My C-Reactive Protein is14.5 (out of range). Will I have a heart attack?
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C-reactive is about to become the next stage of madness in heart disease prevention.
C-reactive protein is produced during the inflammation process. Inflammation is part of the body's natural reaction to injury. High levels of C-reactive protein only indicate that there is excessive inflammation occurring somewher within the body.
So if you have a lot of injury sites to the endothelium, the lining of the arteries, you are on the road to atherosclerosis,. Due to the inflammation, C-reactive protein can be an indicator of this.
It could also be an indicator of arthritis or other conditions that result in high levels of inflammation.
Inflammation occurs earlier in the process of atherslcerosis than lipid and cholesterol deposits, so at least we are moving closer to the causal factor, but still are not there.
I only hope that big pharma doesn't develop drugs to block C-Reactive protein before medicine stumbles across the initial cause of damage to the endothelium or we will simply have more people on drugs that merely prevent/hide a symptom, rather than cure/prevent the disease. There will more burden on our health systems, more people unnecessarily suffering side effects, and no reduction of people suffering heart disease.
C-reactive protein does not cause heart disease.
High levels of C-reactive protein does not necessarily point to heart disease, but it can.
It is probably a better indicator than blood cholesterol levels of heart disease, and most probably does indicate SOME underlying problem.
Mine has been positive (it should be negative), for over 20 years that I know of. I am also diabetic and have a very high sed rate average of 90, it should be 0-15. I also have high cholesterol, etc., and weigh almost 400 pounds. I just had a major heart work up with a 2 day stay in the hospital, etc. and my heart is fine.
Yes, it does RAISE our risks of heart disease but it does not mean that you will have a heart attack. It's just one of many indicators of things. For example I have every symptom of lupus, but I don't have lupus. It's hard to figure out sometimes.
I would have my doc do a (lipid profile), this checks your good and bad cholesterol and a sed rate, if not already done so. The sedimentation rate checks for inflammation in the body. How is your body temp? My 'normal' temp is 99.6. I have a lot of inflammation going on in my body with Fibromyalgia, inflammatory arthritis, etc.
I really wouldn't worry that much. Check with your doc but ask for some more testing to ease your mind.
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