Blood results

[IdasMum]

Wonder whether anyone can give an idea of what these results mean,

ESR = after 1 hr 6mm (was 15 in April)

ESR = after 2nd hour 15mm (was 36 in April).

CRP = 5.3mg/L (was 6.5 in April).

All else looks okay, difficult as all in French. Will see Dr this week as I need more analgesia...and will make an appt with rheumy for the next week or two.

[piglette]

Looks like your ESR (0-20) and CRP (0-5) are pretty well within normal levels. My CRP was 123.3 when I was diagnosed! ESR and CRP measure your inflammation levels and having raised figures can indicate PMR. Taking pred should reduce the inflammation and the CRP and ESR results, so your doctor can see if things are working OK. It is normal to have the levels checked on a regular basis, which helps when you start to reduce the pred. Some people never have raised levels at all which can cause problems in diagnosis.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

All look fine - but why do you need more analgesia? It is very unusual for other pain-killers to work in PMR - you take the dose of pred you need to achieve maximum pain-relief.

[IdasMum in reply to PMRpro]

Neck pain....doesn't really ever disappear and has been almost constant since late June. Have had intermittent neck pain for many years due to arthritis...now worsening and is helped by a French equivalent of Co-Codamol.

Have a referral today for physio, my physio who uses Bowen technique is not available until 20/09 so have 10 sessions booked with her from then and will infill with osteopath in the meantime.

The Dr says this morning that 2 of 3 signals show I have PMR but my blood markers are off....however he agrees I more than likely have PMR and once I have seen the rheumy will carry on on the steroid regime.....he talked of 9 months to a year.....I will have more to say to him about that as time goes on...he's still convinced I can come down in 2mg steps no problem....again, I will continue to taper more slowly.