A Blood Test That We Should All Get Regularly But Don’t
I’ve been relaxing for a few hours watching the final holes of The Masters Tournament and I am amazed at how a 21 year old “kid” played so well.
It’s funny sometimes watching these young guys and girls on TV and remembering what I was doing the year they were born. It also makes me wish that I could go back to that time in my life and teach myself many of the things I know now, especially about taking care of my body. What I will share with you today would be a top line item during that conversation.
During the past few weeks the topic has come up with clients of mine about inflammation. I often bring this up myself because I very often suspect many people who are having a slow or difficult time healing from the pain and injury they have may be suffering from a heightened amount of inflammation in their body. Let me explain why.
Our body is marvelous in its use of a vast array of defense mechanisms against anything that could harm us. Whether it is a bacteria, a virus, a tissue trauma or injury, a chemical or poison, or even an unsettling food, it goes into defense mode anytime something goes wrong. Part of that defense mode is to release certain sets of chemicals, fluids and hormones that create the effect that we call inflammation.
Inflammation can be a good thing when it first occurs but not if it goes on for long.
What studies are now showing is that chronic or ongoing inflammation may be the root cause of every disease in the body. On top of that it also severely restricts the healing process of certain injuries or places that “hurt.” This is why the topic often gets brought up in my office, because I help people overcome those problems.
What I’ll often need to find out though is how inflamed their body is systemically, which means the amount that is not localized to a particular area but is affecting the entire system. This systemic inflammation sometimes may not even be felt, although still wreaking havoc.
The way I do this and the way I recommend others to do this is to get a blood test for the C-Reactive Protein (CRP). This is the primary protein that gets elevated when we have inflammation in our body. Since it is tested through blood, which travels through the entire body, it will measure our systemic inflammation not just our localized inflammation.
These tests are easy to get and inexpensive. The testing facility I use called Any Lab Test Now will do these for less than $100 and it is worth every penny.
Now of course, as with any test the power is not in the test itself but in what you do in response to it. Implementing strategies to bring inflammation down will be key. I implemented a few dietary and supplement strategies and in four months brought my inflammation down by 30% as measured by the CRP test. Doing some of these same things could mean the difference in your ability to heal or to prevent disease.
I’ll talk more about some of these strategies in future articles but in the meantime I highly recommend getting a CRP test.
So I’m sure the question is somewhere in your mind- why didn’t my doctor order this test?
Well here’s the thing about this test. Since it measures inflammation it is a great test for indicating things like infections or heart diseases which is what MD’s will typically order it for. VERY few of them are trying to monitor systemic inflammation and if they did they would likely put you on an entire diet, exercise and supplement protocol to bring it down. Doesn’t sound like a conversation you’ve ever had with a doctor does it?
Keep in mind that because of this, the medical establishment has placed a scale on this test that is meant to indicate primarily only infections and heart disease. This is why if you have had this test, you’ve probably been told you are “ok” by your doctor, even if your inflammatory levels were still high enough to impede healing and/or contribute to some other health problem.
Good numbers for this test should around .1-.2
So, hopefully by now I’ve made a strong case for getting this test. When you do get it, share the results with me and I’ll direct you to some resources that will help you understand how to best bring it down.
Click the link below to visit the testing facility website.
Blessings,
Chris
Find out where to get tested at: