One of the results I forgot to mention in an earlier post of mine was that my CRP level was 5.7. I know this is bad and it scares me. I had all kinds of heart tests and they came back very good, so as far as I know now my heart appears to be healthy. On that note, what could cause a high CRP level. I don't have an infection anywhere, haven't been injured lately, and don't have arthritis. My cholesterol is high (236), which I know isn't good (ldl- 171 - hdl 42 -tri 105). I'm 25 lbs overweight. What could cause a high CRP level, and is there anything I can do to get it lower? thx.

A high CRP can be caused by inflammation anywhere in the body. Often the inflammation goes unnoticed.
Never panic over ONE high reading, more ofthen than not the situation resolves itself.

Retest in a month, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Lenin, should I have a test for homocysteine? This inflammation thing scares me more than the high LDL. thx.

My CRP was 4.6 on 9-6-05. Scared the heck out of me. I do have a very bad tennis elbow and I wonder if that raised it. The doc said lose 10 lbs I'm going for 25 lbs. Anyway I'm eating healthier and going to have my homocysteine done to see how that is..Lisa

Yock,

Sure, as long as you're going to the doctor have homocysteine run as well. Might as well get a whole lipid panel if you haven't dad one recently. And adding Lp(a) is also a good idea.

Make sure you specify hs-CRP so the more sensitive test is run on the CRP.

What could cause a high CRP level, and is there anything I can do to get it lower? thx.

Well, they say that exercise can help lower CRP, as well as aspirin. Also, supplemental vitamin C and E can also reduce CRP levels.

From what I've read a high CRP level is because there is inflammation in the artery walls. Does anyone know what tests I can ask my dr to perform to find out where the inflammation is coming from? I've done alot of reading about CRP. The probable causes of inflammation that I have are 1) sleep disturbances - I have terrible insomnia 2) coffee consumption (I've since cut down to only two cups per day -use to drink 4 or 5 a day) 3) alcohol consumption (I'm a huge beer drinker on the weekends and guess I'll have to cut that out, and just drink a glass or two of red wine) 4)I have hypothyroidism (A recent article showed people with hypothryoidism have high CRP level - nothing I can do about this one other than take my hypo medicine which I do). I've also started eating .81 mg of aspirin a day, eating oatmeal in the morning and drinking green tea to help bring my LDL levels down also. I'm trying, but I'm kinda scared about this whole CRP thing. I've had too many people in my family die of strokes. Does anyone have any experiences with CRP levels? thanks.