High E.S.R??

[handbagqueen]

Just had a blood test result back to be told ive got a high ESR count, (17) looked on the internet and some of the reasons for this look a bit scary?? does anyone know what causes this??? what does it all mean??

[Dr Hungry]

ESR is something called an inflammatory marker. It's raised when there's some kind of inflammation or infection going on in the body. However, there is large degree of natural variance between people and can fluctuate with age, weight etc. I think an ESR of 17 is only barely raised - for example; elderly people can sometimes have an ESR of around 30-50 without actually having anything wrong with them.

It's impossible to tell what it is that is wrong without knowing all the other test results, but I'm sure with an ESR that low that nothing much coould be the problem. I expect it is an automated machine that flagged the value as high, I don't think a doctor would think an ESR of 17 would be something worth worrying about if there were no other signs.

If you are intersted, ESR stands for erythrocyte sedimentation rate, the time it takes for a blood sample to settle out into layers. Inflammation changes the viscosity of the blood hence changes the ESR.

All the best

[n00dles]

Hi handbagqueen

Looked it all up in my BMA book, but the good Dr H beat me to it !

SR do you know it is illegal in this country to have handbags made from animal skin?

[handbagqueen]

That fine for hi-jacking my thread i think its entertaining. Just to let you know, no ~I dont have more than 200 bags but what I do have are all GENUINE and LEGAL items. I much prefer to have my 56 genuine pieces from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Christian Dior etc than 200 dead animals lining my wardrobe.