[Anonymous]

#1136728

Hi Penny,

Sorry to alarm you about the SED rate stuff. From what my Endo told me, one’s SED rate (red blood cell sedimentation rate — for those of you who don’t know) can fluctuate a lot. It evidently rises with just about any inflamation (like arthritis) or infection (like rheumatic fever) and I guess lots of other things. The only reason he wasn’t sure of the diagnosis and wanted a thyroid scan was that I had high T-4 AND high SED rate. If the SED rate were normal, he sounded as though he was ready to diagnose Grave’s without the scan. I’m personally glad I am getting the scan because I want to know FOR SURE. Thanks for the reply.

Sarah

[Anonymous]

#1136729

Can someone tell me what the SED is? When I had blood workout last summer my SED was 50. What does this mean? What is it and what does it indicate? Thx

[Anonymous]

#1136730

I too had a high SED rate years ago when first diagnosed with fibromyalgia. My understanding is that a high sed rate MAY indicate auto immiune disease.

[Anonymous]

#1043971

In Sarah’s message to Sharon she mentionns SED rate.
I was told my SED rate was high YEARS ago and that
that meant Arthritis and that I had had Ruematic
Fever (instead of borderline as always thought) when
I was 5/6 y/o.
Do you mean to tell me SED rate has something to do
with GD????????????

[Anonymous]

#1136731

Since this is not dispensing medical advice, but just giving a definition, here is the definition from Dr. Koop’s medical encyclopedia of SED:

Alternative Names:
erythocyte sedimentation rate, sedimentation rate, sed rate

Definition:
A nonspecific screening test for various inflammatory diseases. The test measures the distance (in millimeters) that red blood cells settle in unclotted blood toward the bottom of a specially marked test tube in one hour.

Normal Values (Westergren method):

Men under 50 years old: less than 15mm/hr
Men over 50 years old: less than 20mm/hr
Women under 50 years old: less than 20mm/hr
Women over 50 years old: less than 30mm/hr

These other methods will have differing values:
Cutler
Wintrobe
Smith
Landau

REMEMBER: THESE ARE NORMAL VALUES FOR THE METHOD AND LAB, NOT NECESSARILY FOR YOU. THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE. PLEASE DISCUSS ANY QUESTIONS WITH YOUR DOCTOR.

Don’t know if this helps or not.

Mitakuye Oyasin
Val

[Anonymous]

#1136732

Renee
Im on steriods because of lid surgery. Seems the surgery can cause a flareup and my surgeon is being precautious. Ive been on 80 mg a day for about a month… so dont cross my path! Yes, Ive gotten a new name in the household.. the WITCH FROM HELL!!!! Im starting to taper down now… thank heavens! Now I cant remember what you asked me…I did have eye radiation but it didnt work for me. I believe there was a study done at Mayo Clinic on orbital radiation . Not sure of the date the conclusions were posted but please check it out before you have it done.

[Anonymous]

#1136733

Hi, Christina.

Thanks for your info. Say, did you have lid surgery and orbital decompression? Or was it just lid surgery? Was that to fix retracting eyelids? My upper lids are retracting a little. I would like to have that fixed, plus my lower eye bags removed. But I really don’t want to undergo decompression unless my sight is threatened. So far, so good.

I thought the radiation is supposed to reduce the inflammation behind the eyes? Why doesn’t it work? It makes me hesitant to do it, though my doc isn’t jumping at it just yet. Depends on my field vision test results. But my eye muscle movement is becoming more restricted, so the radiation is a possibility. Where can I look up the report on orbital radiation? Is there a Web site? Need all the help I can get. Thanks,
Renee

[Anonymous]

#1136734

Hey Renee,
Thanks for the laugh. We have been having such a bad time in the house and I just read out loud your posting . The whole family laughed. as I know first hand what you are going through and so does my family . Sometimes I don’t understand why they put up with it. Im not on the pred anymore but feel like it sometimes. Apparently the dr told me it would stay in my body for awhile after I finished taking it. Oh joy oh BLISS How much weight have you gained since all this started for you. I feel I can ask that because I don’t know you and will never see you. I gained 52 lbs as I have said before. Are you on antidepressants as well? There is another oh joy oh Bliss. More weight and bad moods I feel like Im on a permanent PMS big time.
Well I did have a laugh reading your post. I think I did tell you I have had radiation therapy and pred at the same time I can really see the difference so something is happening to me besides being the Witch from Hell. Bye for now
Lou

[Anonymous]

#1136735

Read the post from Jan dated 10/22/99 at 11:42 on orbital radiation. Something to think about… it seems to help some… and others not.

[Anonymous]

#1136736

reply to Christina:

Thanks for the info on the orbital radiation, but gosh, I know I’m going to look stupid for all you guys to see, how do I access an old post? Where do I click? (Please don’t think I’m dumb)

By the way, I was on 60 mg. All I felt was dizzy, dizzy, off balance, like I was going to walk into the walls. And like I said, a constant nagging headache for 10 days. That’s a weird side effect, huh? Oh, plus I put on 5 pounds. And here I’ve gained over 20 in the last year after I became hypo, so I’m still trying to lose some of that, to boot.

Well, thanks,
Renee

[Anonymous]

#1136737

Renee, to access an old post, select the “search” button. You can search by keyword or by date.

Dianne W

[Author]

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