I was diagnosed just six months ago, and at that time, my SED Rate was 30...the top number on the scale of normal. Fast forward six months and my SED Rate is 60! My rheumy was concerned that I was experiencing stiffness and/or pain, but I don't feel any different than I did six months ago. She has decided to treat me and not my numbers, so she did not prescribe Plaquinel at this time. She will retest in three months. Has this ever happened to anyone?
This sounds like it is a reasonable approach. Not everyone will have an elevated sed rate, and there are many different causes of one.
When my daughter was first diagnosed with lupus at age 11, her SED rate was 72. Granted she was VERY sick at that point in her life and I am thankful to the first pediatrician who added it to her blood work after months of not knowing what was wrong because It was the first thing to point us towards a diagnosis. In the past 14 years, however, her SED rate has remained near , or within, normal levels despite how sick or flair-like she feels. My SED rate is never elevated either and I’m often surprised because sometimes I feel like inflammation must be running rampant in my body.
Long story short, I’m not really sure that a SED rate (or C reactive protein - CRP - another marker for inflammation) are always indicative of how you feel. Your rheumy’s approach sounds like a great one to me as long as she retests again soon.
Liz
Thanks Liz. I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter's illness. It must be so hard on a child so young. I am eager to be retested in October....I fear that without having physical symptoms, something else may be going on in my body that we don't know about yet....