Inner Protection of Body

You may protect yourself from all diseases by taking precautionary measures. And someone is doing the same inside your body and they are the white blood cells. White blood cells are a very important part of the blood system; other components of the blood system are plasma, platelets and red blood cells. White blood cells account for only 1 percent of your blood but they are very significant.

These cells are continually at war with the diseases in the body and act as immunity cells. They rush up to the part of the body which is under attack and destroy the harmful substance. They are constantly made by bone marrow because some of these cells have a short lifespan for only one to three days.

White Blood Cell Count

White blood cell counts differ from age to age. Having higher white blood cell count than expected maybe because of some disorder in your body. The normal range of white blood cells is 3500 to 10500 per microliter of blood. High WBC count is seen in infants but it lowers with the passage of time and ultimately reaches the normal range of white blood cells. At the time of birth, they have 9,000 to 30,000 white blood cells which will gradually decrease. Similarly, women at the time of pregnancy have 12,000 to 15,000 white blood cells.

6 Main Causes of High White Blood Cell

Having a high white blood cell count is very dangerous sometimes. high white blood cell count isn't a specific disease, but it can indicate another problem, such as infection, inflammation, trauma, allergy, or other certain diseases, and you will need the professional diagnosis. What causes a high white blood cell count? Well, we are going to discuss it.

1. Exercise

If you are going for a blood test immediately after intense exercise, the white blood cells will be greatly increased. Intense sports, hard workouts and other demanding exercises can raise the white blood cells up to 200 to 300%. These levels then decrease after a few hours.

2. Smoking

Smoking heavily may cause lung or airway diseases, like chronic bronchitis or emphysema. These conditions relate to blockages of the airways and hence make breathing difficult. Inflammation causes an increase in white cells.

3. Infection

Viruses or bacteria, which cause infection, multiply in the blood. Your bone marrow then produces more white blood cells in order to fight against these bacteria and viruses.

4. Reaction to one or more drugs

There are some medicines which can trigger an increase of white blood cells in the blood. The medications used to treat inflammation, cancer and mental health conditions mostly increase the number of white blood cells in the body. For example, Lithium is used for the treatment of bipolar disorder and it signals the immune system to produce more white blood cells.

5. Immune system disorder

The white blood cells can also elevate due to some autoimmune disorders like Graves and Crohns. The doctor closely monitors your white blood cells, if you are having one of these diseases, because there is a possibility of an increase in the white blood cells.

6. Leukemia

Leukemia is also a type of cancer which increases the number of white blood cells in the body. The white blood cells of leukemia are mostly non-functional which increases the risk of infections in the patients suffering from cancer. But there are a just few cases related with it.

Remedies to Lower WBC

1. Lifestyle changes

• Quit smoking

White blood cells count in smokers are more than those of ex-smokers or non-smokers. The white blood cells count in the smokers depends on the number of cigarettes they smoked, the duration of smoking and the amount of inhalation. All these could increase the their count in your body. The best way you can do is to quit smoking if you want to decrease it.

• Exercise

Intense sports, hard workouts and other demanding exercises can raise the white blood cells up to 200 to 300%. These levels then decrease after a few hours. You can keep the levels low by doing less intense exercise to cool yourself down gradually. For example, you can have a brisk walk after doing a fast jog.

• Losing weight

The increase in the white blood cells is also linked to obesity. Obesity is associated with chronic inflammation and the increase in white blood cells is associated with the inflammatory conditions. Lose some weight to reduce the inflammation in the body which will decrease the elevated count of white blood cells.

2. Medical treatments

There are some medical treatments for high blood cell counts. You'd better consult the experts and they can conduct specific tests to diagnose the problem first, then recommend medicines.

• Treatment for digestive conditions

The doctors will refer you to the appropriate specialist if the high white blood cell count is due to some digestive or arthritis issue. The specialist can recommend you some changes in your diet and some medications as well to reduce the white blood cells count. The medications used for arthritis and digestive issues are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids and most disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

• Treatment for infection

If there is some kind of infection, the doctor is going to recommend you some antibiotic or antiviral medicines, including Ciprofloxacin (Ciproxin), Moxifloxacin (Avelox), Levofloxacin, Norfloxacin, Nalidixic acid and Ofloxacin (Tarivid) to treat these infections. Strictly follow the instructions of the doctor regarding the usage. If you are not feeling better with this medication, stop it first and schedule another appointment with the doctor so that he can make some changes in the medicines.

Summary

Our body needs inner and outer protection for good health. The increase in the white blood cells is very dangerous for the body. The increase can be due to stress or some reaction of drugs as well. Smoking also causes an increase in the white blood cells. You can counter the increase by changing your lifestyle or using some medications as well. More insight about the high blood cells count, watch this video.