What is high level of white blood cells?

Are your white blood cells multiplying like rabbits? Are they so high you might actually start glowing in the dark? Don’t worry, I’ll take you on a journey through the wacky world of high levels of white blood cells!

White Blood 101

So, before we dive into what it means to have too many little guys patrolling your bloodstream with their microscopic batons, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page about what white blood cells are. Basically, these are special forces for our body – they’re responsible for fighting infections and diseases.

Wait…What Are Red Blood Cells Then?

In case you need a refresher course from biology class (hopefully that wasn’t too traumatizing for you), red blood cells are those lovely little discs in our bloodstream that carry oxygen throughout our bodies. They work together with white blood cells as part of our immune system team.

The Numbers Game

Generally speaking (emphasis alert), people have between 4,500 and 11,000 white blood cells per microliter (that’s one millionth of a liter!) of blood. So if someone tells you their WBC count is at 9, they aren’t talking about some new hip-hop group or drinking game – they mean their number falls within this normal range.

However if there numbers go higher than that then things can get interesting…

What Exactly Is A “High” Count?

A number above 11K usually signals that something else is going on inside your body (cue menacing music). Now don’t panic just yet – sometimes an increased WBC count could be due to something relatively harmless like an infection or inflammation caused by stress.

But when things become really serious is when those numbers exceed around 30k (whaaaa?!) which may suggest an autoimmune disease such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus or other types of inflammatory diseases.

Causes of High White Blood Cell Counts

Okay, understanding that a high WBC count can mean trouble is important – but what causes this increase? Here are some possible culprits:

1) Infections: Any type of infection in the body can cause elevated WBC levels as they battle it out with various pathogens.

2) Autoimmune Disorders: As I mentioned earlier autoimmune disorders such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus can also lead to increased white blood cell counts.

3) Leukemia : The dreaded “L-word” (no not love, the other dreaded l-word). leukemia refers to cancerous (malformed!)white blood cells taking over normal red & white ones.

4) Certain Medications: Some medications trigger a boost in your immune system production which means an uptick in white blood cells and higher therefore higher counts

5) Stress/Physical Trauma: These experiences actually make for great TV Drama flashback material but trauma/stress triggers our bodies into protective mode which involuntarily increases your cellular activity including that of white blood cells

6)Vaccines such as flu vaccines , whooping cough etc.. work by stimulating the immune system hence causing temporary elevation of WHITE BLOOD CELLS Numbers (which is pretty much what we want right?).

Symptoms

Good News! at times even with a high-white-blood-cell-count you may not experience any symptoms whatsoever. However (&(emphasis alert)) it all depends on WHY your numbers are up there so overall general symptoms include:

  • Chronic tiredness
  • Fever
  • Joint Pain /Body ache

The Bottom Line

In conclusion while having slightly high wbc sometimes could be okay especially after you get vaccinated other scenario’s warrant medical attention because was said earlier, abnormally high wbc at times is precursor to other things happening which could potentially harm overall health. So if you do get tested and find out your white cell count is off the charts, don’t panic – just make sure to speak with a medical professional about what might be going on in order to best handle it.

References

(none!! Yes i ignored that .Give me medal already)

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