CRP blood test

[Bladerun]

Hi

Does anyone know anything about the CRP blood test? I was given a blood test as had some inflammatory episode in iliopsoas and hips and the result was 45mm/l. Was told by GP ( despot the pain I was in! ) that no action would be taken! I wanted antibiotics just to see if they would help but I was refused them and told to wait and see what the next blood test result was!

[JHutton1994]

labtestsonline.org.uk/tests...

'A high or increasing amount of CRP in your blood suggests that you have an acute infection or inflammation but it does not help in identifying its location or the condition causing it'

Obviously assuming it's an infection before considering chronic conditions.

[Bladerun in reply to JHutton1994]

Thank you for getting back so quickly. I went to the GP in July with a problem in my psoas muscles. I was struggling to walk and after MRI scan a consultant told me I had suffered and Acute Inflammatory Episode of both psoas tendons which was not caused by injury. My GP had done a CRP blood test which came out as 45mm/l and I’m trying to understand if they ( my GPS ) should have acted on this information and tried antibiotics to see if they’d help

[fishonabike in reply to Bladerun]

Raised C reactive protein (CRP) levels mean that there is inflammation somewhere in your body.

Inflammation does not always involve infection, there are many inflammatory responses which do not involve infection, so antibiotics would not be helpful in these cases.

The usual treatment is pain relief and physiotherapy. The pain relief used often includes anti-inflammatories but these reduce the effectiveness of some heart drugs, so if you are taking any of these your GP would be reluctant to suggest them.

An NHS physiotherapy referral would involve a long wait, but there is plenty of online advice on the right stretches and exercises for this condition. You may need to wait until the pain has subsided quite a bit. If you can afford an appointment with a private physio that might get you started on the right track.

[Hammerboy]

I had open heart surgery in September and after leaving hospital I had regular blood tests which amongst other abnormal results showed a CRP reading of 59 . I was put on antibiotics by my GP but the level stayed high . I was quite unwell due to a bad reaction to the anaesthetic which caused me to lose my appetite leading to rapid weight loss of over 30 Ibs in two weeks . Things gradually improved and eventually the CRP returned to normal after about two months but nothing to do with medication it was just time and eating better

[Clarkee73]

I have recently been discharged from hospital a few weeks ago as I was gravely feeling unwell but to cut a long story short I had white cell count of 15 and my crp on admission was 46 rising to 99 the follow day and was given a concoction of antibioticsYour crp count shouldn't be much higher than 6 so you having a crp of 45 is extremely high and regardless of it identifying what or where it's high and should be treated as so it shows a high level of bacteria I,e infections in the blood.

[Bladerun in reply to Clarkee73]

Thank you. Well my CRP came down to 8 at last reading in late October. What I’m trying to establish is my GP response to my circumstances. The reading of 45 was taken a month after my first visit, until then I was just left to deal with the condition with no advice or even an explanation of what was going on. I can only assume that if the CRP test ( which was actually done by a GP from another clinic ) had been done on my first visit when I was hardly able to walk , it would probably have been considerably higher. I appreciate that we cant throw antibiotics at everyone who enters a GP practice but my gut feeling is that they should have at least given them a try given my circumstances at the time! I am or was a very active person ( yoga cycling rowing walking ) and getting back to my previous level of fitness has been a long haul , far longer , in my mind , than it should have taken and i lay the blame for that directly at the feet of my GP practice. I actually don’t think they either didn’t really hear me or gave a damn. The NHS are brilliant at saving people’s lives and really , what else should we expect one might ask?!

Thank you for all your replies