Health Gallery Nutrition Center

29820 Ellensburg Avenue
Box 283, Gold Beach, Or 97444
1-541-247-7077

My Experience With CRP Blood Tests
By Walt "dr health" Edwards

Due to the great number of spam, we changed the E-mail address. Please contact me using this number: 1-541-247-7077 Past issues available on my web site: getwel-newsletter.
My first blood draw for a complete blood panel was done on March 1st. I asked for a C-Reactive Protein, High Sensitivity test to be included at the same time. The result of this test revealed normal range for cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose. However, the C-Reactive Protein High Sensitivity was 6.25 which is considered high as the reference range is .70 mg/L. The risk of future MI was 2.65 which was rated HIGHEST.

My doctor suggested another blood draw in six weeks and asked me what I intended to do to correct the high inflammation reading. My corrective action was to increase walking to at least 30 minutes daily, be more careful with my diet, to lose a couple of pounds and to add an anti-imflammation supplement SerraPhase by Sedoona Labs to my daily supplements. A more detailed account of my corrective action and list of daily supplements is available in the June Newsletter.

The CRP, HIGH SENSITIVITY test on my second blood draw on April 17th was 0.86 mg/L and the risk of future MI was 1.25 which is considered mild. This was a significant change. My doctor was surprised and satisfied with the change. This rapid corrective action appeared to be too successful and the subject of lab accuracy results came up, leaving a question to be answered. If this result is in question, then why not ANY lab test results?

To resolve this question a second opinion was sought with another doctor. I'll refer to him as Dr. Don. The two blood test results were reviewed by him on May 21st. His first impression was something is wrong with the test results. He also found it hard to believe such fast results could occur in such a short time. He had never heard of the anti-imflammation supplement SerraPhase. Before making any decision on my CRP situation he asked his nurse to check it out on www.WebMD.com and www.healthyheartmiracle.com.

WebMD.com stated, "High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs.=-CRP) is a new test that measures very low amounts of CRP in the blood. This test may be helpful in predicting your risk for heart problems especially when it is combined with total cholesterol and HCL cholesterol tests."

High CRP levels before a major surgery may indicate that you are at risk for developing an infection after surgery. CRP testing can be used to see how well you respond to cancer treatment or treatment for an infection. Your CRP levels will rise quickly and then quickly return to normal if the treatment is working. High CRP levels may increase your chances of having other diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration and colon cancer.

No actual treatment was mentioned in the WebMD.com report. However, the healthyheartmiracle.com report stated, "Recent research shows that having a high C-Reactive Protein blood test increases your risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke by twice as much as having a high cholesterol." CRP measures inflammation, part of the immune reaction that protects you from infection when you injure yourself. It causes redness, pain and swelling and can damage the inner lining of arteries, and break off clots from arteries to block the flow of blood to cause strokes and heart attacks.

CRT levels fluctuate from day to day, and levels increase with aging, high blood pressure, alcohol use, smoking, low levels of physical activity, chronic fatigue, coffee consumption, having elevated triglycerides, insulin resistance or diabetes, taking estrogen, eating a high protein diet, and suffering sleep disturbances, or depression. If you have none of these known causes, at this time the best ways we know to reduce C-Reactive Protein levels are exercise and diet that includes omega-3 fatty acids. Statins appear to protect against inflammation as well as cholesterol, but they can cause nerve and muscle damage and deplete the body of co-enzyme Q10.

Dr. Don was surprised to discover the following: (1), Fast results could be expected with treatment as stated in the www.WebMD.com report. (2), Using diet, exercise and omega 3 fatty acids were recommended for treatment in the www.healthyheartmiracole.com report. And (3), An anti-inflammation supplement like SerraPhase could be helpful in lowering CRP.

The question of test results again became the subject of discussion and had to be verified. In order to answer the BIG question I agreed to use the same lab Dr. Don sends his patients for my next blood draw analysis, scheduled for July 10th and the result will to be reviewed on July 18th. I intend to report the test results in the August Newsletter.

A Natural Approach To Lower High Blood Sugar: Major lifestyle changes must be made such as exercising daily, modifying your diet significantly, and taking targeted nutritional supplements. To modify your eating habits, cutting out all pasta, bread, starches, and other high-carb foods, and to concentrate on eating green and colored vegetables, berries, nuts, minimal red meat (if any) and plenty of chicken, eggs, salmon and other omega-3 sources. Stevia can be used for a sugar substitute.

Specific supplements that are known to aid lowering blood sugar are Gymnema sylvestre, chromium, vanadyl sulfate, and bitter melon. There are combinations that contain all of these together. Be sure to use a high-potency multivitamin and mineral supplement.

Hints To Aid Weight Lose: (1). Eat a half grapefruit before each meal, (2). When ever you feel like munching drink some ice water, (3). Be sure to have a low carb breakfast every morning, (4). Consider five small meals that contain a small amount of protein daily, (5). Walk and take the stairs when ever possible, and (6). Don't eat any food that contains MSG!

Food additive "MSG" is a Slow Poison. Slow Poisoning MSG hides behind 25 or more names, such as "Natural Flavoring". MSG is also in your favorite Tim Horton's and other brand coffee shops! Pass this on to those who still may be unaware or disbelieving of the dangers of MSG. I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic. John Erb was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent years working for the government. He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called "The Slow Poisoning of America". In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies. No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so the scientists have to create them. They make these morbidly obese creatures by injecting them with MSG when they are first born. The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates; causing rats (and humans?) to become obese. They even have a title for the fat rodents they create: "MSG-Treated Rats".

MSG is in everything! The Campbell's soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavored potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, Kraft salad dressings, especially the 'healthy low fat' ones. The items that didn't have MSG marked on the product label had something called ''Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein'', which is just another name for MSG. It is shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff. They hide MSG under many different names in order to fool those who carefully read the ingredient list, so they don't catch on. (Other names for MSG: 'Accent' - 'Aginomoto' - 'Natural Meat Tenderizer' etc)

Thought For The Day: When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change and reduce your stress level by thinking of your problems as opportunities!

GETWEL.COM

Discover Your Body Mind Spirit Connection Through Handwriting
By Walter J. Edwards, PH.D., Paperback - 122 pages, ISBN: 0914330306

Walt Edwards