Blood work

[mg12061]

My daughter has been having some issues I mentioned in another post. Butt pain, belly bloat, "itchy" hands and feet, burning hand. She saw her GI last week and he did an Xray to be sure her cecostomy flush was working and there was no blockage. Her belly was a bit hard. He also ordered some stool tests for infection, white blood cells and blood. I don't think I could tell if she had blood in her stools because there is so much food in her stools. This has increased also. The xray came back normal so no bockage but he now has ordered blood work. I don't know what tests yet because he's sending the script in the mail. Does this sound like it will help us to know if she's having a flare of Crohns? What blood work do some of you have to determine if i's a flare. She's been on ASacol(Delzico now) since her diagnosis almost 3 years ago and hasn't had a flare.
Mary

 

[Cross-stitch gal]

I'm sorry to hear that she seems to be having troubles again. I'm afraid that I really don't know for sure the things to help you in this. However, can honestly say that I can understand the frustrations of wanting to be taken care of. Here is something I found that I'm hoping might have some info for you. Sending many hugs your way.


http://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/crohns-disease/crohns-disease-diagnosis

 

[araceli]

Sedation rate will tell if inflammation is going on, also Crp. Some in here can know with the fecal calprotectin test.. Asacol stopped working for my daughter after a while. Best wishes.

 

[DustyKat]

As araceli has said, the blood inflammatory are:

ESR and CRP. These will show if there is inflammation present but it will not show where that inflammation is located.

A Faecal calprotectin/lactoferrin stool test will show if there is inflammation present and being faecal it will be inflammation from the bowel only.

A CBC will show if there is an infection present via the white cell count component of the test. If the white cell count (they are cells that fight infection) is raised then it may indicate a flare as infection often accompanies a flare.

If Crohn’s affects the small bowel then deficiencies in the Iron Stores, B12, Vit D, Magnesium and or Zinc may indicate that these aren’t being absorbed and so would point to either scar tissue or inflammation being present.

Included in Iron Stores is a component called Ferritin. If this is elevated then it can indicate that chronic inflammation is present somewhere in the body.

Hope that helps.

Dusty. xxx