EVERY COUPLE OF MONTHS, AFTER BEING DIAGNOSED WITH SLEEP APNEA? JUST WONDERING IF PEOPLE ARE REALLY AWARE OF THE DANGER OF HAVING THIS PROTEIN ELEVATED; IF YOU HAVEN'T, YOU BETTER ASK YOUR DOCTOR TO MONITOR IT. ALSO, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF PEOPLE WHO CHECKS THIS PROTEIN ON A REGULAR BASIS HAS HAD GOOD RESULTS AT LOWERING THEIR LEVELS AND WHAT KIND OF TREATMENT THEY WENT THROUGH IN ORDER TO LOWER THIS.

melhajj,

Just to let everyone know.  C-reactive protein is indicative of inflammation.  This is important because high levels of C-reactive protein have been implicated in cardiovascular disease.

Vicki


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That which does not kill you makes you stronger-Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich must of had apnea.

Well, I have a couple of inflammatory conditions, Crohn's disease and COPD, as well as sleep apnea, so, yes, we do run a CPR on occasion. Early on both my gastro and my family doctor were more inclined to order an ESR (or Sed rate). A rising ESR can mean an increase in inflammation or a poor response to a therapy; a decreasing ESR can mean a good response. The ESR is an easy, inexpensive, nonspecific test that has been used for many years to help diagnose and/or monitor conditions associated with acute and chronic inflammation, including infections, cancers, and autoimmune diseases. ESR and C-reactive protein (CRP) are both markers of inflammation. Generally, ESR does not change as rapidly as does CRP, either at the start of inflammation or as it goes away. CRP is not affected by as many other factors as is ESR, making it a better marker of inflammation. However, because ESR is an easily performed test, many doctors still use ESR as an initial test when they think a patient has inflammation. CRP appears and then disappears sooner than changes in the ESR. Thus, your CRP level may fall to normal if you have been treated successfully, such as for a flare-up of arthritis, but your ESR may still be abnormal for a while longer.

Eventually my doctors switched to ordering the CRP as well. CRP concentration increases within a few hours after the start of an infection, making it especially valuable for monitoring infections. Its rise in the blood often precedes pain, fever, or other clinical indicators. The level of CRP can jump a thousand-fold in response to inflammation. It drops relatively quickly as soon as the inflammation passes, making it a valuable test to monitor effectiveness of treatment.

But there are two types of CRP testing: the "usual" CRP testing I mentioned above and another, the High Sensitivity CRP test (hs-CRP) which I've never had. The level of CRP in the blood is normally so low that an especially sensitive test is needed to measure it when cardiovascular disease is suspected. People who have hs-CRP results in the high end of the normal range have 1.5 to 4 times the risk of having a heart attack as those with CRP values at the low end of the normal range.

To help clarify when hs-CRP testing may be most useful, in January 2003 the American Heart Association and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (AHA/CDC) examined current evidence and then published their recommendations for its use:

No: not for widespread screening of the general adult population; continue to focus on major risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and diabetes
Yes: useful as an independent marker of risk and as a “discretionary tool” in the evaluation of those with moderate risk of cardiovascular disease to help determine treatment course
No: not for tracking treatment efficacy due to lack of evidence that reducing hs-CRP levels improves outcomes, such as survival.

Taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (like aspirin, Advil, Motrin, and Naproxin) or statins may reduce CRP levels in blood. Because hs-CRP tests are measuring a marker of inflammation, it is important that any person having the test be healthy in order for the test to be of any value in predicting the risk of coronary disease or heart attack. Any recent illness, tissue injury, infection, or general inflammation will raise the amount of CRP and give a falsely elevated estimate of risk.

Since the hs-CRP and CRP tests measure the same molecule, people with chronic inflammation, such as those with arthritis, should not have hs-CRP levels measured. Most studies to date have focused on heart disease, but new research shows that having CRP in the high normal range may also be associated with other diseases such as colon cancer, complications of diabetes, and obesity. Both tests (CRP and hs-CRP) measure the same molecule in the blood. The hs-CRP is for seemingly healthy people to determine their risk of cardiovascular disease. It measures CRP in the range from 0.5 to 10 mg/L. The CRP test is ordered for patients at risk for bacterial or viral infection (such as following surgery) or patients with chronic inflammatory diseases (such as rheumatoid arthritis). It measures CRP in the range from 10 to 1000 mg/L.

Probably more than any of you wanted to know about CRP and CRP testing of either type.


