Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

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Lab tests

RCross
RCross
Hey everyone... I had lab tests run on Tuesday with a new rheumy and had some "allergy" stuff going on. Now, however, I have massive double ear infections and bronchitis. My question is how will this affect my lab results?

My immune system is so whacked right now...went from clear runny nose to infections/bronchitis in less than 24 hours. Sigh.
Angelpuss
Angelpuss
Your inflammation levels will probably be sky-high because of the infections if they were already in your body. So, results may not be indicative of your RA.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Ditto to what Angelpuss said. Your ESR and CRP will be elevated, but they will look at it relative to how you were feeling. Or they should.

For example, when my little boy had osteomyelitis last fall, his CRP hit 12. He does not have autoimmune (though initially it was on the differential as they ran tests), but he had a brewing infection. Those without autoimmune will rarely go over 3.
It also depends on the sensitivity of the test they run. There are a few.