Dr. Goswami Parth Rajendragiri
Pathology
The following is an actual conversation between an iCliniq user and a doctor that has been reviewed and published as a Premium Q&A.
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Patient's Query
Hello doctor,
I had a right-sided sore throat and sinus drainage on and off for the last two months. It was chalked up to allergies, but no allergy pill completely took the sore throat away. My doctor put me on Medrol 5/3 for two days, and my last dose was 5/8. I also have been weaning off Lexapro 10 mg, and yesterday I had a lot of dizziness and a racing heart.
I ended up going to the ER, and they did a CBC. The physical assistant said all laboratory reports looked great, but in the reports, my WBC was 11.88 and their reference range was 4.5 to 13. Is this too high? It concerns me. In my last CBC three months WBC was 8.5 and their ranges were 3.5 to 10.5. So it seems my WBC would be high or out of range now. Please advise.
Hello,
Welcome to icliniq.com.
Your total WBC (white blood cell) count is only mildly elevated, and it is not raised to an alarming level. You have been prescribed a steroid course for sore throat. It is a strong anti-inflammatory drug if there is no improvement then a throat swab can be done for culture to find any bacteria if present that causes a sore throat. For that, antibiotic courses can be prescribed. You can do salt water gargles and take vitamin C 500 mg BD (twice daily) for a week.
You are also using Citalopram for depression. So stress-induced anxiety also can be responsible for dizziness and increased heartbeat as a result of a panic attack. For a total WBC count, no need to worry in my opinion. I hope I have answered your question and it will help you in the approach of your case. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Patient's Query
Thank you doctor,
Does Medrol (Pak) raise my WBC? I had the blood drawn two and a half days after my last dose. I am not sure how long it stays in our system but I have read that corticosteroids can affect lab work.
Hello,
Welcome back to the icliniq.com.
I should appreciate your awareness regarding your health and your knowledge. You are right the steroids stay in the body for two to three days and so your elevated count could be due to that if CBC (complete blood count) done within last three days of drug intake. But bacterial infection also can lead to a high total count. So your mildly elevated total count could be due to those two reason.
To conclude whether bacterial infection is present or not, throat swab can be beneficial. Or else empirical antibiotic can be prescribed if your doctor does not want to investigate with a throat swab. Your total WBC count is not much elevated. So you may need not to worry much. I hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further.
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Pathology
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