told is 4-10?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
tomUK said:
Hello -

Looking for a little advice in the hematology department. I have recently been diagnosed as having a low white blood cell count. The differential is normal, but the general count is low.

Doctor seems clueless and has refered me to hematology to investige further. Is there anyone here who could advise if it is still okay to workout?
btw, my WBC count is 3.4. Normal range I am told is 4-10?

Any help would be appreciated.

My wife has been diagnosed with low white cell count.The only precaution she takes is to try and stay away from situations that might invite an infection of some sort.
Otherwise training is fine and as a matter of fact should help metabolism, just don't crash and get skinned up or ride with a bunch of Flu infected buddies.
 
tomUK said:
Hello -

Looking for a little advice in the hematology department. I have recently been diagnosed as having a low white blood cell count. The differential is normal, but the general count is low.

Doctor seems clueless and has refered me to hematology to investige further. Is there anyone here who could advise if it is still okay to workout?
btw, my WBC count is 3.4. Normal range I am told is 4-10?

Any help would be appreciated.
Hi tomUK,
First of all, being from the UK you should spell haematology correctly! ;)
Provided that the differential is okay and that a blood film has been checked, you should continue to train.
The range given of 4 - 10 for your white cell count is the range that 95% of the population fall into. That means that 5% of normal people fall out of this range. The risk of infection is not increased at a level of 3.4. The degree of risk varies with which particular white cells are low. The bigget risk is if you have a neutrophil count below 1. Alternatively, people with HIV who have a CD4 lymphocyte count below 200 have a higher risk.

Pathological causes for a low white blood cell count are many. Some viral infections can do it, some medications can as well as rarer diseases of the bone marrow. If you are feeling your usual amount of energy, are not having fevers or night sweats, are not losing weight (without trying), do not have swollen nodes nor a new tendency to bleed or bruise easily, then you are not likely to have one of these causes.
 
Patch -

Thank you so much for the info. Very informative. Appologies for the mis-spelling of Hamatology!

I have been told yesterday that my white blood cell count is up to 3.92 now, hence an improvement. The problem is I don't know what my 'normal' range is. When the Doctor first found out my count was down (I also lost 4-5lbs in weight) she sent me straight for a chest x-ray, the result of which was perfect - no problems found.

Night sweats are not something I experience - funny, the doctor kept asking about that. May I ask what this would mean? I probably bruise a little easier than normal, feel a little more tired and have a general sense of malaise.

Today though I am feeling pretty good. Maybe it was just a viral infection that is passing? When I was at the Doctors she told me (and informed me that it was unprofessional to do so, why i'm not sure?) that 9 months ago she also was reffered to Hamatology with a low white blood cell count, however, the cause was never found and eventually she returned to her normal self and is fine now. All very encouraging!
 
tomUK said:
Patch -

Thank you so much for the info. Very informative. Appologies for the mis-spelling of Hamatology!

I have been told yesterday that my white blood cell count is up to 3.92 now, hence an improvement. The problem is I don't know what my 'normal' range is. When the Doctor first found out my count was down (I also lost 4-5lbs in weight) she sent me straight for a chest x-ray, the result of which was perfect - no problems found.

Night sweats are not something I experience - funny, the doctor kept asking about that. May I ask what this would mean? I probably bruise a little easier than normal, feel a little more tired and have a general sense of malaise.

Today though I am feeling pretty good. Maybe it was just a viral infection that is passing? When I was at the Doctors she told me (and informed me that it was unprofessional to do so, why i'm not sure?) that 9 months ago she also was reffered to Hamatology with a low white blood cell count, however, the cause was never found and eventually she returned to her normal self and is fine now. All very encouraging!



Don't feel bad, my white count was once .5. Oh yeah, I was going through chemotheraphy.