What is sed rate?

If you’ve ever had a blood test done, you may have seen the term “sed rate” written on your lab report. You might be thinking to yourself, “What in the world is that?” Well my friend, let me enlighten you.

A Quick Bio 101

To understand what sed rate means, we need to first talk about blood. Blood is an amazing thing that keeps our bodies alive and kicking. It’s made up of different components such as red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs) and platelets (which are not actually cells but fragments). Each component has its own role but within this article, we’ll mainly focus on RBCs.

When RBCs mix with other substances in the bloodstream, they tend to clump together forming larger structures called aggregates. This happens naturally since these tiny guys have adhesive molecules present on their surface which make them stick together like glue (science fact #1 for ya!)

Now imagine if there was stress or inflammation taking place inside our body; things like infections or injuries would release substances (such as proteins) into our bloodstream making it more likely for RBCs to form even larger structures…and voilà! You just learned why sed rate matters!

So Really… What Is Sed Rate?

Sedimentation rate (abbreviated as “sed rate”) measures how quickly those aggregated-red-blood-cell-glue-blobs settle down at the bottom of a tube filled with anticoagulated blood (all fancy words meaning: how fast they can clump together and sink). Doctors usually measure sed rates because high values indicate that there is something happening inside our body involving inflammation or infection – kinda like when you see smoke coming from your neighbor’s chimney.

Fireplace

FICTIONAL REPRESENTATION OF THE MATTER

How Is It Measured?

To measure sed rate, lab technicians take a sample of your blood and place it in a tube with an anticoagulant (a substance that prevents blood from clotting). The starting point is marked on the outside of the tube before leaving it standing upright for one hour.

The settled column length will be recorded as millimeters per hour (mm/hr) (science fact #2!) which represents how quickly those aggregated cells settle out to form sediment at the bottom of the tube.

Why Should I Care About My Sed Rate?

Increases in sed rates levels indicate inflammation or infection happening within our bodies (science fact #3!!). Some common causes include:

  • infections like tuberculosis, pneumonia, endocarditis
  • autoimmune diseases such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis
  • cancers
  • pregnancy complications

In addition to being used as an aid to diagnose medical conditions, monitoring changes in sed rate can also be vital for checking disease progression and evaluating treatment effectiveness.

Quick Tip!

Remember! A high value only means that there’s something going on inside our body but not necessarily what’s causing it – so don’t go freaking yourself out by googling every symptom you’ve ever experienced.

Googling Symptoms

So now we know what sed rate means and why we should care about it; who knows, maybe next time you get your annual checkup done you’d feel confident asking questions instead of just blindly nodding alongside anything your doc says (#adultingwinning).

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