Elevated CRP Quan, low WBC & knee cyst?

[IllnDontWantAPill]

Hi all,

I was DX'ed with Sjogren's 2 days before Thanksgiving. I'm not fully educated as my doctor made fun of my other disorder and then the practice banned me but I do know the basics - increased risk for lymphoma etc. That's why I'm concerned. My neuro-opthamologist actually ordered a ton of blood work and my CRP (C Reactive Protein) came back flagged as high, and WBC as low. I researched both levels being off in their according direction (H, or L) and low WBC can mean cancer/lymphoma and a high CRP can mean cancer/lymphoma. I don't wanna jump the gun but my luck is crappy and it would sooooo be my luck to get cancer not even a year after being diagnosed - trust me, you have no idea how bad my luck is. I moved from Las Vegas to Illinois and don't have doctors established yet and my neuro-optha refuses to interpret results over the phone since I left. So I'm left anxious, wondering, and waiting to get IL medicaid so I can see a doctor to F/U about these results.

My second issue is, does anyone have or has anyone HAD, pea sized lumps in their knee cap? On my right leg which has drop foot/foot drop, I have 2 pea sized lumps in the left corner of the knee (inside, not visible) inside the little boney cavity where the joint moves to allow you to walk. I read they can come from inflammation which we know Sjogren's does. I have a TON of medical background and know that cysts usually move (fluid filled) and while one does move, the bigger of the two pea sized lumps, doesn't. That REALLY makes me freak out. It's definitely attached to the bone. I'm wonder if it's just Sjogren's and if anyone else has ever had this, or if I'm dealing with some other issue.

Thanks so much in advance, for your replies!

Gary

[Joe S.]

Hi Gary, I do not know if I gave you my standard welcome so I will post it again. There are tones that help your body to eliminate cysts. www.chakraforce.com

I have read a number of articles that suggest Metformin (diabetic med) helps block cancer. Some of us have posted what we are taking in our signature.

While I am glad that you found us, I do not like it that anyone else should have to deal with this health challenge. I am more frustrated when I see younger people with this illness understanding that there is so little that is being done to help us. I believe that the medical model for Auto Immune disease is wrong. I use alternative therapy because of bad reactions to Plaq and MTX.

Sjogrens: Dry eyes, dry sinuses, dry mouth, dry skin, and dry bum.

You may or may not be faced with other health challenges related to this disease that the doctors do not tell you about. Auto Immune (AI) diseases love to bring their friends. If you have one, eventually you will have more than one.

I like also suggest that people with AI diseases read Spoon Theory on the web. It helps to explain how our lives have changed and helps us understand how we can manage the changes to our lives.
http://butyoudontlooksick.com/navigation/BYDLS-TheSpoonTheory.pdf

1. Do not Panic: Anxiety can make your symptoms worse. I suggest that you read and practice the exercises in the book Feeling Good by David Burns. The book is on Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). It has information on dealing with depression, grief and other mental health issues that you may face in living and managing this disease.

2. Breathe: For as long as you live always remember to breath. When we are in pain, our muscles go into a splinting action. I know that it is hard but we must remember to breathe through the pain.

3. Meditate: Meditation can help you deal with pain and symptoms. When you can do it for 15 minutes you will be at that stage. Here is a very easy meditation technique that will help you as it has helped me. Find a safe comfortable position and close your eyes. With your eyes closed, look to the top of your forehead. As you breathe in, think I am as you breathe out, think calm. Repeat as needed. Meditation can be as good as sleep.

With Sjogrens we tend to have a lot of infections so wear your polar fleece mumps scarf to bed. This will help your body to fight these infections. This link will help with the gland issues: http://www.chakraforce.com/Tonations.html#228.

Omega3, D3, C, Multivitamin, Probiotics seem to provide general support to our bodies when we are facing AI diseases. I like to add an 8oz glass of carrot juice every day to help my body generate endorphins.

I take what I call the Fabulous Five supplements and I wish I had known about them when I got my first AI disease. They are Alpha or R Lipoic Acid, Acetyl-L-Carnitine, Biotin, PQQ, and Co-Q10. As with any drug or supplement, do your own research and consult with your healthcare professional.

Sip-Swish-Swallow are the three Ss of Sjogrens.

[cremer]

Hi Gary welcome to SjogrensWorld.

