Hi All,
It has been 5 months since my dry eyes (MGD) and mild dry mouth started and I have started having a dull pain/numbness in my arms, legs, hands and feet.
I went to a doc and he repeated ana, ssa, ssb, rf, esr, cbc, crp.
All the tests were normal except the Eosinophil percentage (doubled from 4 to 8 in the last 5 months). He said it was abnormal but did not make any diagnosis for it. Have any of you had abnormal Eosinophil count and identified any root cause based on that?
Apart from that, based on symptoms, the doc said he thought it looked like seronegative sjogrens but that no medications were required at this point.
Eosinophils can elevate as a result of inflammation, and, as we have seen from many of our members, inflammation can occur without elevation of the usual markers, ESR and CRP, although no cause has been determined for that.
Eosinophils can increase for a number of reasons, including allergies, infections, parasites, medications, and autoimmune diseases. My eosinophil count has been elevated since I started helminthic therapy, but that is expected as a response to the helminths. 8000 cells/?L is fairly mild eosinophilia (mine topped out around 1500 cells/?L), so I'm not surprised that your doctor seems unconcerned, as a connective tissue disease could easily explain it. If your eosinophil count continues to rise, you may want to run some tests to ensure that you aren't harboring any unwanted pathogens, but for now it's probably fine.
I'm a little surprised that your doctor (presumably rheumatologist) hasn't started you on Plaquenil if he is willing to make a SS diagnosis, especially if you are having full-body symptoms.
Actually, your eosinophils are up but not worrisome. Mine have been elevated much of my life and I have always figured it was because I have hay fever. I have so many autoimmune diseases and the docs have never said a word about the eosinophils. Irish
Thanks everyone. Guess can't really do much follow up with it then.