Concern about SED Rate of 26?!
Question: This is about my son; he is 5 yrs 9 month
In the Nov end he got the stomach flu, then he got rash for 3-4 days, then he hurt his feet. He got septic hip & got surgery & 3 weeks of antibiotic treatment. His SED RATE was 86 & on Dec 31, it went down to 26. So doctor released him from hospital.
But for last 10 days, SED rate is still 26, CRP is -ve.
Doctor told us, if sed rate does not drop below 20, we will have to admit him to hospital & start the same antibiotics.
Now he dont have any medication & doing good dont have any pain anywhere but some times he is getting rash.
Normally how long does it take to decrease sed rate?
Should I be concern about it?
Are there any more tests that can be done?
Please help
Thanks...
Answers: This is about my son; he is 5 yrs 9 month
In the Nov end he got the stomach flu, then he got rash for 3-4 days, then he hurt his feet. He got septic hip & got surgery & 3 weeks of antibiotic treatment. His SED RATE was 86 & on Dec 31, it went down to 26. So doctor released him from hospital.
But for last 10 days, SED rate is still 26, CRP is -ve.
Doctor told us, if sed rate does not drop below 20, we will have to admit him to hospital & start the same antibiotics.
Now he dont have any medication & doing good dont have any pain anywhere but some times he is getting rash.
Normally how long does it take to decrease sed rate?
Should I be concern about it?
Are there any more tests that can be done?
Please help
Thanks...
I can only give you general answers to this question because I'm not a pediatrician, your son is about 60 years too young to be my typical patient, but I can tell you a bit about ESR.
ESR (or sed rate) is short for erythrocyte sedimentation rate - it's a very simple, nonspecific test that can give useful, but nonspecific information. The higher the number, the more positive the test, but all it is really testing for is an inflammatory response somewhere in the body, which can be caused by many, many things. So while it can sometimes be used to find autoimmune diseases, it will also be elevated during a normal reaction to even a minor illness or injury, or any physiological stress.
I can't talk about what it means specifically in your son because it's outside of my field (I'm an internist, and in an adult in that situation, that ESR would not be particularly worrysome to me), but I can say that I wouldn't read too much into it, keep following along with your doctor, and try not to worry too much, without other symptoms, a very slightly elevated ESR usually doesn't mean a whole lot.