What Causes Elevated CRP Levels?

Posted on Fri, 24 Jun 2016

Question: My wife (35) is type 1 diabetic, a1c around 8, also has celiac and mild psoriasis, is about 60 lbs overweight and has had dull lower back pain the last 6 months that she says doesn't feel like muscle pain but bone pain. She went to the doc and her CRP level is 20. X ray of lower back is tomorrow but my question is, could obesity + birth control be solely responsible for a CRP level this high? Or is there a chance it is caused by psoriatic arthritis or another autoimmune condition?

Finally one more point, this result is from when she had her blood drawn about 10 minutes after she had derm patches (about 60 metal circles) placed on her back for an allergy test. Could these patches cause CRP to be elevated immediately after being applied or would that be too soon?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Shruti Rijhwani (50 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Psoriatic arthritis needs to be ruled out first .

Detailed Answer:
Dear Sir,

Thank you for posting your query on HCM.

Well looking into your problem I would like to tell you that with elevated crp first thing is to rule out psoriatic arthritis . All other things like obesity , allergic test patches wont affect it that much so see a good rheumatologist to look for possibility of autoimmune etiology .

Take care.

Dr. Shruti

Note: For further information on diet changes to reduce allergy symptoms or to boost your immunity, Ask here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Sonia Raina