Those of you who’ve been reading my articles for the past 5 years, know I’m often writing about how important it is to reduce the inflammation in your body. What surprises me the most, is how few patients, if any, tell me that they’ve had their inflammatory markers checked on the blood work ordered by their doctor. Today, now that we know how important inflammation is to prevent many diseases, and to protect the body, I cannot understand why it is not ordered on every patient’s annual workup.
The basic test for inflammation was a sed rate. This was tested to show that you had inflammatory activity in your body. It is a pretty basic test, but helpful for some types of inflammatory processes. Now, a more sensitive test is CRP. That stands for c-reactive protein. This is a protein that your liver makes. Normally, you have low levels of c-reactive protein in your blood. How it works is that your liver releases more CRP into your bloodstream if you have inflammation in your body. Increased levels of CRP may mean you have a serious health condition that causes inflammation. A CRP test may be used to help find or watch inflammation in acute or chronic conditions, such as infections from bacteria or viruses, inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, other auto-immune disorders, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and vasculitis, lung diseases like asthma, and many more. Inflammatory diseases are among the most common life-threatening diseases today. Another type of CRP test is an hs-CRP test, or high sensitivity CRP test.
This measures very small increases in your CRP levels. It is used to estimate your risk of heart disease. In my office, we order these tests on every patient to get a good baseline of any inflammation in their body. Ranges of these CRP tests are sometimes different for each lab, so it’s important to note the ranges on your bloodwork. These tests are also not only necessary to monitor inflammatory conditions you may have, but to monitor your levels to prevent inflammatory diseases in the first place.
What happens if you have a high CRP?
Once you get your results, and have reviewed it with your healthcare provider, it’s important to have a treatment plan that involves how to reduce the inflammation in your body as quickly as possible. This may involve diet counselling, stress reduction, exercise, and supplementation. In severe cases, medication may be prescribed, but in my office we try to work with a more natural approach, so as to not have side effects from medications as much as possible. Personally, I am in complete recovery from a serious history of ulcerative colitis for 23 years now. I was so sick in Chiropractic school, I almost died as a result of a dangerously low red blood cell count, and had 2 surgeries. For the last 23 years, I have been drug free, and have been in complete remission with diet change and supplements. In my office, we work with reversing many auto-immune diseases. In many cases, it works but only if the patient is committed to making changes in their diet and lifestyle. It does not have to be that difficult, but it does take time and commitment.
If you or anyone you know has an inflammatory condition, or would like help getting tested for inflammation, please call our office. We offer complimentary consultations to see if we can help, and then an exam would be done.
We also offer evening and morning lecture events in our office on many subjects like this monthly. Please call for a schedule of these events and reserve your space to learn more about how you might be helped naturally.
If you’d like to read all of the articles I’ve written over the last 5 ½ years, please visit my website at the bottom of this article.
For any questions regarding my articles, please email me at [email protected]
Leisa-Marie Grgula. DC
Chiropractic Physician
Accurate Care Medical Wellness Center
18261 N. Pima Rd. Ste. #115
480-584-3955
www.CaringPainRelief.com
