Hi - due to family history (grandfather and mother) of hardening of the arteires and stent placements for my mother in two arteries, mom suggested letting my family physician know about this family history. I do have chest pressure I've had for years and was diagnosed with GERD that I've been treated for off/on. My doc ordered some bloodwork and is sending me to a cardiologist to be practive on this. The cehst pressure is only on ocasion and is triggered by certain movements, not on exertion. Blood work ordered by my family physician was a lipid panel (resulted in total cholesterol 118, LDL, 71, HDL 31 Triglycerides 80, and ratio 3.8) The nurse told me these numbers were excellent and remarkably low. Just need to work on getting the HDL to 40 or above. She complimented me. Doc also ordered a homocystine test - which came out as 6.0 which is normal (range is 0-13), and then a C Reactive Protein test which came up higher than normal at 6.8 (under 3.0 is normal). Does anyone exactly know what the c Reactive Protein test indicates? The nurse mentioned inflamation in the blood vessels. Is this something to worry about? I am following up with a cardiologist in a couple weeks just to talk with her on family history and see if I can get a stress test. I can talk to her then about this then, but curiosity is killing me on whether this number on the c reactive protein is something serious? Thanks.

C-reactive protein, as your nurse said, is a marker for inflammation. It can be an inflammation almost anywhere in the body. Often it's an arthritis flareup somewhere or a cold or even an injury that causes bruising.

Taken by itself, there isn't too much one can make of a high CRP.

Best you can do is wait a month or two and have a retest when you see your doctor again. Often it resolves and you never know what caused it.