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I think the sedrate level is the level of "sediment" in her blood from not evacuating completely. My daughter had a similar problem and missed 30 days of school in her 5th grade (I think it was). I took her to a specialist and it turned out she was just severly backed up! She was scared to push the painful poo out when she was constipated so she just wouldnt go. It backed up so bad he could feel it in her intestines by doing an examination of her stomach while she laid on her back. So he gave her a perscription for stool softener, told me to feed her this fiber drink (the perscription) at least twice a day and then explained to her that it was up to her to take more time in the bathroom. "Practice pushing every time even if you don't have to go or the muscles will stop working and then you'll have a more serious problem". So for some time she had to remember to take at least 15 minutes every time she went to the bathroom. To sit and push and push. IN a couple weeks she was doing much better. I mean she was crying every morning and making me so miserable because I was told my my hubby that I was being too soft on her letting her stay home every day for a stomach ache. It was a very trying time. I don't want to relive that. So now every time she has a stomach ache I ask if she's been poohing a lot lately or not. Reminding her that she needs to remember to get it all out every time. She seems to have gotten over the hurdle and only had one near repeat of this problem since.
Good news though, even though she missed all that school, her doctor's notes helped the teachers help her with her studies so she still got straight A's! She's a trooper!
At one point I was getting nasty notes from the school district telling me that if she misses any more school I'll have to take her to court or somethign like that. IT's not legal for us to keep our kids home from school so much. Geez, as if I didn't have enough to worry about. I worried about her health, her grades and my reputation as a mother. I was a wreck! My hubby didnt' know what to do. I was so relieved to find out it wasn't just a whiney manipulative girl I had, that she really did have a problem and it was fixable. Shew!
If I were you I'd ask if this may be the problem with your girl. Some kids get it some don't. My son had a problem with not wiping or waiting too long to go also. HE never wet himself but crapped his pants a lot until age 13! He's now 15 and it's rare, but diahreah sometimes sneaks up on him and he thinks it's just gas. You know that's a dangerous combination!
Hang in there!
Don't you just love this site!? I wish I had it sooner!

Hi Renee M:

A sedimentation rate is rather nonspecific blood test, but can be associated with any inflammatory or even infectious condition. The value doesn't seem very high and given it fluctuated to normal, the test in itself doesn't suggest anything serious. Stomach pains can be lots of different things, and if it has been going on for a while, it is very reasonable to have your GI doctor perform those tests. Maybe checking her stool for infecions as well. I know it is scary having your child sick - it sounds like your doctor is being very thorough in checking all these things. Hope that helps....best,

mg - mom of 3 1/2 yr old, almost 2 yr old, and a doctor

A Sed Rate is a non-specific test for inflammation in the body. If it is elevated, she may need furthur lab work, however the elevated Sed Rate by itself doesn't really mean anything. The two are probably not related

Hi Renee! My name is S.. I'm a nursing student and was curious about your request so I looked up your info. in my lab books. Sed rate is short for sedimentation rate. It's a test that measures how fast the red blood cells fall within a test tube at a specific time period. It is not a diagnostic test, but when elevated it can indicate if there is a presence of inflammation. It seems pretty vague, but there are a number of things. The good news is that both of my lab books say that the normal levels for females of your child's age are less than or equal to 20. Since, I really don't know much about your daughter's history, don't take my information as set in stone as I am only a student and just learning about these things. I do hope that this helps alleviate any fears. You should make an appointment and ask your doctor or practitioner to explain it to you in a way that is relevant to your child. Keep us updated.

I do not know what is wrong with your daughter, but here is what happened in our family.
Our 4 year old (then 2) was a very thin child and not very tall.
She was 25 pounds, but otherwise seemed healthy. She began to slowly lose weight instead of gain. She was having seizures, and was often times lethargic, especially in any heat or cold. When she turned 2 1/2, and our son turned 6 months, they were both 21 pounds. We had many doctors tell us they didn't know what was wrong with her and decided there was a seizure disorder that was causing all of the symptoms.
I decided to Google all of her symptoms. It looked something like "weight loss, seizures, diarrhea, thin finger nails" and Celiac disease came up. it turns out she is a celiac. This is an auto-immune disorder which forces your body to attack your intestinal tract when you eat gluten- a substance in wheat, oat, barley, and rye.
We took all gluten out of her diet and within 2 weeks, all of her symptoms had vanished completely, and within 6 months, had gained 10 pounds and grew 7 inches.
Her body was being starved by her intestines being damaged. She couldn't use any of the nutrients she was eating. Because of the malnutrition, she was having seizures, thin nails that were falling off, diarrhea was from not absorbing the fat she ate.
She is now turning 5 soon and we have found out that 4 of our children are Celiacs and they all eat Gluten free, and are healthy now.
I hope this helps you. Stay on top of the diagnosis that you get and if you are told something by a doctor that doesn't make sense, figure it out your self- and don't give up.

