Sed Rate is the measurement as stated earlier regarding the time it takes red blood cells to settle to the bottom of the test tube. Normal ranges are 0-20. Mine was at 9, which outside of 10 is as normal as it gets. I have read that people with sed rates up to 50 tend to have inflammation of joints etc as in RA. People with cancer tend to have sed rates over 100. I was told I had cancer in January, by a AMA idiot who decided that by looking at a fuzzy CT image of a cyst. My sed rate was 9 and as having cancer and a sed rate of 9 just do not go hand in hand, it was one of the things I used to discredit the 1st opinion I got. I did not have my kidney removed and follow-up CT scans reveal the cyst is shrinking, so, I'm a fan of sed rates! Do you have arthritis or any other inflammatory process going on? If everyone in your family has had that, it sounds like you all just have things in common, and if everybody's health has been good, perhaps it isn't an issue. Over 100 is when to get worried. Cheers, Birdie