My daughter is 13 and has had T1D for almost 2 years. She had a full blood work up (routine) and her endo called me to tell me that her White Blood Cell Count (WBC) was low. Not scary low, but low enough to be a concern and have her retested in a month. She said it could have been caused by a virus (my daughter has not been sick) or related to her T1D. Of course I have been googling and I have made myself sick with worry. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Any insight would be hugely appreciated!
Hi,
Low WBC can indeed be a transient effect of a viral infection. It happens in adults as well as kids of all ages. Be aware that you do not need to have full blown viral symptoms to have viral bone marrow suppression. The bone marrow is where these cells are normally produced. The recommendation to repeat the work up in a month is standard practice. It gives the virus some time to be eliminated and for the marrow to kick back in.
If you find that she is starting to get frequent fevers or has unexplained bruises then I would follow up earlier. But don't jump to all the bad things you have read about on line, those symptoms can also be related to viral suppression.
And as for fevers don't chase after her with a thermometer every minute or you will drive yourself nuts. look for tiredness, fever cheeks, loss of appetite, things that say she is off. Remember there was no indication of a problem when the last round of testing as done. If it had not been time for the usual work up it would never have been noticed.
This happens all the time in the nonD world and 99.9% of the time is gone by the next follow-up.