Helen-CBC Lymph count

From: Tina Shelby (tshelby@usit.net)
Tue Feb 15 12:57:57 2000


Helen,

Yes, you are correct, a normal ESR for women, depending on the method used to evaluate the ESR, the ranges are from 0-20mm/hr. The frustrating thing about the ESR is it will indicate an inflammatory process but does't get much more specific than that. Things that cause it to be elevated include the collagen diseased, infections, inflammatory diseases, cancer, metal poisoning, nephritis, pneumonia, severe anemia. ESR is usually used in conjuction with other tests to confirm a diagnosis. IT will indicate the presence of an active inflammation, but not the cause of the process. So when other tests are normal - it really doesn't mean much as far as diagnosing is concerned. There is another test similar to the ESR, is the C-reactive protein. It too will indicate an inflammatory process but will not determine the cause.

Most all of these tests are elevated in my case as well, esp. immediately after having "an episode". I am interested to know if these tests have been done on others in the forum, and if they were elevated. This would be some objective data, that can show that what we are dealing with is not just based on subjective information.

Hope this helps

Tina


Enter keywords:
Returns per screen: Require all keywords: