Calprotectin at 146 and panicking

[CalebC]

Hey everybody.

I’ve been experiencing constant abdominal discomfort for 10 weeks now. I wouldn’t say it’s pain but it’s definitely annoying, like my intestines are sore. It’s mostly lower abdomen but can be upper too. Sometimes food makes it better, sometimes worse.

It happened to me 3 years ago too, lasted for like six months and went away. But now I was worried so I pushed my GP for tests. CRP was normal, complete blood count too. Liver, pancreas normal. But calprotectin was raised at 146.

Obviously I’m freaking out now. Below 100 is considered normal. 100 to 200 is kind of a grey area and over 200 is very suggestive of IBD.

I am on a PPI too and apparently it can raise calpro levels.

I’m waiting for my GP to follow up on this but I feel defeated. Although 146 is apparently low for IBD, I’m putting 2 and 2 together: raised calpro and abdominal pain is almost 100% sure to be IBD.

But the thing is I don’t have diarrhea, blood, unintentional weight loss or anything like that. Just the dull ache. I the past ten weeks I’ve had diarrhea twice and it was after eating dodgy salad but it never happened again since.

Did anybody here ever have raised calprotectin but didn’t turn out having IBD?

Thank you for your time. I’m panicking hard.

[xjrs]

My calprotectin was about 327. I was referred for colonoscopy and was still diagnosed with IBS. Even with raised calprotectin statistically you are more likely to be diagnosed with IBS than anything else. Your GP will need to re-run the test. You tend to only get referred for investigation if you have raised levels twice and as I said you can still be diagnosed with IBS and not IBD after this. The fact that you are not experiencing other typical symptoms I would have thought that makes there even less to worry about? Do you think you may be getting trapped gas? Maybe try Rennie Deflatine and see if that helps? However, you are right to continue with the doctor so they can get to the bottom of it (no pun intended )

[CalebC in reply to xjrs]

Did you find out what caused your calprotectin to raise? Did you have symptoms like mine of dull persistent abdominal pain? I’m also scared of colon cancer. I’m 37 with no family history but this dull ache worries me.

[xjrs in reply to CalebC]

Please don't worry. At your age and without family history it is highly unlikely to be colon cancer - all the testing your doctors will do will more than likely rule it out.

I believe that I had elevated levels due to my diet at the time. I regretted being under the guidance of nutritional therapists who were treating me for something I didn't have. They put me on a high protein, low fibre, low carb diet. I have since found out that such diets can increase inflammation in the body (i.e. calprotectin). The pointer for me was that my calprotectin was completely normal before I started this diet. In fact, any diet that doesn't properly look after your microbiome can increase inflammation. The best diet for low inflammation is the Mediterranean diet (whole grains, nuts, seeds, pulses, small amounts of lean protein, fruit and olive oil).

You may have functional abdominal pain (visceral hypersensitivity), which can be a condition on its own, but often comes with IBS symptoms too:

iffgd.org/gi-disorders/cent...

This can be caused by a number of things including stress (which affects pain control centres in the brain, which pick up normal activity of the bowel as pain) and gut infections (sensitising intestinal nerves). If it is brain related, medication may help and/or meditation or a gut directed hypnotherapy app called Nerva. If it is due to a gut bacterial imbalance, you could try a good probiotic like Alflorex, which helped me greatly with this pain. Sometimes it can be due to a combination of the two. Though you need your diagnosis first.

[CalebC in reply to xjrs]

Thank you

[Sunshineonmyshoulder]

If it's any comfort, my calprotectin levels bounced around last year with no real explanation. It was 11 two years ago, then rose to 476 last fall. In subsequent tests it dropped to 89 and 129. I had colonoscopy and other tests, and I seem to be fine. I was diagnosed with fat malabsorption, and I continue to have somewhat loose stools, but otherwise fine. No IBD.

[CalebC in reply to Sunshineonmyshoulder]

Thank you. What worries me the most is I have the abdominal pain + the elevated calpro. If I didn’t have any symptom except the calpro I’d be more inclined to think it’s my PPI elevating my calpro, as I read it can happen.

[Hidden]

According to what I have read the normal range for Calprotectin level is 50-200. So I don't see how your test result can be raised. However it does appear, from what other people have reported, that the levels can fluctuate for a number of reasons. I am surprised that your GP has not suggested a repeat test before any further investigation and to help alleviate your obvious anxiety, which can often exacerbate abdominal discomfort/ache. I do hope you get some diagnosis and resolution to your problem.

[CalebC in reply to Hidden]

My doctor just referred me to a GI specialist. She did ask me to repeat the test and I’m waiting for the prescription by mail. She says normal range is below 100. 100-200 is abnormal but borderline and 200+ is high chance of IBD. She seems to think I have IBD but we’ll see. For the past 10 days I have been like 90% better almost overnight.