C reactive protein

[Lizette]

If you have the C reactive protein high, does that mean you have inflammation? same as the Sed Rate.
As I was checking Michaels blood tests the C reactive has always been in normal range and the Sed rate the same. I thought if you have higher levels it means there is inflammation somewhere consistent on Crohns and UC.

 

[smt]

CRP and Sed Rate are non-specific indicators of inflammation. They are not confirmatory tests for IBD. Can you please write down the exact values of his CRP, Sed Rate and other bloods with their units? The normal range of CRP is 0-5 mg/l (can vary with lab).

 

[my little penguin]

Ds has normal sed rate and crp even prior to dx
Crp measures inflammation that is recent - typically short period of time and sed rate longer inflammation
Sed rate drops slower than crp
Both can be raised from infection or inflammation else where in the body
For Ds crohns flare does not raise his blood markers
It does raise his fecal caloprotectin levels
Fecal cal is specfic To the gut but not limited to crohns

It's hard being in limbo without a dx

Hopefully the scope and imaging ( mre) will bring you answers soon

 

[crohnsinct]

Could be IBD or could be anything else going on in the body...a recent illness, a psoriasis flare, even an injury. Also sometimes they raise and go right back down at the next test and you never know the reason.

I would say a raise in levels corresponding to an increase in symptoms would prompt a closer look...say with a fecal calprotectin test and/ or a look inside.

 

[Charlotte.]

I always had normal crp and normal to slightly elevated sed rate (not significantly, so no one cared about the sed rate), even before my arthritis diagnosis where I had inflammation in nearly every joint. Some bodies seem to be good at hiding that something goes wrong.

 

[kimmidwife]

My o,dear daughters doesn't really fluctuate with her disease at all. My younger daughters did fluctuate before diagnosis a little bit.

 

[Mehita]

You might want to consider tracking his labs in a spreadsheet over time to help you figure out what are good indicators for him and what his "normal" is. For example, CRP has historically been a good indicator of inflammation for my son, but the tricky part was that while he was still in the normal range, he was at the high end of the normal range and having severe symptoms. It took me a long time to convince our former GI that something was wrong because the darn CRP was never high enough to catch anyone's attention.

That being said, at his last infusion, his Sed and CRP were high (but normal), but he also had swollen lymph nodes in his neck from a sore throat and virus he had. So, like the others have said, those labs aren't specific to IBD, and you have to look at the bigger picture sometimes.