Hi again, everyone

I had some blood work done a few days ago. Now I find out my sed rate is over 100 (103) to be exact. Does anybody know what could cause that? I am hoping hormonal imbalance. Doctors say no but I cannot find any answers either from them. My rhuemy says it could be a red herring since most other labwork comes back either normal or around normal. Now even the specialists don't know. By the way your sed rate is supposed to be used to measure inflammation and should normally be 0-20. I keep having doctors tell me "don't worry, we will find out what is wrong" and i can't help but think "yep at my autopsy" Sorry to be so morbid but it is aggravating. Especially having to spend so much money and getting nowhere!! I know you ladies have much the same problems going on. Hopefully we can all learn from each other

Hi there,
I can understand why you are worried by a raised ESR. I do know that pregnancy, menstruation and anaemia can cause a raised ESR, as can the BCP but your ESR is significantly raised. Any inflammatory process can cause an abnormal result. I think it would be wise to leave it for a week or so and then repeat the test, just in case you were suffering from some sort of acute inflammation when you were tested last time. If the result remains raised your doctors need to get off their butts and find out what kind of inflammatory process is going on. ESR can never be used on its own to form a diagnosis, it has to be married up with other symptoms before a diagnosis can be confirmed. Thyroiditis can even cause a raised ESR. Sometimes it just goes back to normal with no evidence of what caused the problem. If yours remains raised, at least it confirms that maybe you need to look a little deeper that just menopause for the cause of all your symptoms.

Hoping you find some answers soon........


XIII

[quote name='XIII' date='Jun 19 2008, 10:00 AM' post='228418']
Hi there,
I can understand why you are worried by a raised ESR. I do know that pregnancy, menstruation and anaemia can cause a raised ESR, as can the BCP but your ESR is significantly raised. Any inflammatory process can cause an abnormal result. I think it would be wise to leave it for a week or so and then repeat the test, just in case you were suffering from some sort of acute inflammation when you were tested last time. If the result remains raised your doctors need to get off their butts and find out what kind of inflammatory process is going on. ESR can never be used on its own to form a diagnosis, it has to be married up with other symptoms before a diagnosis can be confirmed. Thyroiditis can even cause a raised ESR. Sometimes it just goes back to normal with no evidence of what caused the problem. If yours remains raised, at least it confirms that maybe you need to look a little deeper that just menopause for the cause of all your symptoms.

Hoping you find some answers soon........


XIII
[/quote

Hi there,

It has been raised since they started testing me back in October. First it was 60; then 83. Went back to 62. Now it is over 100!!! I keep thinking lab error? But not 4 times!!!

Mmmmm does look as if something is going on.
There are so many things it could be. If it were me I would get myself back to the doctors. Have they done immunoglobulin electrophoresis for you? I would be keen to exclude some of the auto -immune connective tissue problems.
Please try to keep your panic under control, it is most likely something simple or insignificant.
When you go to the doctors with a complex problem, complaining of multiple symptoms things can get very difficult. At this time of our lives, health anxiety can easily take over our life and destroy it. You will have to be very clever to get the best out of this situation.
I became very poorly at the beginning of peri and my symptoms were ignored. I knew that I had something significant going on but I was treated like a brainless hysterical female. I was lucky that I had medical knowledge and friends in high places. I had to pay privately to see a specialist who diagnosed my condition, within minutes of me speaking to him. The diagnostic surgery cost me £10,000. I was the first person in Britain to be diagnosed with my condition so It was rare but I will never forget the abuse I suffered in trying to get a diagnosis. I will never forget the day I told my GP what I thought was wrong with me. He just looked at me with complete disdain and laughed me out of the surgery. Turns out I was deadly accurate in my diagnosis. The sad fact is that doctors love the simple diagnoses like diabetes or appendicitis but they don't like the difficult stuff like the neurological diseases or the immunological nasties.
I now have my diagnosis but there is no cure and no treatment. However I did need my diagnosis because I thought that I was going nuts when they insisted that nothing could possibly be wrong.
I will keep my fingers crossed for you, that this all a storm in a tea cup. I just want you to learn from the situation that I found myself in.

