Often, many literally suddenly begin to feel dizzy, the pulse is noticeably quicker, and a rather noticeable weakness appears. Such simple, at first glance, symptoms can speak of various diseases, including a terrible diagnosis called leukopenia. What it is?
general information
Under this terrible disease, specialists mean a consistent decrease in the number of white blood cells in the human blood itself. Note that this diagnosis is not only found in humans. There are cases when leukopenia was diagnosed in cats and dogs. According to current medical standards, 1 mm of blood of a completely healthy adult is saturated with approximately 5000-8000 white blood cells. However, with this disease, their number decreases to 4000. Doctors are concerned about the fact that today the younger generation is increasingly diagnosed with leukopenia. What it is? What triggers the ailment? This is what we will describe in the most detail in this article.
Causes of Leukopenia
- With congenital forms of this disease, very often the cause of the development of pathology is various kinds of genetic defects.
- Aplastic anemia, myelofibrosis.
- With oncological ailments, blood leukopenia is mainly formed due to chemo- and radiation therapy.
- Metastases of malignant neoplasms in the bone marrow, various tumor blood diseases.
- Some groups of infections (for example, sepsis, parvovirus B19, histoplamosis, tuberculosis, malaria, Epstein-Barr virus, etc.).
- A variety of metabolic disorders in the body itself, including a deficiency of vitamin B12, copper, folic acid, impaired deposition of the so-called glycogen type 2b.
- Taking non-chemotherapeutic drugs that are used in intensive care.
- Often, an ailment develops as a result of hypoplasia of any particular area of the bone marrow. In this case, it manifests itself in the form of a decrease in the production of only one type of white blood cell. Note that if the entire bone marrow was affected, then the negative effect already affects absolutely all types of available white blood cells.
Clinical picture
First of all, it should be noted that at the initial stage of the development of the disease, clinical symptoms are not manifested at all. Patients begin to complain of dizziness, persistent weakness, fatigue and headaches. Most often, people do not have to pay attention to such symptoms, since they attribute them to stress or normal tiredness after the next working day. However, the disease does not stand still, but progresses. As a rule, at the initial stage, it is diagnosed very rarely, only when blood tests are taken for preventive purposes. Symptoms change over time. According to experts, the features of the clinical picture in this case mainly depend on what specific white blood cells are missing in the body. For example, with a low content of the so-called granulocytes, the body's immune defense is gradually weakening, which, in turn, is no longer able to withstand various kinds of infections and viruses. As a result, patients experience infectious ailments and simply inflammatory processes, manifested in the form of chills, fever, and tonsils. So, some have small sores on the oral mucosa, pneumonia develops. On the other hand, with a lack of agranulocytes in patients
, the spleen increases, some glands swell, and other symptoms from concomitant diseases also join.
Classification
At the moment, experts distinguish two types of this disease:
1. The absolute option - is characterized by a significant decrease in the content of white blood cells in the blood (much lower than the limit value).
2. Redistributive leukopenia. What it is? In this case, the number of white blood cells decreases primarily because they accumulate in the internal organs (this happens, say, with anaphylactic shock).
Diagnostics
- For the diagnosis of the disease, an accurate count of the number of blood neutrophils is necessary in the first place. Note that determining exclusively the white blood cells themselves to confirm the diagnosis will be extremely insufficient. The thing is that with some diseases the number of the aforementioned neutrophils will be sharply reduced, while the number of leukocytes remains within the normal range. In addition, the counting and monitoring of both red blood cells and platelets is also necessary.Leukopenia, anemia and thrombocytopenia are often interconnected, which already indicates the presence of tumor diseases in the body. The diagnosis as a result is confirmed by the detection of so-called blast cells directly in the peripheral blood or the bone marrow itself.
- Quite often, experts prescribe an additional study of bone marrow punctate in order to differential diagnosis and determine the cause of the development of this disease.
- With an unclear diagnosis, as a rule, blood is tested for rheumatoid factor, antinuclear bodies, vitamin B12 levels, etc.
What should be the treatment?
As a rule, the patient’s struggle with this ailment is very fierce, since he does not disappear after several courses of injections or taking pills. Nevertheless, we note that treatment implies the taking of medicines. Drugs for leukopenia are selected individually. Most often, experts prescribe drugs that contribute to the formation of white blood cells. All of them are conditionally divided into two groups. The first includes drugs that activate all metabolic reactions in the body and positively affect the processes of humoral and
cellular immunity (for example, "Pentoxyl", "Leucogen", "Methyluracil", etc.). In addition, all of them significantly accelerate the process of regeneration of the cells themselves. The second group consists of drugs obtained through modern genetic engineering. They are considered analogues of the so-called granulocyte colony stimulating factor. So, these medicines stimulate the formation of both lymphocytes and granulocytes equally. Very often they are prescribed to those patients who also have various kinds of cancer. Among the drugs in this category can be called "Sagramostim", "Lenograstim", "Filgrastim", etc.
Alternative medicine and leukopenia
What it is? What is this disease that cannot be cured with folk remedies?
Indeed, today in our country there remains a large number of patients who do not trust traditional medicine, preferring the recipes of our grandmothers. Of course, officially, medicine does not prohibit the use of all kinds of herbs and infusions along with proven drugs. However, in this case, it is still worthwhile to warn your doctor about such a decision in advance and consult with him. The thing is that some modern medicines simply cannot be effective when taken concurrently with traditional medicine. Nevertheless, it is believed that motherwort, field horsetail and knotweed are most effective in the problem we are considering.
Diet need
According to experts, proper nutrition in the diagnosis of leukopenia is another step towards a speedy recovery. It is recommended to eat foods that contain a large number of vitamins, amino acids, including folic and ascorbic. The thing is that it is these substances that most favorably affect the synthesis of hemoglobin, as well as the consistent and proper maturation of the cells themselves. Without fail, the following foods should be included in the diet of a sick person daily: fruits and vegetables, fresh herbs, berries. It is better to abandon excessive consumption of meat. Of course, alcohol, fast food and other “unhealthy” foods are strictly prohibited.
Possible consequences
Leukopenia is cancer. Today, many people think so, and are fundamentally mistaken. This is not cancer, but also a serious illness. If you have been diagnosed with this, you should never despair. Of course, it will not be possible to get rid of it instantly, it will take some time. Experts also warn that this kind of pathology does not pass without a trace for the remaining systems of internal organs. Perhaps the most unpleasant consequence is the weakening of the body's immune defenses. As a result, many infections and viruses will attack you quite often. In addition, with this diagnosis, the probability of acquiring a tumor disease and AIDS is almost doubled.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be noted that this kind of pathology is really unpleasant, and tremendous efforts are required to deal with it both on the part of the patient himself and on the part of the attending physicians. But the diagnosis is not a sentence. It is very important not to lose heart. There is a disease, but there is a desire to fight. On which of these sides will be sick - that will win.