Out of all my tests, that is the only one that came back abnormal. The upper range was 4.9 and mine came in at 5. Could this indicate my PN is inflammatory and not autoimmune?

All of my lab reference ranges show CRP normal values as between 1-10...so 5 would still be normal for you.

I checked online at several places like Medscape and labtestsonline.com and they say the same...1-10.

Are you sure they are not listing your values for the hs-CRP (high sensitivity CRP) which is to measure the 'risk' of cardiovascular disease?

That's strange. It just says C reactive protein and it got flagged as high. Range is 0-4.9. Maybe it varies by lab?

Labs do vary...that's for sure. Still, such a very minimal elevation out of range (on their scale).

Did you have a SED rate done? If so, did that come back high?

Tunaboy, I had a chat to one of my clinical immunologist colleagues about this.

Her comment was that it is common for CRP measurements to vary between labs. She also commented that retesting of the same person in the same lab is often variable, assuming that there are no underlying changes in infection or inflammation.

Her very general opinion was that probably you have nothing to be stressed about .

I just looked back at my test that was run last fall. It showed a reference range of 0.00 to 0.50. My result was <0.03

If my PN was inflammatory, it would probably be a lot higher. Too bad I have no other test results to prove it's autoimmune

What about SED rate? It's another test for inflammation.

Tests for inflammation are not always perfect, so you can still have inflammation and blood tests not reflect it.

Have they ever tried steroids to see if your symptoms improve? If it is inflammatory based, the symptoms will usually improve with steroids. It's not the best course of action (due to long term side-effects), but it can help determine if it is inflammation.

My sed rate is low at 4.

I tried alka seltzer the other day and it seemed to have reduced the burning. Could have been a placebo.

My doc offered a course of prednisone but im scared to take it.

Actually this got me thinking earlier today, was that my symptoms started after oral surgery. I was given IV steroids (not sure what kind, I am waiting to hear back from my surgeon) during my surgery. My symptoms started approximately a week after.

Then I read the below threads:
http://www.drugs.com/forum/need-talk...thy-29885.html

http://www.drugs.com/answers/prednis...hy-653205.html

Could steroids cause PN?

I'm sure anything is possible, but it certainly would be rare. I would think the autoimmune process would be more likely in your case since most AI diseases are 'triggered' by either an infection, virus, illness and even trauma/surgery...anything that causes a major immune response. Oral surgery could definitely be a trigger.

I understand not wanting to go the steroid route (I regret my years of steroids and the now permanent damage to my body), but if the course he prescribed is short (5-10 days in a taper), then it might be worth it just to see if the your symptoms improve. If they do, then you would at least know which direction to look for the cause (things with inflammation). You don't have to continue the steroids after you see they help...at this point just focus on hunting down the source of the inflammation.