Kind regards,


XIII

Thanks for the reply. It sounds like you have been to hell too!!! I had a protein electrophoresis and everthing turned out normal. I have slightly low lymphs, normal protein and calcium levels, ANA and RF negative, test for sjogrens the SSA and SSB were negative. Just curious: what were you diagnosed with? You can PM me if you would like. I get angry with these doctors because the earlier treatment is started, the earlier you can feel better and maybe not so much damaged to vital tissues and organs would be done. I doubt it is insignificant though because of the high ESR level but you would think the doctors would want to take a deeper look. OH well, I was told by them that they can't treat me for a disease if nothing is there. I wish the best for you as well. Thanks again for listening to my rants.

Sherri

Hi Sherri

Have they also tested your full thryoid like: TSH, Free T3, Free T4 and both kinds of antibodeis i.e Thyroglobulin (TgAB) and Thyroperoxidase (TPO), sorry spelling is probably off LOL. I was told by more than one person that when you are highly anxious and stressed it can put off the results of some tests especially ones testing for inflammation. How true this is I don't know but it kind of makes some sense. I am meant to have an ANA, DNA & CRP test but I'm not keen on having it at the moment as I am far to stressed and anxious. It's not that my doctor thinks there is anything wrong with me but he knows how important an all clear test result is to alleviate my health anxiety fears. My major health concerns are the possilbility of having something like MS, Lupus, RA or a thyroid problem. When I am feeling ok these things barely cross my mind but when I'm feeling like I am at present they are constantly in my mind along with many other strange ideas of what can be wrong with me.

Keep posting with your progress Sherri as I have been following your posts with interest.

Rox

Good morning Rox,

Yes, they have tested my thyroid but not the TgAB or TPO. I have had the TSH, T3 and T4 done though.. I had an Ultrasound done last fall on my thyroid and the impression was one side of my thyroid was enlarged with several small nodules but was unimpressive. My GP (who I don't trust at all now) said that my thyroid was fine. HMMM I had an ANA done and it was negative. My CRP was 1.2 (normal is 0.0-0.5). I know that my CRP is elevated but it doesn't sound like much when you comare it to a reading of 103 for ESR. My doctors shrug it off and say "I don't know" Maybe my next doctor should be a hemotologist? Thank you for your interest in my progress. It really means a lot.

Hi Sherri

It may be worth asking them to test for those antibodies just to rule it out, I'm surprised they never did in the first place while testing the rest of your thyroid numbers. I am awaiting the results of my thyroid retest last week so hopefully will know by Monday is anything is wrong and if not then Thursday I will find out what they are when I go back to my doc to get my stitches out.

From what I've been told CRP can be raised just from a mere cold or minor infection of some kind so that is why I am not keen to have that test done yet along with the ANA test just because if it shows a false result then I will panic even further wondering what I may or may not have. Are you still having major symptoms or is it just the constant worry of the elevated ESR that is getting you down??

I'm fairly sure it's just my extreme anxiety that is causing most of my problems at the moment cos for the last year I have had virtually no anxiety except situational anxiety and I have been able to cope very well. Now the anxiety has recurred for some unknown reason and I am a complete basket case once again. So of course my old health anxiety concerns have returned with a few additions to the list. I wish there was a simple easy conclusive test for each and every one of them so they could easily be ruled out and I could move on to better times..... HAH!!!...... Yeah right!!!

Keep us posted

Rox

Good Morning Rox,

Yep all they did was the T3and 4 and TSH on me. Nothing else. At the time I didn't know there was anything else to test for the thyroid. I am still having the weird symptoms but I try not to let it bother me like I did last summer. Boy if you go back over some of my posts, I sound like a real basket case I wasn't sick or had an infection that I know of when the CRP was done but I still don't understand why my sed rate would be so elevated (l03) and CRP only slightly (1.2) I asked the doctor that and she said she thinks it might be a "red herring" not to be worried about!!! And this is a rheumotologist!!! I still can help but wonder if I have a sinus infection or something. All of this happened about 2 months or so after I had a bout of bronchitis last year in February. I have had popping in my ears, weird feelings on the bridge of my nose; dry nose and mouth; sometimes blurry vision and dizziness. I wanted a referral to an ENT but my PCP refused to give me one. So much for help from the medical community. They must think I am a real hypercondriac by now. I hope you can get to the bottom of your symptoms too Good luck with your thyroid retest as well

