Hard evidence of healing: Blood tests.
How will you know if any of the changes you make to your lifestyle and dietary habits are really working? Are the levels of inflammation associated with Crohn’s disease reducing? You may notice your body responding perhaps accompanied by an uplift in your general sense of well-being and mood. But whilst such improvements are most welcome, the only ‘hard evidence’ our bodies are recovering is through a regular panel of blood tests.
I started regular testing from the very early days of working with my GP and continue them to this day although less frequently. I did this so I KNEW what effect dietary and lifestyle changes were having on my body. Were they helping or hindering its self-healing process?
To provide some proof that the information shared on this site genuinely had a positive impact on my body I’ve included a selection of historic blood tests below. They are not modified in any way, when preparing this blog I simply photographed them and ‘blacked out’ certain sections for privacy purposes. The reason for the different formats is because I moved from Wales to England and hence to a different NHS Trust.
**Updated 7th July 2025**
My experience had been that tests for ESR (Erythrocyte sedimentation rate) and CRP (C-Reactive Protein) provided definitive markers for bowel inflammation and the risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Until July 2025 these were the only results shown in the pdf viewer below.
A clear explanation of these tests can be found on the Patient.info blog: ‘Blood tests to detect inflammation‘:
‘If you have inflammation in a part of your body then certain types of extra protein are often released from the site of inflammation and circulate in the bloodstream. Healthcare professionals use blood tests to assess if inflammation is happening in a person’s body…….Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and plasma viscosity (PV) blood tests are commonly used to detect increase in protein in the blood. In this way they are used as markers of inflammation.’
There is now however a new test available: ‘Faecal Calprotectin’ performed as a stool sample. My GP offered it to me in lieu of ESR markers in June 2025 for the first time and the result is shown in the .pdf viewer below.
This site offers a good explanation of the test along with a clear explanation of how to interpret the results.