I’ve just had my blood results back and my ESR is 27 (was 29 last check) CPR 28 (this has gone up from previous 21). The strange thing is I am feeling much better! I’ve been lucky enough to stop working and take better care of myself. I’ve reduced to 9.5mg Pred from 15mg in end of March/April 2021 and was hoping to reduce to 9mg from next week. My fingers, arms and hands are a lot less stiff and I can walk up to 10,000 steps per day without sore and swollen ankles, achy legs and worrying how I’m going to feel the next day. I still suffer if I carry too much or overdue gardening or housework but, I feel I am getting to know my illness better and can heed the warning signs. However I’m wondering if I have another underlying condition which could cause the raised inflammation markers. Any thoughts from any of you experts out there would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you 😀
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Pangolin43
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Hello thank you for prompt response. At diagnosis ESR 68 CRP 84. ESR is at it’s lowest now at 27. CRP was at it’s lowest at 21 in august 2021 and has crept up a bit to 27.
My rheumatologist says that the clinical picture overall is good and said the raised CRP result makes no sense! Hmmm
If they aren't going down fast enough for her - she shouldn't have reduced your dose so fast and so far. The pred sorts out the inflammation - you have to buy a lottery ticket to have a chance of winning!!
Yes I agree. Maybe this is a warning sign. She has requested that I move quickly to 9mg and then drop to 8mg as quickly as possible. I think this may be too quick.
It is usually recommended that reductions should not be appressively pursued until the inflammation markers had fallen significantly , preferably to close to normal range and ideally stablised. That is the only way you can tell if the pred is still enough to combat all the daily dose of inflammation created each morning. If you are already at too low a dose - they won't, can't fall further. The dripping tap of inflammation isn't dripping, it is running freely.
Thank you.. I think I’ll take it very slowly and watch my symptoms closely. I may experience a flare, even though I do feel so much better than I did. I guess it’s tempting to move things along when your feeling ok.. it’s hard to know whether to follow rheumatologist’s wishes?
Oo help! Under 10mg I could only drop by half mg every month even tho my bloods are always low, 4 & 7. I manage the pred myself according to how I feel then no pressure from rheumie or GP.
You need 2 or 3 to see if there’s a trend…sometimes it can be a one-off blip, that seemingly has no rhyme nor reason.
Happened to me after I’d come off Pred, but because of my history with GCA, surgery went into a bit of a panic……never sure what it was, but I put it down to 2 joint replacement operations within 6 months and a short short flu-like virus that lasted about 36 hours…..might be right, might be wrong…
Hope yours is nothing …..but keep us informed please..
My inflammation markers have never been as low as yours. CRP around 30 and ESR in the 50s. Every now and then they shoot up over 100 for no reason. I have had various tests for cancer and heart failure etc but all negative. My GP thinks it is just me! I often feel it would be nice to know why they are so high, but so far no one has suggested why they are.
That’s interesting because my ESR is usually 60-70 and CRP 9-10. My IGA stays elevated but recently started on Hydroxychloroquine and aspirin And my ESR had gone to 37, which is the lowest it’s been. I luckily don’t have more than general aches and pain but nothing I could not handle before HCQ. I am also Lupus Coagulant positive. They keep telling me it was just me but now they don’t know.
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hello all, for those working, trying to be pragmatic (big word that 😉)
Feeling very despondent
Recovery from surgery 
Update to symptoms dropping from 30 to 25 and weird visual symptom
Reducing from 7mg to 6.5mg.
