Low neutrophils

Natalie1983

Hope someone can help me
I have been brought into hospital today as my neutrophils have dropped to 0.26 and have been low for the past 4 weeks. They are giving me gcsf injections to hopefully boost the levels but just wondering if anyone has any experience of this?
I'm panicking even though my consultant has said this is quite a normal thing to happen
She thinks it's to do with a virus.

Natalie1983

My transplant was on the 15th of February this year

Julemy

Hi Natalie, there are a number of reasons why neutrophils can drop and viral (or other) infections are one of them. So it is quite normal. Are the rest of your bloods ok? If your consultant is not worried then you shouldn't worry. I'm sure they will monitor your closely and do all sorts of tests if they were worried.

Natalie1983

She said my red blood cells are the best they've been. It's just good to hear things from an outside point of view. Hopefully the injections will give me a boost !

Dieseldrinker62

Hi Natalie,

Julemy has probably answered your question, but it is common for counts to fluctuate post transplant, particularly in the early days, and a minor bug or infection can upset the balance. As you say your red cell counts are good that is perhaps a sign that your graft is doing what it should and possibly that due to an infection, your white cells have taken a bit of a knock.

Hopefully things will pick up again soon when your body recovers so please let us know how you get on as it's reassuring for others to see that this does happen.

All the best,

Steve

Natalie1983

Hi, I went for my check up last Wednesday and my neutrophils were still below 1. So I was sent for a bone marrow test. After a stressful 24 hours we went for the results and my consultant couldn’t see any mature leukaemia cells. But there are so immature blasts she wasn’t happy about so we are waiting for the results from London. I think she just wants to be 100%. The plan is to have some lynpicytes in the next few weeks and if the leukaemia is there it’s more chemo and then the lymphocytes. I’m just hoping it’s not the leukaemia, I’ve finally got things a bit more normal. My leukaemia came about when my daughter was 7 weeks old so I’ve spent most of her life in and out of hospital and she’s now 2 so beginning to notice things more. I’m trying to keep thinking of the positives let’s just hope these results from London come back how we want them!!! X

HS17

Hi Natalie I've had the same issue. I had flu at Christmas and my white cells dropped. I was neutrophenic for 6 weeks and had GCSF injections which made my white cells yo yo. Red cells and platelets were unaffected and I was told flu was the cause but it didn't stop me from worrying. I have since been told that viruses can have that effect.

Natalie1983

Thank you for replying that has really helped. My neutrophils have started going up still awaiting the results from London for my bone marrow. I definitely feel like I have a virus/cough/blocked nose etc so fingers crossed that’s it