Sed rate

I've had a lot of joint pain that started a few weeks ago. It hurt to get up from the couch or a chair, mostly my hips, knees, and feet hurt, with the addition of my hand/finger joints. Both sides of my body hurt. Sometimes it's so bad it hurts to roll over in the bed at night. Bending down to sit on the toilet...hurts. You get the picture.

I went to my primary doc and she did bloodwork. Everything came back normal except for SED Rate by Westerngren, which came back at 39. Normal is 20 or lower. I have a call into my doc anyhow, even before I saw my results, bc the pain had not decreased in the past week since I saw her last.

I wonder if it's an indication of arthritis? It sure feels like that is what it might be but I figured I'd ask on here.

Just as a background, I got my colon out a few months ago, with an ostomy and got an ostomy reversal recently. I was on and off prednisone for months/years, so I hope that hasn't impacted this, whatever it is.