Hi guys, I finally got my lab results from the high sensitive C-Reactive Protein test.
The cut-off is supposed to be 3.0.
Mine was 6.53.
My lipid panels are as to be expected for an older female carnivore. I had just started to accept those numbers.
(My glucose and HDL and Trigs are great.)
I guess This HS CR-P measures inflammation. Hard to imagine where or how I have that.
Any ideas?
Do you have an infection somewhere? As from a cut or bruise, perhaps? What were your WBC (white blood cell count) and ferritin? Not to mention TNF-Ī±? The other inflammatory markers Iāve seen mentioned arenāt typically measured during the typical blood panel.
As I recall, your HbA1C and triglycerides/HDL are pretty good, so if HS-CRP is the only number out of whack, you probably donāt need to worry.
In any case, acute inflammation is not a problem; itās chronic systemic inflammation that is the concern.
Iām going to go ahead and get some more testsā¦ lupus runs in my family (sister and daughter) plus Iāve been experiencing lower back pain where kidneys are. So will get whatever tests done that would look at kidney and other autoimmune stuff.
My regular labs usually show signs of fighting an infection or inflammation, but I never gave it much though as the numbers werenāt crazy out of range.
MPV lowā¦size of plate lattes or not enough being made. Thatās almost always in my labs.
RBC is always high but just barely.
basophils always high, but just 1.2 when range is 0 to 1.0
Eosinophils always high but barely. 3.5 when range is 0-3
MO is always high slightly. 9.4 when range is 1.7-9.3 (that one can be autoimmune issues)
Nothing is simple, right?
An ESR test is another common test for inflammation, might to get that as well next time you go.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/sed-rate/about/pac-20384797
These are the markers of inflammation Dr. Phinney uses:
WBC, TNF-Ī±, IL-1b, IL-6, IL-8, CCL-2, CCL-3, CCL-5, VCAM-1, ICAM-1, E-selectin, leptin, adiponectin, CRP, serum amyloid A, fibrinogen, NF-kB, STAT3, COX-2, 5-LOX, 12-LOX; also MCP-1, PAI-1, VEGF, EFG, P-selectin (see Forsythe et al., Lipids. 43(1):65-77, 2008.)
He says that CRP does not go down in the first three months of a ketogenic diet.
Goodness, thatās a lot of numbers and markers!
Iām certainly well past 3 months keto.
1 year keto, 1.5 years carni.
If this is acute inflammation, it would mean some sort of injury, right? I canāt think of one injury. The only āeventā would be my bout of covid and the later months of covid brain. Of course long covid symptoms seem to be updated daily.
āInjuryā from COVID seems to me the most likely explanation.
Hope you find yourself slowly returning to normal with time!
WOWEEā¦. This was VERY interesting! I will bring up the possibility with my doc next week.
Even if this is long-covid related though, I need to address the current numbers. Crazy!
That, or you might be fighting off some sort of infection.
This was very useful; thank you for sharing.
One of these markers is significantly elevated on my recent blood test - and after reading that article, one particular set of symptoms Iāve been experiencing makes a lot more sense.
Do you mind sharing which marker and what symptoms?
I find all this long covid stuff equally fascinating and frustratingā¦
If Iām meddling, feel free to ignore me. 
Thanks Robin. Your thread is a good reminder to me to get some monitoring tests done.
What I read is that you have immune system stimulation including low grade cell mediated inflammation. Another differential can be gut, blood, or lung parasites, when the eosinophils bubble along at just above normal. It depends on any physical symptoms: cough, lethargy, etc to help decipher targets for investigation.
Thanks for the input, Mr. Bear!
I canāt think of any symptoms, which is a blessing in itself at age 68. I have no complaints, except some minor but persistent back pain in the area that could indicate kidneysā¦ that began around Thanksgiving.
But, it could also indicate the need to get back on my rowing machine routine. I laid off during the holidays and need to get back in the groove.
I have always been the type to wait and seeā¦. And just keep eating and behaving as healthy as I possible can. But for some reason I want to follow this medical thread and see where it leads. Inflammation is obviously a factor. Which I find ironicā¦ since I began my 2 1/2 year journey of keto to carni, my joint pain has disappeared.
Iāll report back as I learn more.
Thanks.
My ferritin is super high; this article is pretty interesting with relation to iron and Covid: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9289930/
And this part caught my eye:
On carnivore, my menstrual cycle was perfect - textbook. Since having Covid, it has gone haywire (in lots of ways, I will spare you the gory details).
It reminds me of when I was a teenager. And wouldnāt you know - I had anaemia as a teenager. So perhaps serum ferritin is high but itās not being used within my body, leading to iron deficiency.
Thereās a lot of crossover with other symptoms - but fatigue, weakness, sexual/menstrual dysfunction are all linked to high ferritin.
Thereās also a connection between lungs and iron. One thing I noticed was that when my lungs started to recover, my menstrual cycle improved. So I wonder if my ferritin was much higher and is slowly coming down.
There are other factors - for instance, my white blood cells have taken a real battering. But this really stood out to me.
@FrankoBear @Septimius @Wendy198 @Naghite @PaulL
After some soul searching, I am beginning to wonder if my apparent āaddictionā to this product could be the culprit with my my lipids and CR-P.
I drink decaf coffee and tea all day long. And I always add about 2-3 squirts of this to each drink (plus heavy whipping cream to coffee).
My hot sweet beverages are my happy place. And I donāt crave any other sweets. Aside from this, Iām extremely strict carnivore.
Any thoughts? Should I kick this last addiction? I used to drink black coffee for years.
Have either of you tried this:
It doesnāt have to be this brand or this dosage, but NAC is one of the few supplements that has been tested with a benefit for covid. Also, someone I followed on Twitter thought that selenium was important for covid, and this brand adds selenium.
