Blood Test Results

My CBCs were all normal, except the WBC (white blood count). My naturopath doc believed the low WBC was caused by B12 and/or folate deficiency, which was caused by long undiagnosed celiac disease. However, after 2 months of taking high doses of folate and B12, my WBC went from 3.2 to 3.0. The normal range is 4.0 to 10.7. Over the past 3 years my WBC dropped significantly. That suggests multiple gastrointestinal infections, not vitamin deficiency, decreased the WBC.

The CBC good news is that my MCHC (mean corpuscular hemoglobin count) increased into the 'normal' (albeit low normal) range. So eating more iron rich foods was enough to raise that result. If raising B12 levels can increase my WBC, I suspect I will need B-12 injections, because taking supplements did not work.

I also wonder if I have some other latent bacterial infection. I tested positive for TB as a child and again in my late 20s for TB. Fortunately my lung x-rays never showed signs of TB infection. (My last lung x-ray was in late February of this year.) Nevertheless, I wonder whether carrying that latent bacteria could affect my WBC results.

My thyroglobulin antibody test (TAB) was <0.9 (normal range is 0.0 to 4.0). That score says I don't have antibodies attacking my thyroid. My thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOab) test result was 53 (normal range is 0.0 to 60). That result suggests I have some antibodies, but within the normal range. People with celiac disease often have Hashimoto's thyroiditis in which antibodies attack their thyroid. Gluten reactions create antibodies which attack the intestines in celiac disease as well as other parts of the body for other autoimmune diseases. Because I have not consumed gluten for over 5 years, I assumed those scores would be low.

My other thyroid results were both good and questionable. My THS was much lower (after taking Levoxyl for 2 months), going from 3.71 to 0.797. However my free T4 did not increase much (from 1.09 to 1.19), even though I've been taking a T4 supplement. The 'normal' T4 range is 0.9 to 1.8. My total T3 was 66, which is lower than the normal range of 70 to 170. My free T3 result was 2.09, which wasalso lower than normal range of 2.4 to 4.4. Those T3 scores make me wonder whether my body has difficulty converting T4 to T3. Perhaps that difficulty explained my lack of significant improvement after taking a T4 supplement for 2 months.

I made an appointment with my doc to discuss my low results. I especially want to ask whether B12 injections will increase my WBC and prevent my chronic respiratory infections. I get cold symptoms (sore throat, runny nose, fatigue) every afternoon. I also want to discuss the low T3 scores.