Often, many literally suddenly begin to feel dizzy, the pulse noticeably quickens, and quite noticeable weakness appears. Such simple, at first glance, symptoms can indicate various diseases, including a terrible diagnosis called leukopenia. What is it?
General information
Under this terrible disease, experts mean a consistent decrease in the number of leukocytes in the very blood of a person. Note that this diagnosis is not limited to humans. There are cases when leukopenia was diagnosed in cats and dogs. According to the standards existing in medicine, 1 mm of blood of an absolutely he althy adult is saturated with approximately 5000-8000 leukocytes. However, with this disease, their number decreases to 4000. Doctors are alarmed by the fact that today the younger generation is increasingly diagnosed with leukopenia. What it is? What provokes the disease? This is what we will tell you in as much detail as possible in this article.
Causes of leukopenia
- With congenital formsof this disease, very often the cause of the development of pathology is various kinds of genetic defects.
- Aplastic anemia, myelofibrosis.
- In oncological ailments, blood leukopenia is mainly formed as a result of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
- Metastases of a malignant neoplasm in the bone marrow, various tumor diseases of the blood.
- Some groups of infections (e.g. sepsis, parvovirus B19, histoplasmosis, tuberculosis, malaria, Epstein-Barr virus, etc.).
- Various metabolic disorders in the body itself, including deficiency of vitamin B12, copper, folic acid, disorders of the deposition of the so-called glycogen type 2b.
- Taking non-chemotherapeutic drugs that are used in intensive care.
- Often, the disease 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 leukocyte. Note that if the entire bone marrow was affected, then the negative impact affects absolutely all types of existing 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 do not manifest themselves clearly. Patients begin to complain of dizziness, constant weakness, fatigue and headaches. Most of the time, people don't pay enough attention to these things.signs, as they are attributed to stress or ordinary fatigue 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 taking blood tests for preventive purposes. Over time, the symptoms change somewhat. According to experts, the features of the clinical picture itself in this case depend mainly on which specific leukocytes are missing in the body. For example, with a low content of so-called granulocytes, the body's immune defenses consistently weaken, which, in turn, is no longer able to resist various infections and viruses. As a result, patients experience infectious diseases and simply inflammatory processes, manifested in the form of chills, fever, enlarged tonsils. So, some people have small sores on the oral mucosa, pneumonia develops. On the other hand, with a lack of agranulocytes in patients, the spleen enlarges, some glands swell, and other symptoms from concomitant diseases join.
Classification
At the moment, experts distinguish two types of this disease:
1. Absolute variant - characterized by a significant decrease in the content of white blood cells in the blood (much below the limit).
2. Redistributive leukopenia. What it is? In this case, the number of leukocytes primarily decreases because they accumulate in the internal organs (sohappens, say, with anaphylactic shock).
Diagnosis
- To diagnose the disease, first of all, an accurate count of the number of blood neutrophils is necessary. Note that determining only the leukocytes 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, both red blood cells and platelets need to be counted and monitored.
- Quite often, specialists prescribe an additional examination of the bone marrow punctate for the purpose of differential diagnosis and determination of the cause that provoked the development of this disease.
- When the diagnosis is unclear, as a rule, the blood is examined for rheumatoid factor, antinuclear bodies, vitamin B12 levels, etc.
Leukopenia, anemia and thrombocytopenia are often interrelated, which already indicates the presence of tumor diseases in the body. As a result, the diagnosis is confirmed by the detection of so-called blast cells directly in the peripheral blood or in the bone marrow itself.
What should be the treatment?
As a rule, the patient's struggle with this disease is very fierce, since it does not disappear after several courses of injections or taking pills. Nevertheless, we note that treatment implies the use of drugs. Drugs for leukopenia are selected individually. Most often, experts prescribe means that contribute tothe formation of leukocytes. All of them are conventionally 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, Leukogen, 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. Quite often they are prescribed to those patients who also have various kinds of oncological diseases. Among the drugs in this category, one can name Sagramostim, Lenograstim, Filgrastim, etc.
Alternative medicine and leukopenia
What is this? What is this disease that cannot be cured with folk remedies?
Indeed, today in our country there are 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. It's all aboutthat some modern drugs simply cannot be effective when taken in parallel with traditional medicine. However, it is believed that motherwort, field horsetail and knotweed are the most effective in the problem we are considering.
Need to diet
According to experts, proper nutrition with a diagnosis of leukopenia is another step towards a speedy recovery. It is recommended to eat those foods that contain a large amount 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 diet of a sick person should include the following products daily: fruits and vegetables, fresh herbs, berries. It is better to avoid excessive consumption of meat. Of course, alcoholic products, fast food and other "unhe althy" foods are strictly prohibited.
Possible consequences
Leukopenia is cancer. Today, many people think so, and they are fundamentally mistaken. It is not cancer, but also a serious disease. If you have been diagnosed with such a diagnosis, in no case should you 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 go unnoticed for other systems of internal organs. Perhaps the most unpleasant consequence is the weakening of the immune defenseorganism. As a result, many infections and viruses will attack you quite often. In addition, with this diagnosis, the likelihood of acquiring a tumor disease and AIDS almost doubles.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be noted that this kind of pathology is really unpleasant, and great efforts are required to combat it both on the part of the patient himself and on the part of the attending physicians. But a diagnosis is not a sentence. It is very important not to lose heart. There is a disease, but there is also a desire to fight. Which of these sides will be sick - she will win.
