Question: Among my symptoms were severe headache and sensitive temples, which were sore to the touch. My doctor eventually referred me to an associate. He did sed rate blood tests and said I had arteritis. He said the prednisone will take it away. What exactly is the sed test about?
- J.K.R.Answer: The blood sedimentation test, a rather simple procedure, is sometimes poorly understood by the layman. The test is often mentioned but seldom explained.
The sed rate test is done to determine the blood's erythrocyte sedimentation rate, or ESR, erythrocytes being the red blood cells. During periods of inflammation, those cells have a tendency to become heavier and thus settle easily, faster. Measuring how fast it occurs involves the simplest of all lab tests.
The person's blood is put into a calibrated tube. After an hour of settling, the rate of red-cell sedimentation can then be measured in millimeters per hour.
Typically, in men younger than 50, the rate of sedimentation should be between the 0 and 15 millimeters. For men older than 50, the average drop is between 0 and 20 millimeters. The comparable numbers for women are 0 to 20 millimeters and 0 to 30 millimeters per hour.
What does it all tell the doctor? A high number indicates only that inflammation is going on somewhere in the body. The test gives the doctor a rough idea of how much inflammation, but not where it is occurring.
However, if you know the site of inflammation - your head arteries, for example - you can follow the progress with repeated sed rates over days and weeks. As the numbers come down, you can assume that the inflammation has, also.
You can expect your arterial inflammation to come down in response to the cortisone medicine you are taking, the prednisone. Continued testing will indicate when it is safe to take you off the medicine.
For more on temporal arteritis, see my 45th pamphlet. For a copy, send $3 and a self-addressed No. 10 envelope with a 52-cent stamp on it to Dr. Donohue - No. 45, P.O. Box 5539, Riverton, NJ 08077-5539.
Question: I was interested in the 100-year-old man who stayed fit but who insisted he never ate fish. How come? Most advisers say fish is good for you. Maybe he just doesn't like the taste or smell of fish. What do you think?
- J.M.
Answer: I don't argue with 100-year-old people who get out and exercise daily the way that correspondent does. I don't even care to ask why he never eats fish. Your thought about taste or odor is probably correct, however.
Question: You say sugar does not make a kid hyper. I am not a psychologist, but I say that when a kid eats sugar it triggers his brain to think it is hyper. I am a 12-year-old girl. I have studied this.
- E.K.
Answer: I am not a complete skeptic here, Erin. We sometimes may condition ourselves to respond to many supposed causes, which in fact may not be responsible so much as our anticipations of them.