Don't panic over low a white blood cell count, loads of people with Sjogrens have a low WBC count, in fact most auto immune conditions have low WBC count as a symptom.

Mine is very low, sometimes bordering on the red but my Rheumy says don't worry and keeps checking for Lymphoma etc.

How was you diagnosed with Sjogrens, was it through blood tests? Whats your ANA, SSA, and SSB?

[jazzlover]

How low is the WBC? Low WBC is also associated with tick-borne illness, especially ehrlichiosis.

[irish]

I have lumps along the edge of my knee cap that don't move and they are from injury years ago. I ended up having cortisone shots into my kneecap after fluid was removed. This is an area where there is a lot of cartilage and cartilage can be affected with autoimmune diseases. However, cartilage is not the kind of tissue that is involved in lymphoma.

YOu hear more about cancerous lymphoma on this site because a lot of people on this site are the ones that have many more sjogrens symptoms than the average person with Sjogrens. Many many people with sjogrens have just the dry eyes and dry mouth and don't get all that sick. I ran into one of those people at the docs office a couple of weeks ago. I immediately thought that she was probably really sick cause of my experience with this site. However, by the time I had visited with her for an hour or so I learned that what she was experiencing was not really affecting her that much. She is a neighbor of mine and she was worried about some very small things that seemed very unimportant to me. The level of people's acceptance is what determines how they deal with chronic disease.

I don't mean to sound callous,but the one thing we have to learn with autoimmune disease is to be patient. Just because you have a high CRP or low WBC doesn't mean that you are in dire straights. A person can have a high CRP from a recent inflammation of any kind, cold, virus, cut, etc. Our body is very good at raising blood work in order to fight off infections,etc. And, yes, people with autoimmune disease have low WBC much of the time and nothing ever comes of it.

Please know that you need to just get established  with a doctor who can lead you through this autoimmune maze. Do not immediately think that you are going to die of something. Yes, we are at risk for lymphoma, but when push comes to shove the statistics are not that high and the cure rate is pretty darn good. Both my hubby and I have had autoimmune diseases for over 40 years and neither one of us has had lymphoma. I have severely low t-cells related to autoimmune plus several other autoimmune diseases and I am still kicking at 70 years of age. I have lousy health, but I am still able to take nourishment and go to Walmart.lol

Do not panic. Stay calm and don't read all that stuff on line cause a lot of it is wrong. Also, checking our every symptom on line will drive you crazy. I am a retired nurse and I don't do that much research cause I know that much of it is wrong and makes people worry. We need the doctors to interpret the blood work. It should also be noted that doctors will not interpret lab values over the phone as it really sets them up for law suits. The bottom line is to stay calm.  GEt an appt with a doctor and do not assume that you are dying. Good luck. Irish

[slccom]

I second Irish's post, and add that researching side effects of medications will sometimes cause them. Take what you are preseciribed with optimism, and if something develops that is distressing, only then look and see if it is a known side effect.

Don't panic!
Sharon

[IllnDontWantAPill]

Hi all,

Thanks for the responses! Jazzlover: My WBC was 2 points under the low end of the range I believe. To cremer, my SSA was off and it was 8.0 and my ANA was positive abnormal then titered which showed SSA being off at a very high 8.0 Thanks Sharon and Irish, Joe S and everyone else!

To everyone else, thank you for the feedback. I didn't have any injury to my knees so who knows what it is. One feels like a cyst but the other doesn't.

Also I don't research side effects. I never look anymore. I take the drug and don't read the insert. It's not until I DEVELOP a symptom that is bothersome that I start researching. I don't wanna know and in the past, knowing side effects hasn't been good for me or my anxiety.

[mshistory]

Regarding the low WBC, Sjogren's can cause it and Plaquenil can too, although it's more likely the Sjogren's itself.

My lupus causes severe leukopenia at times and it's not a lymphoma concern at all. It's part of the disease process, unfortunately and what's really tricky is that some of the medications we use to treat these diseases can cause leukopenia as well.

An elevated CRP and low WBC are most likely the result of a flare as that's very common to see markers of inflammation increase and red blood cell and white blood cell values decrease.

[susanep]

Very good responses everyone. Reading them all helped me too. Sometimes we all just need to hear these things.

I hope it was all helpful to others too.

susanep