C-reactive protein
 

Have people had this test done? Is it worth having done? How specific and accurate is it? I mean, it seems that all one would know is that there's inflammation, nothing else, and even then I wonder how accurate it is. Perhaps we've discussed this elsewhere.

I had the test...the way the doctor explained it is that it will show if you have high inflammation but it does not tell you where in the body it's coming from so my Neuro Doc said it's not very helpful. That said, I would think higher than normal inflammation would be a clue that there's an issue that needs to be further explored.

Cliffman :)

Thanks, Cliffman. Maybe I'll ask for it. I'm pretty sure I have inflammation at this point, but what the hell! I can't recall, but I think Madisongrrl has it done too. Perhaps I'm recalling something else. Anyway...

I have had it done many times...along with SED rate. Both check for inflammation. It can be helpful if you have an inflammatory condition...to document and confirm flares.

Often CRP levels are elevated during an acute (eg, bacterial) infection. They can also be elevated because of chronic inflammation.

As Cliffman wrote, measurements of CRP levels are not very specific.

It might have been me who mentioned it here? I had it tested often in relation to my Rheumatoid Arthritis. It used to go up to about 30 when my joints were flaring and my ESR/ sed rate was much higher at about 60-80 often. I know it's used to measure how successful immunesuppressant drugs were being with my inflammatory arthritis. The thing is that even as the joint inflammation waned my inflammatory markers would continue to fluctuate. But then I've had other infections and drug reactions which might have caused my CRP to soar to 160 - only symptoms being those of pancreatitis from drug reaction to Imuran and raging SFN. Last time my ESR was taken it was around 30 about seven months ago and my CRP was around 8 (normal range 0-5) which isn't very high for me but still a tiny bit raised.

I don't know if the Small Fibre Neuropathy is part of an inflammatory process of not. Not to the extent that my RA was but I feel that low level inflammation is causing my SFN - which makes sense of why it seems to be progressing to affect almost every part of me now.

Thank you all for your comments. I might ask for it, but it seems to be quite useless other than for the reasons noted, so I'll ask for it, if at some point there is doubt that I have inflammation.

I had a CRP test
 

Mine was in range (0.7) It was covered by insurance and the doctor suggested it. It was at the beginning of my journey.