Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Other Health Discussion => Topic started by: countrybumpkin on February 08, 2017, 07:36:36 PM
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Had an armful of blood taken last week , thyroid, full blood count, liver, kidneys, CRP, B12 and Folate and ESR ::)
Everything was normal ( I take thyroid meds) except ESR which was raised. The normal is up to 20 and I normally run at 23 anyway but it is 37 so I have to be retested in a month.
A few weeks ago I had epischleritis in my eye ( inflammation of the middle lining of the white of your eyes) and the optician said that usually no cause but about 10% of people have an underlying autoimmune disorder.
GP said that the epischleritis could be the cause of the raised ESR but if its still raised or continues to go up then they will need to do alot more testing :o
Obviously I already have an autoimmune disease with my underactive thyroid and this makes you more suseptible to others as well. I am hanging on to the fact all the other tests were fine and can only hope the esr returns to my dodgy normal next time.
Anyone else had this?
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Countrybumpkin, unless the ESR is really high I don't think it can be relied on to be meaningful. It's just a really cheap test that GPS keep using. CRPis a much more accurate test.
My husband had epischleritis for a several months and they could not find a cause.
Flutterbyx
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5 used to be the 'normal' limit - higher meant a lady was pregnant ;)
How has your thyroid been in the last 6-8 months?
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ESR is a notoriously difficult test to interpret - so many things affect it. I have an autoimmune disease (psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis) that causes swelling and inflammation, and my ESR (and other inflammatory markers) is normal, even in the middle of a flare. For my condition, that's usual. But anything that causes inflammation can increase your ESR, even giving yourself a knock on those annoying pieces of furniture that jump out at you ( ;)). As your other results are normal (especially CRP), don't get hung up on the ESR.
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Thanks everyone. Yep all other tests and it was the full monty were completely normal and the Dr was not bothered she said but its standard to do a repeat in a month and only then if it was same or higher would they start to think why. My crp never alters and is bang in the middle.
The reference range for my age for esr at my lab is up to 20.