Crp shows as high

lozza812

Hope you can help.
I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis years ago and have been on anti-inflammatory es (naproxen) for years also, with very little effect.
I just had blood tests for my thyroid, which show I am hypothyroid, but they also tested the my crp which came back as high 6.6 (0.0 - 5.0).
I thought osteoarthritis was non-inflammatory and with my meds should anything be showing at all.
I am wondering if my diagnosis is wrong?

helpline_team

Hi lozza812,

Thank you for getting in touch with the Helpline.

Some of the language used to describe arthritis can be confusing. The word ‘inflammation’ is used in connection with osteoarthritis (OA) because the area around the arthritic joint can become inflamed. The inflamed area may be painful, swollen and perhaps hot to touch. Medicine such as Naproxen can help to reduce this inflammation. The inflammation from OA is local i.e. specific to the joint with OA.

Blood tests that test for inflammation are looking at the inflammatory level throughout the whole body. OA does not change the inflammation level throughout the whole body, which is why blood tests are not used to diagnose OA.

There are other types of arthritis which do affect the inflammation level throughout the whole body. If your GP thought you could have one of these types of arthritis, they would send you for a blood test to check your inflammation level. However, there are a couple of important things to bear in mind at this stage:

1) High (or higher than average) inflammation levels are only one indication of an inflammatory type of arthritis. If your GP thought you had one of these types they would send you for other tests and then refer you to a Rheumatologist. There is no single blood test that confirms the presence of an inflammatory type of arthritis.

2) There are many reasons why someone may have high (or higher than average) inflammatory levels. As well as many different health conditions, high inflammation levels can also be caused by temporary illnesses, being tired, stressed or ‘run down.’ Also, people have different average inflammation levels, so it can be hard to draw conclusions from a single test result.

I hope this response has made things a bit clearer. If it would help to talk, you would be very welcome to call the Arthritis Care Helpline.

Best wishes,

Rachael, Helpline Team

stickywicket

Rachael, that's a brilliant explanation and the best and clearest I've ever come across. Any chance of it being made a sticky somewhere as so many people ask about this, usually on LWA, and, frankly, after well over 50 years of arthritis, I've never understood it quite so well.

dreamdaisy

I knew there was a difference in the what, the where, the why and the how but have never been able to fully explain it: that is a wonderful summary, Rachael, now I can! Thank you.

lozza, I remember in my early days being told that a bruise could increase inflammation levels in the body, my hospital regards anything between nought and ten as normal and anything above as something to be monitored. I began with an auto-immune arthritis so my CRP and ESR were regularly tested - they still are because of the meds I take but I have never had bloods for OA and never will for the reason so well explained above. My OA inflammation (always self-induced by my overdoing things) clears whereas the other kind didn't, it just solidified as that was an ongoing process until the disease was brought under control. It is good that naproxen is keeping things under control, I think you would soon notice the difference if you stopped taking it. DD

helpline_team

stickywicket and dreamdaisy,

Thank you for your feedback – it is very affirming, especially coming from people with your experience and knowledge of arthritis .

It is possible that the Content team at Arthritis Care/Arthritis Research UK may put together an FAQ at some point and I can see how it would be helpful within the online community too. We will see what we can do!

Best wishes,

Rachael

stickywicket

Thanks, Rachael