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Some people are like Slinkies... Not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.
Resmed's new VPAP Auto. Humidaire 3i, Simplicity & Micro mask, ResScan 3.4 software, SPO 7500 oximeter.

i was checked for hs-CRP which was reported 10; like a 2 years ago it was still within normal limits, just my cholesterol was a little bit elevated, almost 200; now my cholesterol is high 250 and also i am being treated for high blood pressure; they put me on lipitor, diovan, aspirin, i am exercising now, 30 minutes a day; take multivitamins, promenegrate juice, less meat, more vegetables and in a couple of weeks i will have another test to see if my crp went down; i was talking to one of my doctors and she said that a speech therapist might help to strengthen my upper airways; i am not obese at all, maybe i have as a maximum ten pounds extra, not more than that and i have never been obese; certainly in my family runs high cholesterol and high blood pressure but, not obesity as a component factor in my sleep apnea and that is the reason why i do check my cholesterol every 3-6 months; i just hope that the next set of lab reports comes back with better numbers.

BY BROOKSTONE STORES? according to the new news today, the inventor of that pillow has seen improvement in OSA; anybody using it? Also the news about mental impairment, i certainly believe that the episodes of hipoxia in the brain kills our brain cells, which would never regenerate again; i went to see a neurologist to talk about it, but, since i was being confused a little bit at the beginning of my new diagnosed sleep apnea, and i believe my confusion has improved with the help of the cpap mask, she did not recommend anything for the time being; but, if you are starting being forgetfull or something like that, it is a good idea to be seen by a neurologist, certainly, it would not hurt to do it, instead of just falling into de hands of not knowing even who we are.Also, i would like to know if anybody has tried the didgeridoo or a speech therapist to reinforce the muscles of the oropharynx.

Hi to melhajj and all,

I happened to see a study specifically of CRP and sleep apnea:


Obesity, and not obstructive sleep apnea, is responsible for increased serum hs-CRP levels in patients with sleep-disordered breathing in Delhi
Sleep Med. 2008 Mar;9(2):149-56. Epub 2007 Jul 16
Sharma SK, Mishra HK, Sharma H, Goel A, Sreenivas V, Gulati V, Tahir M.
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was conducted to evaluate serum levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in newly diagnosed patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Between April 2005 and March 2006, a total of 231 consecutive adult habitual snorers underwent polysomnography (PSG) in the sleep laboratory. Ninety-seven subjects were found suitable for hs-CRP measurement after application of the following exclusion criteria: patients with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary artery disease, acromegaly, hypothyroidism, chronic renal failure, congestive cardiac failure, or smoking history, patients who were pregnant, on steroid treatment, on hormone replacement therapy, or with chronic use of drugs such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, oral anticoagulants and lipid-lowering drugs and patients having undergone upper airway surgery. Patients were classified as apneic [apnea-hypopnea index (AHI)>5], obese non-apneic [body mass index (BMI)>25, AHI<5] and non-obese non-apneic (BMI<25, AHI<5). C-reactive protein levels were measured in stored sera by high-sensitivity enzyme immunoassay (Biocheck, Inc. Foster City, CA, USA). After checking normality with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and using a square-root transformation, Pearson's and partial correlation coefficients were calculated for identified risk factors and confounders. A multiple linear regression model was used to identify variables that were independently associated with hs-CRP.

RESULTS: The mean serum levels of hs-CRP were found to be 0.25+/-0.23, 0.58+/-0.55, and 0.51+/-0.37mg/dl in non-obese non-apneics (n=23), obese non-apneics (n=45) and apneics (obese and non-obese, n=29), respectively. Pearson's correlation coefficient of hs-CRP with BMI was found to be 0.25 (p=0.01), and with AHI 0.16 (p=0.12). Partial correlation analysis showed that hs-CRP levels correlated significantly with BMI after adjustment for AHI and age (r=0.22, p=0.03), while correlation with disease severity as assessed by AHI after adjustment for BMI and age was not significant (r=0.10, p=0.33). After stepwise multiple linear regression, only BMI was found to be significantly associated with serum hs-CRP levels (beta=0.02, p=0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: In this first comprehensive cross-sectional study on Indian subjects, we found that obesity, and not obstructive sleep apnea, is associated with elevated serum levels of hs-CRP. No independent correlation was found between severity of OSA and hs-CRP in the present study.

PMID: 17638590 [PubMed - in process]

well, i can not disagree more with this study; i was only around 5 pounds overweight, which is not to be called, obese; what i used to have is high levels of cholesterol, inherited pattern, not because they were excessively high; i do believe that the sleep apnea and cholesterol levels, high blood pressure made my c reactive protein go high, as high as 10, when normally should be under 4.5; now thanks to a more restricted diet about fats, my blood pressure under control, limiting the amount of salt, exercising, drinking tea as a diuretic, etc, and of course with the help of lipitor and diovan, everything is under control, in 2 months of taking these two medicines and making changes in lifestyle my c reactive protein went down to normal; eventhough i have not lost too much weight, maybe one or two pounds, my sleep apnea is better, requiring less pressure also from my cpap; It is good to be alert, and check the c-reactive protein and cholesterol levels from time to time; it is about asking physicians to order it and to press them to order these lab tests, because we are the one in danger, nobody else but the people who suffer sleep apnea.