TOP 11 Inflammatory Markers

With chronic pain being one of the most common factors, it’s no surprise that almost every chronic disease has some level of inflammation associated with it. Inflammatory lab markers can show you and your clinician a lot about how your body is holding onto excessive inflammation which may cause other diseases to develop or worsen as time goes on. Getting blood work drawn regularly is like getting an inside look at your body’s unique metabolic profile. You don’t always feel symptoms until things escalate and disease happens, so checking labs regularly can make sure every “under the hood” is working well and gives you peace of mind that your health is going in the right direction. 

Here are some of my favorite labs for checking levels of your inflammation in your body below.

1. Hs-CRP: Hs-CRP is a protein produced in the liver that gets released to fight inflammation. The long-term CRP elevation that is unresolved is also an issue for cardiac disease and other chronic disease states. The goal is to be under 1mg/L, but ideally as close 0.1 as possible. Also, make sure the test is for high sensitivity (Hs) vs regular CRP for better clinical indication.
2. Fasting Insulin: Studies how found relationships between insulin resistance and associated inflammatory responses in the body- optimal range 1.0-5.0uiU/ML
3. Vitamin D3: Vitamin D3 has been shown to help genomic suppression of Inflammation by inhibiting one of the master gene switches for inflammation-NF-kappa-B. The ideal range for optimum level of Vit D3- 40-70ng/ml
4. Homocysteine: Elevated homocysteine levels may indicate inflammation and also cardiovascular issues. The ideal range is to see homocysteine under 9, but some integrative providers prefer under 7 for brain inflammation.
5. Serum Ferritin: Ferritin stores iron inside your body, low levels of ferritin can indicate iron deficiency anemia, and elevated ferritin levels could indicate inflammation. The optimal range is 30 to 400 and the optimal range is 50 to 150 for females and 75 to 150 for males.
6. Liver Enzymes: Liver enzyme levels may also indicate inflammation, as well as, liver, gallbladder, bile, or kidney issues. Look for normal levels in ALT, AST, GGT, and ALP.
7. Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR): or Sed rate for short. ESR is a common hematology test to look for inflammation It refers to the rate at which your red blood cells in anticoagulated whole blood go down in a standardized tube over a period of one hour. Ideally, levels will be well below 20mm/hr but this is also dependent on age and gender.
8. Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH): LDH is an enzyme found in all living cells, it helps turns sugar into energy. elevated LDH markers may be a risk factor for severe respiratory illness, inflammation, and oxidative damage.  Optimal levels are between 140-180. Levels over 180 indicate high inflammation and oxidative stress.
9. HbA1C-The inability to regulate blood sugar is a major cause of inflammation. HbA1c gives you a measurement of the amount of glucose in the blood over a 3 month period. The clinical range is between 4.8 and 5.6 while the optimal range is 4.5 – 5.2.
10.  Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR): NLR is a good measurement to see your immune system is dealing with chronic inflammation. inflammation, over time, the lymphocyte levels will drop and the neutrophil levels will rise and cause an imbalance.  NLR is usually measured with the absolute count and we want to see it at roughly 1.2-2.0. If neutrophils are more than 2x that of lymphocytes, this is a good sign of chronic inflammation.
11. Interleukin-6 (IL-6): Interleukins are important in stimulating immune responses with inflammation. Elevated concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6) may indicate an ongoing inflammatory response and could be consistent with a systemic infection, localized infection, or chronic inflammatory disease.< or =1.8 pg/mL

Now I have a few videos below that explain some ways to test yourself with a few consumers to lab tests. However, I do advise that you work with your doctor to determine your lab values and also create an associated health plan to get you back on track.

I hope you found this information helpful for monitoring inflammation in your body! Please let me know if you have any questions.

For more information on scheduling and creating a specific health protocol based on your labs, please schedule an online consult with us here-www.painfix.janeapp.com