Anyone find Inflammation markers in blood not reliable to diagnose flare up?

[Barbie]

Hi,

I have had crohns for 12 years since I was 12! Now 24. I just wondered if anyone has symptoms of a flare up and then the inflammation markers in the blood test don't show it up at all or until about a week later it goes sky high? It's very frustrating and just wondered if this happens very often to anyone else?

xx

 

[DustyKat]

Sure did with Roo. A week prior to her resection for a perforated and infarcted bowel her ESR and CRP were normal. Hmmmmm.......I would imagine her bowel was pretty inflamed at that point!

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I'm not sure exactly which blood tests they did on me, but during a recent flare I had some blood work done and it all came back totally normal. So I definitely do not trust the blood tests to give an accurate picture of what's going on in my guts. And I've heard that many blood tests often are inaccurate or give false positives (everyone in one branch of my family tree all has celiac disease, and they all got negative blood tests but then positive biopsies, so they told me to not trust blood tests because of things like that).

 

[BLM]

Yes, I believe blood markers are NOT a good indicator of flare....while I believe they can be helpful, they can also cause a lot of frustration. I went for years with this problem and NEVER did my markers come back high until this year when my symptoms became unbarable lading me in the hospital for weeks. I know Ive got inflamation because I have pain, but my markers came back normal recently.....weird~

 

[Procyon]

ESR seems so unreliable to me. Like, sometimes I'll be totally flaring, and they'll be like, "Well, your sed rate's good..." And sometimes I feel fine and they'll be like, "Your sed rate's kinda elevated." :S

 

[bethany84]

Yep I have found them pretty useless at times!!x

 

[chickpea]

Yup, same here.
During what I assume was my first flare last summer, all my bloods came back "normal".
In fact, my GP got quite exasperated with me and insisted that the blood tests don't lie.
WRONG!

Strangely enough, the last tests I had a month ago had raised markers...yet I felt ok.

I really wish GPs would look harder at symptoms and overall pictue, instead of waving blood results at us.

 

[Barbie]

YEP....WRONG WRONG WRONG lol sorry it really winds me up and what winds me up even more is that I knew all this but why the hell have I gone away listening to them the last four years!! I think it's cos deep down thats what I wanted to hear. They use the results when it suits them ....RAAAAA im an angry barbie lol xx

 

[chickpea]

YEP....WRONG WRONG WRONG lol sorry it really winds me up and what winds me up even more is that I knew all this but why the hell have I gone away listening to them the last four years!! I think it's cos deep down thats what I wanted to hear. They use the results when it suits them ....RAAAAA im an angry barbie lol xx

The fact that I KNEW a year ago I had IBD (don't ask how - I just did), but the doctors were insisting I didn't, was what sent me into a depressive/anxious state which resulted in being put on anti d's and packed off to a psychiatrist. Really, that first 4 or 5 months were the worst of my entire life - I thought I had lost the plot and just wanted someone to put me in hospital and knock me out until it was all over.

I know it doesn't do any good to dwell, but I am so furious that I was put through that needlessly. If anyone had listened, instead of telling me it was stress, I would be much further on the path to recovery now.

 

[CROHNS SUFFERER]

hi,

i dont show any signs of having crohns through my blood work. during major flaring last year, my crp remained normal, even though i was severely ill. i started flaring again last week. and once again my crp is normal. this is why ive had 5 colonoscopys in a year and an endoscopy. ive been told its quite rare for markers not to show, but hey, thats me. lol