A sedimentation rate is very non-specific. Many inflammatory disorders - including rheumatological diseases or infection - can raise it. By itself, it isn't that useful - it has to be used in conjunction with other tests.

Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is a diagnostic test for inflammation. The test measures the rate at which red blood cells fall to the bottom of a tube over time. An increased sedimentation rate corresponds to increased non-specific inflammation in the body. It is often called "sedrate" for short.

I high sed rate just means that there is inflamation somewhere in her body. I wish you luck and we will send some prayers your way.
Steph

Renee,

My daughter did not have her sedrate blood levels high(that I recall) but in about 1st grade she would occasionally complain of stomach pain. The doctor checked her out on more than one occasion and could find nothing wrong. The pain would come and go and due to discussions with my daughter and I he diagnosed that it was just the stress of school(and her father and my divorce probably didn't help). We started counseling and it seemed to help. It occurred a few years, only during the school year and only when she was putting too much pressure on herself. It didn't happen after elementary school
and we figured that her body grew up to her stress level at school.

I know that this isn't exactly what you are going through since you have different test results but something like this could be exacerbating her blood level problem.

Staying calm and following up with your doctor is important. Also go on the internet and get as much information as possible about the Sedrate blood level and what it means, realizing that some sites might not have the right information. Go to the more reputable ones.

Hope this helps,

Evelyn

A high sed rate in itself is not a specific condition and can be caused by a number of different things. It can be in response to some kind of inflamation in the body, a virus, an infection, an autoimmune disorder and the list goes on. It is possible that your daughter has some kind of inflamation of the stomach lining that could be causing her discomfort and elevated sed rate. If this is the case they can give her medicine that will bring the digestive enzymes back to normal. I would not panic, as the sed rate alone really does not tell you much. Good luck n I will keep you in my prayers!

I hope you find the answers you're looking for. There is nothing worse than having to worry about your child. I'm studying medical transcription so I can work at home. From what I know about sed rates is that the normal value for a child is 0-10 mm/hr and an adult female 0-20 mm/hr. The test is also called an ESR. The lab measures how fast the red blood cells settle in the test tube within 1 hour. The more that settle at the bottom of the tube, the higher the sed rate. A high sed rate alone cannot diagnose a disease. Other tests are run with it. Has your doctor ran a CRP (C-reactive protein)? Some doctors run that test with a sed rate. The sed rate can also be affected by a few things like anemia, medications, etc. Most of the time the sed rate is an indication of inflammation, immune abnormalities, and it can help diagnose certain types of cancer as well. That being said, please try not to expect the worst news and take the tests and results as they come. I hope she finds relief from her stomach aches quickly. Don't be surprised if they check the sed rate again to see if any new treatment is working.

Hopefully your gastrointestinal doctor recommended a rich diet of whole food fruits and vegetables which will help any GI issue. Your child may need other assistance in the near term to help address the immediate discomfort, but over time, the vegetable and fruit nutrition will help heal GI problems.

Have you heard about Juice Plus? It comes in gummie form that would be helpful to your daughter. It's real vine ripened whole food fruits and vegetables(and grains) in capsule and chewable form. Since it's really hard to get a child (and even adults) to eat at least the recommended daily amount, it's a godsend for my family. Eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables will help any GI issue improve. There is more independent gold standard research on Juice Plus than any other nutritional product. If you believe in adding man made vitamins to your family's diet, than you should consider this because the 10s of thousands of nutrients, enzymes and anti-oxidants are so much more effective than isolated vitamins. I wish you and your daughter a quick recovery from whatever is ailing her. You will have some peace of mind knowing that Juice Plus eaten daily will help improve GI issues and immune function. If you'd like to check out the research on Juice Plus, please go to my website at http://www.juiceplus.com+42230.