Elevated CRP

[Shonda1971]

I recently started to see a new doctor concerning my hypothyroidism. I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism in 1998. I am taking 125mg synthoid. I have been feeling awful lately, depressed, weight gain, inability to lose weight, and not sleeping well. She ordered a book work-up on me and they called me this morning with the results. I have been out of my synthroid for about 1.5 weeks so when I did the work up I was taking my synthroid.

The office told me that my cholesterol levels were fine, blood sugar was fine, thyroid levels were fine, but that my CRP levels were really elevated at 14.6. She wants me to take Crestor to bring them down I'm more inclined to want to find out why they are up instead of only looking to bring them down with a drug to treat high cholesterol which I don't have.

While trying to research reasons for CRP levels to be elevated I saw that it could be related to thyroid disorders. Can I please get some insight on this? How are they related?

[Barb135]

Wow... We can get the injectible B-12 only by prescription here in the States and the manufacturer suspends production of it periodically so it's, either, impossible to get or the price skyrockets.  Ironically, we can buy syringes by the box, without a prescription!!

At any rate, I hope your protocol is working for you... I've been taking the B-12 shots for 8 yrs and my cholesterol levels only came back into range when my hypothyroidism was back under control.  My CRP levels also returned to normal once my thyroid "died" from the Hashimoto's antibody attack and the inflammation in my body is mostly gone.

[Joe100000]

Hi Barb,

Thanks for your response. I am currently in Pakistan where Big Pharma is not as active as the the more industrialized countries, yet. The B12 is available from any corner pharmacy here for around $2.50 for a box of 10 vials of 1000mcg each.

[Joe100000]

Sorry, forgot to say that I also took 3000mg of vitamin C daily.

[Barb135]

You've attached to a very old thread and neither of the previous posters are active on the forum at this time...

Just so you know, different labs have different reference ranges ... for instance the reference range "my" lab uses for CRP is < 0.80 so a person always has to go by their own lab report.

It's very rare for anyone to be on a vitamin B-12 shot every other day... I hope you're having good luck getting the B-12.  I have Pernicious Anemia and "have" to have shots weekly, but I've recently found out that there's another shortage in process and the price has skyrocketed from $43 for 12 1000 mcg vials to $184 for the same 12 vials and it's expected to increase further.  Medicare doesn't cover vitamins of any kind for any reason, so that makes it tough for those of us who have to have it...

[Joe100000]

I had a level of 12. My understanding is that anything more than a 3 is undesirable. Talked to my doctor who said that it would work itself out with the Atrovastatin that i was taking. A month later iy was the same story. So I started taking no sodium salt, one teaspoon of turmeric with water daily, 2 tablespoons of psyllium husk mixed in a glass of water at night, and took the following, I had a score of 2, in 3 weeks.
1) Folic Acid, 2mg daily.
2) Vitamin B6, 200mg daily.
3) Zinc 100mg daily.
4) Magnesium 400mg daily.
5)Vitamin B12, one shot every other day.

[Barb135]

My CRP levels were raised also when I had the test done; however, I was right in the middle of a severe "Hashi attack" -- my doctor (at the time) would never acknowledge my Hashimoto's or that it could/would cause inflammation that could/would raise my CRP.  He did ask if I'd "been sick" when I had the test. I tried to explain about the thyroid inflammation and he blew me off; but I'm sure that's what caused mine to be high.  

BTW - he also wanted me on Crestor, but I had high cholesterol levels.  I refused the Crestor based on the belief that I was still hypo (very low TSH, FT4 in low normal range, no FT3).  The doctor blew that idea off as well.  I am currently seeing an endo, who treats my thyroid based on symptoms and FT's; I've since gotten another pcp and subsequent tests show that my cholesterol goes up and down with my FT levels, although this doctor doesn't believe that either, since my latest cholesterol was high, but my FT's were "normal" (normal for whom?  certainly not me as I need them higher than they were. The doc just kept saying "your thyroid levels are normal").  

Beginning to wonder if some of the docs get a "bonus" for passing out scripts to certain meds...........

[TwistedHelix]

C-Reactive Protein (CRP) is a molecular marker of inflammation.  Inflammation could occur because of, for instance, an infection (viral or bacterial).  Chronic inflammation has also been correlated with heart disease, diabetes, and some cancer processes (mainly colon cancer).

My quick search of PubMed didn't reveal ANY studies directly linking CRP to thyroid disorders.  However, if your hypothyroidism is caused by Hashimoto's (and it is my understanding that most are), then your elevated CRP levels may be related to that because, in Hashimoto's, your immune system attacks your thyroid--thus causing inflammation.

The "normal" levels of CRP for an adult are generally under 10 mg/L.  This basal level increases somewhat with age, but truly sick people can have levels up to 400 mg/L.  So, I don't know if 14.6 (assuming that's mg/L) should be considered "really elevated."  Maybe you banged your wrist that day and had a bit of inflammation?  Or maybe your allergies were acting up a bit that day, and you had a bit of inflammation?  

I would think you would want to see elevated CRP levels on a number of separate blood tests before it would be a cause for concern--and even then, I don't know that it warrants going on a statin for it.  Maybe your doc has some seriously hot-off-the-press info about statins and CRP, I don't know.

If you trust your doc, then don't listen to me.  I'm an ABD Ph.D. student in Genetics, so I'm good at research--but I'm definitely no doc (physician-doc, anyway, I'm almost a Genetics-doc).