Almost 5-Month Checkup

I haven't checked in in a while with a lot of stuff going on. But I had my almost 5-month checkup with my PCP last week and I am off my HBP meds, cholesterol meds, and cPap machine. My blood work came back AWESOME, except for 2 extremely high readings, they are below:

Does anyone know what would make Ferritin and CRP high? And what are they?

I am holding at my 166+ weight, fluctuating 2 pounds below or above. Can't seem to continue down, but I am healthy and happy and off meds and feeling TERRIFIC!

I know that Ferritin measures your iron. It sounds like your iron levels are high but I'm not certain what causes it; I always have the opposite problem. I would ask your doctor if you should reduce the amount of iron you are taking (assuming that you are).

I did a quick google search on CRP, High Sensitivity. It seems to measure infection or risk for heart attack or stroke... something to do with the lining of your arteries. I would call the doctor's office on Monday and ask them what the results mean, if you should be concerned, and what you should do to change it. 

Good luck and congrats on being off all those meds!

Hi Dawn,  Nice job!!!!  What an amazing 5 months!

I do have a couple of not-your-doctor comments about the ferritin and hsCRP.  My ferritin was elevated in my pre-op lab work (close to 500, I think) and I was told that it might mean that my iron stores are high or it might be more of an indication of inflammation.  They said that when they do my 3 month they will check more specific markers of inflammation and measure of iron stores.

I happen to have a hematologist on my medical team so I asked him about my ferritin.  He said that my ferritin number was in the range one would expect for inflammation.  If it was a sign of iron overload, he would have expected it to be much higher.  Also, people with metabolic syndrome (fat around the middle, high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar and a couple of other things) are prone to elevated ferritin due to the inflammation caused by the metabolic syndrome.  

Per my inexpert eye, your ferritin is lower than mine, so, if anything, it would be in the inflammation range as well.  Plus yours is so close to the normal range that it might be considered not that interesting. 

About the hsCRP.  In my real life job, I work with this marker occasionally and know that things like metabolic syndrome, obesity and diabetes can drive this number up, way up.  I fully guess that if my own ferritin is up because of inflammation, then my hsCRP is likely way up there, too.   You may read some places that hsCRP is in PARTICULAR a marker for inflammation in the blood vessels which might be a red flag that the patient is at higher risk of developing heart disease.  However, even tho this test is "high sensitivity" to the blood vessels, other types of inflammation can drive this number up that have nothing to do with blood vessels; for example, arthritis or infection like a bad sinus infection.  

I don't usually follow hsCRP numbers over time so I don't know how quickly they drop with weight loss if obesity was the primary driver of its initial elevation.  However, I have seen enough presentations on it to know that it DOES drop as weight goes down, blood sugars go down, etc.  While yours is elevated now, it probably was much higher 6 months ago before your fabulous weight drop.  

And of course, ask your doctor  for an expert explanation.  Again, congratulations on your success.

~Shel

Way to go Dawn!!!

WOW! What amazing amount of weight you have lost at 5 months out. Congratulations! And how great that you are off your  HBP meds, cholesterol meds, and CPAP machine. I am looking foward to the day I am off my High Cholesterol Meds and my CPAP machine. :-) Kay