Sherri

A high sed rate could be an indication of some type of autoimmune disorder. Usually doctors look at this and any symptoms you have. If your doctor isn't doing a full workup, I would find a new doctor. You most likely will need to see a rhuematologist to see if he/she comes up with anything. Your sed rate is really high and should have set off alarm bells the first time, with possibly a repeat test and then followed by further indepth diagnostics. Don't settle until you get a diagnosis.

Hi Pixie,

I have been seeing a rheumatologist and she said she thinks it is a "red herring" meaning nothing is wrong!!! I have had other doctors tell me the same thing and have been checked for lupus, sjogrens', thyroid disease. Have had a colonsocopy (boy what fun), pap smear (just as much fun) mammogram and stomach and bladder ultrasound. Nada...nothing is coming up. I have been poked and prodded in places I didn't know I had and still nothing. There has to be something!! I have really severe arthritis in my knee and have heel spurs that hurt. The doctors tell me that won't cause as high a sed rate as what I have now. Maybe I do have some kind of pre-cancer. I just don't know and neither apparently do the doctors.

Sherri

Sherri get the docs to order the simple blood test to check both types of thyroid antibodies since they haven't done this already. Some of our symptoms seem to be similar as do alot of other women I have read about on this board who have Hashimotos or other thyroid disorders etc. It seems most docs don't look into this avenue unless pressed but it seems to be the thing that sets off these thyroid issues. At least you can cross it entirely off your list if it comes back all normal but make sure you look at the lab results yourself which I'm sure you already do.

Rox

well ladies cancel the 103. It has risen four points!! Now 107. HMMM There has got to be a mistake somewhere. Maybe the lab technicians are reading the results right but 5 different times!!!!??? first 60, then 83 then back to 62; then 103 and now 107!!! I will check with my new doctor. I got a new GP and see him on August the first. Will ask him about the sed rate issue. I hear he is supposed to be very thorough

Sherri

oops meant to say the lab technicians "aren't reading it right". Sorry

Hi Rox

Oh yes I make sure I get a copy of the lab results everytime I have something done. I have gained a lot of weight that looks like fluid retention in my legs and when I say a lot I mean 30 or so pounds in the last 5 months. I have severe arthritis and I have been told that it can cut circulation off and cause fluid retention. I don't think 30 lbs though. Maybe thryoid problems are my answer to the rising sed rate. If it is thyroid, at least it is easily fixed.

sherri,

I hope you check into this sooner that August 1st...that's quite a wait. Can't you get in earlier...this is not a regular checkup and needs to be investigated sooner...IMO.

Hugs,
Karen

Osteoarthritis will cause a significantly raised ESR.

XIII

[quote name='XIII' date='Jun 25 2008, 02:28 PM' post='229250']
Osteoarthritis will cause a significantly raised ESR.

XIII
[/quote

Hi XIII

Really? All the doctors said osteo is non-inflammatory but I really don't have faith in what they say anymore!!! I was told my osteoarthritis is degenerating and it does seem to get worse everyday. I hope you are right and it is not some horrible disease lurking around Thanks again Xlll. I appreciate the info.

Sherri

Hi Karen,

Unfortunately the new doctor (who I have heard great things about) has hours that are not complementary with my work hours. I have to take time off and I have taken so much off to get to the bottom of things that I am running out of leave!!! Plus I am pissed because everytime I have taken leave I always think "Now I am going to get answers" just to be told "I don't know what is wrong with you". My current female GP had the nerve to ask me awhile back if I wanted to be sick!!!! I felt like slapping the s*() out of her face then and there!!!!!!!

Hugs to you Karen and thanks for your concern.

Sherri