Is it possible to have inflammation even though your sed rates are really low? My blood tests from last week show my sed rate to be 4 (up from 2), but I was having a bad week and I thought it would show more inflammation. What's the story?
I have no clue. My hands and feet are constantly bothering me, but every time I see my rheumy there's no noticeable inflammation (and my labs come back normal). I pointed out to her that my pinky and ring finger on my right hand are changing shape and that the pinky and ring finger on my left hand seem to be following... but she said it was nothing to worry about. Personally, I think the MTX and Enbrel are doing nothing but masking most of the symptoms. I think I still have irreversible damage being done and it scares the hell out of me. Lev posted a separate thread with xray pictures, one of which looks familiar because I see it when I look at my own hands.
Damn. I sound depressing don't I? Time to go find something fun to do and forget about this bastard disease.
I couldn't copy and paste the info about sed rate & other tests, so I've given you the link to click on.
Yes you can, i am glad you asked this question.
I have odd swellings because of RA. My calves, bottoms of thighs, shoulders, tops of arms, face etc. etc. swell up, they alternate where they want to attack.
But, i was pretty bad last year when i was on arava and prednisone and my sed rate was almost 0. My doctor said it was a form of edema that wasn't part of the sed rate. He then tried testing my liver, kidney, lungs etc. and couldn't find a reason besides RA for my body doing this.
I didn't get a full reason why the sed rate was close to 0 and i still had lots of water in my body, but I do know that it can happen.
Yep! I've never had a high SED rate. When I was first diagnosed it was a whole 4 points outside normal and hasn't been there since, despite parts of me being visibly inflammed. My GP and RD look for trends within normal in all my bloods.UNfortunaelty, my doc relies on sed rates. Everytime I tell him how inflammed I feel, he says " well your sed rate is normal, and there is no heat radiating from your joints". I think if i hear that one more time i will throw up!I'm with most Gimpy. I think the sed rate is a huge waste of money these