CRP is blood test that measures inflammation.
My CRP has always been on the low end and strangely enough, with the progression
of all my inflammatory smyptoms (eyes, salivary glands, GI, nerves, skin, joints and tendons)
my CRP has actually been getting LOWER over time, recently indicating an all-time low of <0.2.
Meaning, it's so low they can barely even measure it, yet my symptoms are worse than ever and
I've even developed early RA/inflammatory arthritis.
How can this be explained? :o
I so wish I knew! Mine is never positive and neither are my kids! It doesn't matter how much I suffer. Even after surgery when there is inflammation to be expected mine is normal. Yet doctors won't treat with out positive inflammation markers. My poor son is HBLA 27 positive and had severe joint pain half his life. Yet my rheumatologist won't treat him for ankylosing spondylitis saying he doens't have anything autoimmune. My daughter with Behcet's can be in a full blown flare with raging uveitis, yet her crp and sed rate are always normal. Drives me nuts!
Another one of the many mysteries of Sjogren's....
My CRP is almost always high but my sed rate is quite low which doesn't make sense. My rheumy says the crp tells us an inflammatory process is taking place but it doesn't tell us where or why. Strange for sure as I have inflammation in my body.
So many things don't seem to make sense with SJS...
My CRP was quite high about 15 years ago when my primary used to test it routinely for heart disease risk. I'd had the first symptoms of autoimmunity by then but they were mild and I felt quite healthy in general. Then he stopped testing my CRP, and no one did again until 2011 when I started seeing a rheumatologist. It's always been normal since 2011. My sed rate seems to be high about every second time they test it, but not dramatically so.