Exactly HOW low is my low lymphocyte count?

Second resut on a google search, average range is 40–45%

This page says that less than 15% is considered “abnormally low”, and that there are several possible causes. I hope everything is ok!

If you have a lot of appointments coming up with a lot of different doctors then it can be very hard to keep a track of what you want to ask or need to know. You could try making a list of all the questions you want answering as you think about them and take it with you to your appointments. Its also an idea to make notes as the doc tells you stuff as well. Also don’t be afraid to go back to the clinic and ask if you’re unsure. Remember these guys are providing you with a service and part of that is helping you underatand what is wrong and they are doing to help you.

As for your result, yes it’s low but that single result on it’s own isn’t enough to tell if it’s a problem with lymphocytes or another WBC. Lymphocyte “counts” on a CBC are usually given in terms of a percentage of your WBC so your lymphocytes could stay at the same level, one of the other types of WBC increase and the percentage of lymphocytes decrease. (Does that make sense?).

What lightlyseared said.

Lymphocytopenia (Wikipedia)
What Is Lymphocytopenia? (NIH)

There’s something else on the CBC that says “lymphocytes Abs Result: 1.00 – Units: 10^9 – Reference Range: 1.00–4.00”. And at the very top, it says “WBC Result: 10.3 – Units: 10^9/L – Reference Range: 3.5–11.0”.

I guess I should wait to talk to a doc. I’m just…. Blah. Wish I knew more about this in general. Especially when I see “Low” next to my result.

10^9/L next to “lymphocyte Abs Unit. Forgot the ”/L.

Have you seen the graphics available on wikipedia regarding the CBC?

Here’s one regarding white blood cells specifically (click through for the large version).

And the whole panel.

The numbers are sometimes tough to interpret, especially when you’re throwing crazy units and varying scales in the mix. The graphics are no picnic either, but once you find what you’re looking for it might help get a feel for where you’re falling on the scale. It’s probably worth noting that they do say everything will vary by the test used, and the range given to you on the results is probably the best indicator.

Your absolute result sounds like it’s at the low portion of “normal”... so that combined with the low percentage overall would probably mean you’re “low” on lymphocytes overall.

The folks above know more about what that might mean, and where you’ll go from here, but from going through blood tests recently I found the graphics gave me a better feel for things overall than trying to interpret a number of results with varying scales, units, and ranges. Maybe they’ll give you a better feel for it as well.

Good luck with it, I hope you get some answers soon.

Isolated lymphopenia can be difficult to assess. If your overall WBC count is high, then your body is producing more leukocytes (the major white blood cell in the blood). When that happens, then you appear to have a relative lymphopenia which isn’t really significant. The real question is why you had the CBC drawn in the first place, and if the mildly reduced lymphocyte count is connected to an acute or chronic process, or if it is congenital. There are of course, a number of acquired causes of lymphopenia, the most famous being HIV. Congenital causes also exist, but these are quite rare and typically people with these problems have a life long history of unusual infections.

I had a CBC because really scary things are going on with my body, and no one can figure out why… or what… is wrong thus far.