[Kaos0100]

I went to the Gastro today for the first time. He's set me up for an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. He said my SED rate was 66, which was very high. He said usually it was only that high with people who had joint problems or something else. Do any of you remember your SED rates? He also said that he wouldn't have even tested my SED rate in diagnosing IBS, but my PPC had ordered the blood tests, not him.

 

[Rose]

At the risk of appearing "dumb", what's a SED rate?------------------"Today is the first day of the rest of your life"Rose

 

[Kaos0100]

It's short for sedimentation rate. It apparently shows inflammation or infection somewhere in your body.

 

[zigmissus]

Mine is always around 32, which I understand is just slightly abnormal. All I know is that the test measures the rate that your blood settles in a test tube in order to identify the presence of infection, inflammation or tissue damage. I guess we must have some, but the test doesn't say where.

 

[Missycat]

All I know is that it is a very general test that can tell you if you have inflammation somewhere in your body. If you suffer from GERD, your sed rate will probably be high. Even an inflamed, pulled muscle can make the sed rate higher than normal. When I had GERD, my sed rate was always pretty high (sorry - I can't remember the numbers), because my stomach was always irritated. Your doc should follow up to pinpoint where the inflammation is.Oh - a little bit of advice - make sure they put you out during the colonoscopy and endoscopy. You won't remember a thing afterwards and you won't feel any pain. It's worth it.------------------"I get by with a little help from my friends." John LennonMissycat

 

[maggiew]

My Sed rate is usually normal, and Liver enzymes are high (Alkaline phosphate) although I don't know what THAT means either.

 

[flux]

maggiew, you might want to specifically ask for a second opinion about this because it is conceivable that you have a latent Hepatitis C infection (I�m not saying you do because healthy people can have abnormal liver enzymes too, but just to be cautious).

 

[christine]

Back when I had giardia and was sick as a dog, my doctor was trying to figure out what was wrong with me. One of the tests he ordered was a sed rate. When I asked him what the purpose of the sed rate was, he said that if it was elevated it would show that there was some type of imflammatory process in the body. It could not specifically diagnose a condition but would get them going in the right direction should it be elevated. Well, my test was normal even though I had GERD and giardia (even though we didn't know it at the time).Christine