Iron and C-reactive protein levels?

[BoyMama2000]

Hi Everyone,

It has been a long time since I last posted. My son (now 14, 9 months) was diagnosed with Crohn's disease last November and we are going for our 1 year appointment with endocrine and GI next week.

We are thrilled to say that he has finally entered early puberty at his August appointment (his voice dropped about a month ago), and after only growing 1/2 inch in the 18 months prior to diagnosis and having no weight gain in 2.5 years,he has grown about 4.5 inches and gained 28 lbs!

That being said, we just did his blood work and his GI doc said we can now stop taking iron. I was wondering if that was a good idea because his iron has gone from 61(May, 12) to 148 (Aug 12) to 98 (Nov 12). He is in the normal range but takes 2 60mg tabs per day right now and I fear it will get low again if we take him off. It took 9 months to get him into normal range. He aso has a c-reactive protein out of range for the first time. He was 0.6 (norm 0-1.0) in August ad is 1.3 (norm 0-1.0) now.

Are these just mild fluctuations or could we be missing something. I should say that I realized he was not taking all of his pentasa. He has been good for the past 5 weeks but I realized that it took us 2-3 months to go through a 30 day script. We spoke with him and now put all of his meds and supplements in a Sun-Sat am/pm container. This is working well!

I should also say that he has never had any abnormal bowels or stomach discomfort. His only sign was a lack of growth and puberty. His Crohn's is limited to the last inch of his terminal ileum. For this he is lucky for now but I am curious if his "med break" has caused these changes or if this is still something to celebrate and should we take him off of the iron.

Thanks for your advice as people with experience. We do love his docs at the IBD clinic and his endocrine clinic but I thought I would like to be best prepared for our next appointment and hear what you all think!

Mom to 3 boys
middle with Crohns
Pentasa 2000mg/day (1,000mg twice daily)
Multi-vitamin
Iron 130 mg per day (65 twice daily)
Carlson's Fish Oil, 1 tsp daily

 

[Jennifer]

A normal CRP is from 0-4 so a 1.3 is still within the normal range. CRP includes inflammation throughout the body so if there's any in the joints it will show up in the CRP as well.

As for the iron it's in the normal range. I know I stopped taking it when I was around his age and didn't see much of a change until my next flare. If he does go off of it just retest in a month to see if its going down.

Has he had his B12 tested?

Sounds like things are going very well! Keep up the good work!

 

[Catherine]

Did you son cease taking iron before the testing. Some doctors recommend no iron supplement for at least three days before testing.

 

[BoyMama2000]

We have not stopped taking the iron prior to testing. I don't think that iron bood levels would be effected by that because it takes such a long period to build up in the blood but I will ask if we missed something. They did test his B12 intially and it was normal. His Vit D was as well. Thy re-tested the D this time but that did not come in yet.

Crabby - You mentioned the normal range is 0-4 but his lab report said normal range was 0-1. Could each lab be different or is the range listed just a bit more rigid that most of the doctor's. I know that happens a lot!

Thanks for your input.

nancy

 

[Clash]

I think your lab is using a different unit of measurement. One of the labs we used had a normal range of 0-1 and it was that their unit of measurement was different that the one that has a normal range of 0-4. Also there is hs-Crp which is like higher sensitivity test or something.

 

[Jennifer]

Its possible it could be either a different unit of measurement or its also possible that that's what they call normal. I have a doctor who feels it must be 0 otherwise he treats the inflammation even if its in the normal range of 0-4. Might want to ask his GI specifically.