Help please

[Rudiguer]

Could anyone tell me what CRP 5 is please? My rheumatologist has sent me a letter and he has included the blood test results but it does not explain what this means. It is very difficult to make appointments with my gp so I would have to wait quite a lot before he can explain to me. I work full time and with so many appointments coming up I can't ask for more time off to see my GP. Could anyone let me know how to interpret this result, please? Thank you very much. I am feeling very anxious at the moment.

[Hidden]

Hi. CRP (C Reactive Protein) is a measure of inflammation. A level of 5 is normal. It will increase if there is severe inflammation in your body. My son has mixed connective tissue disease and his CRP was normal even when things were at their worst (and they were bad!!) when he was first diagnosed so having a normal CRP doesn’t always mean that all is well. Hope this helps. X

[Rudiguer in reply to Hidden]

Hi LizzyCee. Thank you very much for your response. I am a bit confused as I have read in quite a few websites that 5 is high risk, 3 is medium and 1 or below is Ok. Does CRP 5 refer to mg per litre? Thank you very much.

[Hidden in reply to Rudiguer]

Sorry for delayed reply. The levels I was referring to were mg per litre. In these units anything less than 10 is normal. If the websites you are looking at are referring to mg per decilitre (ie. per 100 mls) then anything less than 1 would be normal. I wouldn’t worry too much. Your rheumatologist is aware of the result and will take into account your clinical symptoms alongside any blood tests. Hope this helps.

[Rudiguer in reply to Hidden]

Thank you very much LizzieCee.