Knowing my body, Part 2

When I drop this medical knowledge on you, I hope it's interesting.

It functions as a way of detaching myself from the worry, and also happens as an aspect of my researching everything and trying to comprehend it perfectly. That may be a means of control, but I really do like knowing stuff. That can be motivation enough.

These days, I wish more people were pro medical knowledge.

Regardless, your fun fact for now is that red blood cells -- or erythrocytes -- are all pretty similar, and vastly outnumber the white blood cells. I suppose that means that carrying oxygen throughout the body via hemoglobin is a big job, but a fairly simple one.

The white blood cells, or leukocytes (there are different names and spellings for both colors of cells), are more complex. They have nuclei, which red blood cells and platelets don't. There are different types that have different functions, but those are all about what they fight.

I am going to link to a cool chart on that, because I do find it fascinating:

https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/white-blood-cell

However, I am mostly caught up in the eosinophils, which you can see are a type of granulocyte.

Remember that CBC test in January? I had made myself sick drinking so much water, but the phlebotomist still had trouble finding a vein, and I was irritated to find out that I had messed up my sodium levels. My doctor and the pharmacist also both asked me if I was having any allergies. Yeah, some. Nothing big.

There were enough other things going on that the question didn't really register.

Here is another thing that did not go well, though I don't know that anger was really the issue. I was checking MyChart for something, and I saw a consultation at another clinic which I hadn't done. I thought there had been a record-keeping mix-up, where someone else's appointment had accidentally been attached to my chart. No, my doctor had consulted with a hematologist, and those were the notes. 

Obviously I started researching. My eosinophil levels were too high. That is most commonly a response to allergies (that's why I was asked multiple times), parasites, or cancer. (Hematologists usually seem to be affiliated with cancer centers). 

The specialist had recommended testing again in twelve weeks, because my levels weren't that high, and I didn't have any accompanying symptoms. Because of that, it made sense that my doctor had not gotten back to me.

It wasn't how I wanted to find out, but there probably wasn't a good way to find out.

My eosinophil count was still high when it was next checked, though lower. That started a round of tests to try and narrow down a cause. 

1. I am negative for parasites.
2. I don't show any signs of cancer.
3. My occasional mild hay fever symptoms are not it.

Normally, you would treat the eosinophilia by treating the underlying cause. If you don't know the underlying cause, you let the symptoms that are present guide the testing. That only works if there are symptoms.

Maybe my levels would keep going down. I wasn't very far above average.

They went back up. It wasn't by a lot, but still, it is too high. 

One bad thing about having too high an immune response is that the accelerated wear and tear can cause organ damage over time, much like diabetes.

One of the other potential causes of the elevated eosinophil levels is a genetic mutation. It usually shows up before age 50, so that would be sneaking in just under deadline, but that's a possibility. If that's the issue, the common treatment to alleviate the damage is steroids. Guess what would be another thing likely to add weight while wreaking havoc on my blood sugar!

Also, it really looked like I might be getting a job where the insurance would require changing all of my doctors. (They never called.)

So, when the only path forward was starting lots of invasive tests -- some to look for other potential causes, others to assess how much damage was being done -- the correct answer seemed to be to pause. Wait and see if something happens. 

That's where I am now.

And, that's okay, because I have my own theory about what is going on. There is a logic to my theory, but there is not an obvious remedy for it.