Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Talk to me about raised fecal calprotectin levels

6 replies

BrownyMousy · 16/07/2025 15:17

I would appreciate your thoughts as I'm really worried.

GP is investigating an urgency problem which only occurs for a day every few months or so which I think is stress related. In between everything is fine. My fecal calprotectin levels are consistently in the 90s though even when I have no symptoms. GP is talking about referring me for further tests. Obviously I would have them if really necessary but I'm struggling to see that it is if I am mostly symptom free.

Bread can make me a bit bloated so I keep consumption to a minimum. Wondering if I should go wheat and gluten free and ask for a retest.

OP posts:
Whatatodo79 · 16/07/2025 21:36

Don't think it will help. Faecal calprotectin is a measure of possible inflammation in the (large) bowel whereas coeliac disease is a small bowel problem. I would let your GP guide you

Chewbecca · 17/07/2025 14:47

90s isn't indicative of IBD.
Just explain clearly your symptoms and let GP decide next steps, you don't need to ask for anything.
That's if it is actually a problem at all, not sure if that's what you are saying?

mynannygoat7 · 17/07/2025 14:54

Isn’t celiac a systemic issue @whatatodo79?It’s autoimmune and can affect the mouth, skin etc. definitely the whole gut, too.

sallsterm · 17/07/2025 15:02

Can be diverticular disease or they could find nothing but always get it scoped when they indicate you need it, don't cancel or put off, have it checked out. Good luck op.

BrownyMousy · 17/07/2025 15:29

Thanks for your comments. I'm just waiting to be notified of a GP appointment to discuss. Hopefully it won't be too long.

OP posts:
Boredofmyguts · 18/07/2025 08:54

I've had 4 calprotectin results in the past 3 years.

First was around 300, (I had just had covid and some peristent diarrhoea hence the testing of the stool) , it was repeated two weeks later and it was over 2000 - this triggered a colonoscopy but nothing of note was found. I felt absolutely dreadful at the time with loads of digestive symptoms - nausea, lack of appetite, diarrhoea, reflux etc. My tests were on private insurance - I also had a small bowel MRI which was 'normal', so no IBD and no cancer found. So far, so mysterious.

FFwd a couple more months I had another NHS stool test as wasn't feeling any better and had more diahorrea, that was 7 so good, back to normal. My FIT tests have always been normal.

After that I was mainly battling with acid reflux (using diet and gaviscon advance to help, but also was on PPI for a while) and wind but more recently I started getting some more bowel symptoms so the NHS did another round of stool tests and my calprotectin was about 1500 - I've already had colonoscopy, followed by abdo CT - no colitis but they suspect chrons as there was inflammation and a enlarged node. Having a small bowel CT with contrast and another endoscopy in the next few days, which will hopefully give the answers.

So the upshot is I have some mild inflammation in the bowels, but they can't determine what is causing it. I did have h pylori which was treated, but I do wonder if that is the culprit and it didn't get eradicated. Although on googling it says h pylori doesn't raise calprotectin levels.

So my answer is, get tested but you may end up going down a testing rabbit hole.

90 isn't particularly high for calprotectin though, and you have to be eating wheat to be tested accurately for coeliac.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page