Question about inflammation markers - ESR and CRP, and a general question about test results

ESR = Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate

CRP = C-Reactive Protein

I was wondering how useful these tests are and what levels are considered to be high enough for a doctor to pay any attention to.

1) I've never had both tests done from the same blood sample.

2) I've only had ESR measured once that I know of and it was years ago (and it was well in range at the time), so I'll ignore that.

3) My CRP has been measured many times and is slowly going up, but then so is the reference range (RR). Early results used a RR of 0 - 5 but more recently it was 0 - 10.

I often wonder if reference ranges get changed for political and financial reasons rather than for reasons to do with health.

Since around 2016 there has been a general trend for my CRP to go up but it isn't over the range.

While that has been happening this has also been true :

a) My platelets have been rising and have been over the range several times.

b) My lymphocytes have also been over the range several times.

c) My RDW and WBC have also been over the range a couple of times.

In my own records I always highlight any results which are over the range in pink. Before 2016 there was no pink. But now there is more and more pink to be seen. I wonder how bad these results need to be before I should draw a doctor's attention to them. I've been avoiding seeing a doctor up to now because although I have these results over the reference range they are only slightly over the reference range and I expect to be completely dismissed as a hypochondriac, which I really want to avoid.

 

My experience with blood tests is that being slightly out of range is generally not (considered) significant and doctors are really looking for large departures from the reference range. They won't care about 5–10% out, but they will if you're 30, 40, 50% out.

 

Thank you for the info.

 

Not medical advice, of course. Just how I see it, and how I think doctors see it. @Jonathan Edwards might be able to help.

 

I quite often feel when I see a doctor that they think I'm wasting their time, and over the years I've developed a bit of a phobia about seeing doctors for anything invisible. I have never been good at deciding whether or not I'm doing the right thing by seeing them and can never predict what kind of reception I'll get, so I worry about it.