SED rate affected by MS???

[fourcats]

My SED rate is elevated and has been for about 2 years. Unless I stay on steroids it goes right back up. Does anyone know if MS can cause a SED rate to be elevated?

[Thinkimjob]

I'd love to help, but I don't know what a SED rate is.

[fourcats]

SED rate

Sed rate - Mayo Clinic



http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests.../s..../prc-20013502





Here is the best explanation of what a SED rate is:


Mayo Clinic:

Sed rate, or erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), is a blood test that can reveal inflammatory activity in your body.

I figured I may as well let the Mayo Clinic give the best definition!

[Seasha]

fourcats - the url gets an error message - you might want to try it again!

[erinjoy]

A SED rate measures general inflammation. Not common with MS. I would ask your PHP to run some tests to find out why your SED rate is consistently elevated.

[ars320]

The see rate is so nonspecific. It goes up with any kind of inflammation including small things like a cold and big things like cancers. I don't think it should be checked unless you have a condition where disease activity that is known to parallel the sed rate. If it's sky high, like over 100, your doctor should look you over for infection and cancers, but otherwise I think it is given too much importance. So I wouldn't worry too much.

[onlyairfare]

As far as I know, an elevated sed rate is not associated with MS, though it can be associated with some other auto-immune diseases. Since steroids generally dampen one's immune responses, it makes sense that your sed rate goes down when you take steroids.

But an elevated sed rate is not a diagnosis, it is a non-specific sign. So I agree with erinjoy. If your sed rate is always elevated maybe you could talk to your PCP about running additional tests to find out why the sed rate is high.