Can a flare up of irritable bowel cause an elevated wbc count?

Yes: But other things can do it too. Better check with your doc who probably ordered the blood testing already.

Irritable bowel syn: Drome is a complex medical problem because there really is no test for it, and rather, it is a diagnosis of exclusion. Many have tried to adopt clinical and laboratory criteria to its diagnosis, without success. An elevated WBC count neither rules in or out a diagnosis of ibs. The same is true for routine metabolic panels. Indeed, sometimes these tests help rule in another organic diagnosis.