I'm really worried..? Calprotectin levels?

[missinghumpty]

I've had bleeding when going to the toilet and pain for years. Lately the pain has got worse and I'm always bloated with reflux too.

I had a Calprotectin stool test and normal levels are 0-50 and mine have come back at 469.

I had a sigmoidoscopy last week which just showed piles but they say I might need a colonoscopy now.

I'm so scared, what can these levels mean?

The levels look for signs of inflammation. The higher the levels, the more chance there is of inflammation. A level of 469 isn't too bad, many can be in thousands when inflammation is really bad. My son has crohns and his levels have been through the roof at times when he is flaring.

They will probably be thinking of crohns or colitis, which is why they want to do a colonoscopy. Or they may repeat the calprotectin test to see when the levels have dropped.

It means you have a lot of inflammation. A colonoscopy is a good check point but won’t find any reason for the inflammation.

You need to look at your diet and maybe with the help of a nutritionist who is a gut specialist you can try an elimination diet. Good luck!

Everything @Londonnight said although if it is crohns (what I have) 469 can be seriously painful if you have scar tissue which if you've suffered from years you probably do have. Not sure what @Betahydroxybutyrate means as a colonoscopy is the only way to diagnose Crohns. Could also be diverticulitis. Not anything you want to have but all normally well controlled with medication.

It means there is inflammation and you need a colonoscopy to see if they can find out why. I’ve had IBS for years but 2 years ago I started to get rectal pain and a year later pain under both sides of my ribs. GP thinks it could be Inflammatory Bowel Disease. My calprotectin levels are all over the place, earlier this year it was 157, a few weeks ago it was 67? No idea why it’s dropped so much when my symptoms are still the same! 🤦🏻‍♀️ So I’m booked in for a colonoscopy next week (am really anxious about all of it, the prep because I already have rectal pain so this is likely to make it worse plus the actual procedure itself, risks an all! 😣). It might not be IBD, it could be an infection etc. Try not to panic in the meantime, although I understand it’s easier said than done 💐

My son has Ulcerative colitis. His was about 1200. Coming down now with treatment

A colonoscopy will diagnose Colitis and other conditions. Not sure why someone is saying they won't. They wouldn't do them otherwise.

Yes colonoscopy is gold standard for diagnosis. You biopsy the inflamed bits and it tells you what's wrong.

Hi OP did you ever get a diagnosis? Your list of symptoms sounds exactly like mine. My fecal calprotectin have come back as 468.

Did you ever find out what was happening ?
iv had two calprotectin tests , first one was 275 but recent one was 211. Im waiting on MRI results today actually to check if there is a possibility of small crohns in intestines.
i dont get bleeding unless i get a pile which seems common for me after having 3 children in less then 5 years. I also get reflux and once in a blue moon I get sharp abdominal pain that’s lasts like 30 minutes.
just recently had abdominal ultrasound and transvaginal ultrasound and both fine.
bowels are relatively normal.
I also suffer health anxiety which never helps. Just don’t know what to expect from results to be honest.

@Jadejack did you ever get any results?
I'm currently waiting on bloods coming back and had a slightly elevated stool sample as the gp stated (no idea the actual figure) I have to repeat it in 4 weeks. My health anxiety is through the roof it's so hard not to think the worst. I'm stressing so bad.