About how long does it take for the white blood cell count to recover after taking antibiotics, especially if they are strong antibiotics?

It is difficult to determine recovery time for white blood cells. There are multiple reasons the body fights infection, plus medical conditions already present complicated by autoimmune diseases such as diabetes.

Why are you asking this? As Tickle said, there are many mitigating factors that affect your white blood count.

I am asking for a friend who had 3 courses of antibiotics w/ in a time span of approx. 3 months, and the last course was a strong one. Then a routine blood test done in the 3rd month showed his white blood cell count was low. They re-tested a month later and it still tested low. As far as I know he is going to have further testing done, but I did wonder if it could just be because of the antibiotic use and maybe needs some recovery time before more tests are done.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by vintagechick

I am asking for a friend who had 3 courses of antibiotics w/ in a time span of approx. 3 months, and the last course was a strong one. Then a routine blood test done in the 3rd month showed his white blood cell count was low. They re-tested a month later and it still tested low. As far as I know he is going to have further testing done, but I did wonder if it could just be because of the antibiotic use and maybe needs some recovery time before more tests are done.

---

Yes. I understand your point regarding too much antibiotic and recovery time. This is worthwhile bringing up with the doctor, but remember, some doctors don't like there treatments challenged.

It is a little like antibiotic creams being used too long on a wound, and the wound not responding because of this.

I just thought it might be wise to give it a little time to recover before they start any extensive testing on him. I had googled my question and only found 1 article on the subject which said it could take 3-30 days to recover. It has been a little over a month since my friend finished the antibiotics. I thought maybe since they were strong antibiotics and he is an older gentleman, that he possibly needed a little extra time over and above the said 30 days to recover before any more testing is done. Thanks for everyone's input! :-)

I think 30 days is a stretch considering my comments; and you do say an elder gentlemanwho probably doesn't have the normal recovery for anything because of his age. Not being disrespectful in saying this. I take care of the elderly.