Blood Markers

[enen]

Do flares always show in your blood markers? I am aching again yet my blood results this time are ok but they were very high before I began the Pred. Can you have aches and pains again with PMR without your blood markers reflecting this?

[polkadotcom]

Speaking as someone who has never had raised inflammation markers, I had to on flare symptoms alone. And remember, the blood test results don't always show how you feel now - they lag behind in most cases.

[Annodomini]

It's true that you can have a flare without raised inflammatory markers but it's also true that raised CRP can be a result of something else, like an infection - in my case, I suspect a chronic sinus infection.

[SusanEleven in reply to Annodomini]

My CRP rose from normal to 11 when I got hit with both a nasty sinus infection and a PMR flare at about the same time. CRP was down to 8 when the sinus treatment was completed.

CRP was in the 30s when my PMR was first diagnosed and the aches and pains were brutal.

[Celtic PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Elstep, it really depends on the person. My blood tests always mirrored what was going on in my body right through from diagnosis to remission with PMR/GCA, and proved a very helpful guide when reducing. However, that isn't necessarily always the case for everyone, and in some cases the blood test results can lag behind the symptoms. For this reason, being guided by the symptoms is the best advice. Mainly you just need to be aware of whether you might be experiencing an actual flare in the inflammation or whether you might just have steroid withdrawal symptoms, ie if your pain worsens immediately after reducing a dose it could just be withdrawal pain in which case it should improve after a few days. However, if pain starts to increase about a week or more following a reduction in dose and continues to build, that can point to a flare and you will need to go back to the previous dose at which you were comfortable to get it under control.

[30048]

I have GCA and PMR and I had a flare when my sed rate was three. It is called atypical I believe. The prednisone can alter your blood results so you have to go by your symptoms . Your blood usually catches up but you need to be alert .

[PMRpro Ambassador]

In some cases the ESR/CRP don't rise again as long as the patient is on pred - depends on the person.

But remember, you can have aches and pain that aren't directly PMR but due to what I call the "add-ons" such as MPS or piriformis syndrome. They don't typically raise either marker.