Layman's interpretation of SED, etc...

Hi all... I know I'll hear from the doctor how to interpret these results, but I also know there is *years* of UC experience here on the forum... DX severe pancolitis ~Dec 2017. In a flare from April onward until I started Xeljanz ~5-6 weeks ago. Was able to 100% taper off of Prednisone, and symptoms darned near close to 'remission'... 2 main BM 'events' morning and evening - mainly solid and not a whole lot of other symptoms... yet blood test last week showed SED rate of 38H (normal male my age top end of normal range is 20) and Absolute Monocytes 1357H (top end of normal range is 950). I'm taking the layman interpretation that there is still a high amount of inflammation and immuno response still - despite not seeing much external evidence of the fact... or... does it just take weeks for these number to go down... or... as a UC patient, do these *ever* go down? I figured some of you veteran / varsity UC'ers have some layman experience you could share that might be useful to myself and to others in the forum. Thoughts? Still praising Xeljanz; I know results can vary for people, but wow it's the only thing working!

I'm no expert in using SED and Abs Mono to diagnose inflammation. From what I see here, is what you already know. You aren't fully out of this flare, and theres a chance there is some small, limited extent inflammation that is persisting and simmering. It is very possible that those values will continue to fall in the coming months as you continue to heal. I would not call these values to be sky-high or anything to worry about. What they do say is you are slightly above what's considered to be normal. I looked up my test results online, and could not find sed-rate/ESR on my test results, just ABS Mon which was within normal range.

If you're still having evening bms then that is a sign of inflammation.

Do report back when you hear from your doctor, as I'd be curious to hear what he/she has to say about it.