10 Facts Doctors Don’t Always Tell You About Blood Tests
When you visit your doctor for a regular
checkup it's quite standard that blood tests are ordered. This is the
normal way for doctors to access your health but most times the results
we get look like gibberish. Because tests can be overwhelming it’s
important to ask relevant questions. Here are 10 things that you might
not know to ask.
1. Standard tests to look out for
A typical set of tests might include a CBC, a complete blood count,
which measures hemoglobin, and the number of red and white blood cells
in your system. They might also request a basic metabolic panel, also
called a blood chemistry, which looks at the chemical levels in your
blood such as blood glucose, electrolytes, and calcium to check on your
organ function. Another test is called the lipoprotein panel, which
looks at the fat levels in your blood, to check cholesterol.
2. Doctors focus on the bad news
Doctors don’t discuss the good news. If your test comes back without any
bad results, they tend not to contact you. They might send you the test
results without any explanation, which can be difficult for a person
who didn’t go to medical school to understand. It’s a good idea to
follow up with a nurse practitioner or doctor, even if the results came
back without any concerns. It’s good to track if the results differed
from your last set of tests and find out what those changes might mean.
3. Positive and negative are opposites in
blood-work
When it comes to bloodwork, the meanings of these words get reversed.
When a test result comes back positive it means the molecular markers in
your blood test detected traces of the disease, gene or risk factor,
which is not good news. When a test result comes back negative, it means
the test did not find anything indicating you have a disease or a
disorder. For example, a test looking for DNA markers for the BRCA1 or
BRCA2 gene for breast and ovarian cancer risk, you should be hoping for a
negative result, indicating you don’t have the gene.
4. Results differ from person to person
It’s never a good idea to compare your results to that of others. For
example, what is considered normal for men can be quite different from
what normal looks like for women. If you compared the results of red
blood cells in a CBC, the results will be much higher for men, with 5 to
6 million cells per microliter, compared to pre-menopause aged women
who average 4 to 5 million, due to loss of blood during menstruation.
5. Age affects the results
It’s important to know that results mean different things at different
ages, as normal levels change as you age. For hemoglobin, which is part
of the CBC test, children’s levels are much lower than adults, ranging
from 11 to 13 grams per deciliter (abbreviated to gm/dl). For adult men,
it should range from 13.5 to 17.5 gm/dl and women it should range from
12 to 15.5 gm/dl. The difference is notable. Similarly, cholesterol
numbers mean vastly different things as you age. LDL (Low-density
lipoprotein – the bad kind of cholesterol) levels should be lower than
130 milligrams per deciliters for most people. Rates of 160 to 190 mg/dl
indicate a risk for heart disease. The risk is higher if you are over
the age of 45 for men and 55 for women.
6. False-positive test results are quite
common
Tests sometimes come back positive when they are not, called a
false-positive, which means a person might think they carry the markers
for a genetic disorder when in fact they do not. The first screening for
a condition often needs to be checked with a more specific second test,
to determine whether the results are accurate. An example is the rapid
HIV test, which is not as reliable as the tests requiring longer waiting
periods for the results, which often produces false positives. In
communities with a one percent infection rate, for every ten true
positive results, two false-positive HIV rapid test results are
expected.
7. False negatives test results can also happen
In other cases sometimes a test fails to detect evidence of a disease or
condition you actually have. An example is blood tests for hepatitis C,
where results come back negative when you were exposed to the virus,
and the disease markers lie dormant in your system. If you think you’ve
been exposed to an infectious disease, it’s always a good idea to get
tested a second time.
8. Mistakes do happen
Although rare, sometimes mix-ups and mistakes do happen. Lab technicians
are human and despite strict practices to ensure accurate results,
errors can happen. On rare occasions, test samples are switched. Results
can also be affected by how blood samples are handled before being
analyzed. For instance, if a blood sample is shaken in the tube, the
blood cells can burst, releasing their contents, possibly causing the
test results to differ.
9. Not all labs are the same
Don’t compare reports from different labs. Lab technicians compare your
test results to the range that is considered normal for that laboratory,
so their reference is based on the people previously tested in that
lab. Sometimes a lab will set their own reference range, or use
different equipment or tests, which impacts the results, making one
lab’s normal range different to that of another lab’s. Some tests have
set a standardized reference range, such as the test for blood sugar and
the results are universal.
10. Abnormal results aren’t always an indicator
If you get back a test result outside the normal range of the lab’s
expected values leading to a diagnosis. Sometimes this outcome is due to
other reasons. For example, if you drank alcohol or ate something
before the tests, this could influence the results. That’s why it’s very
important to follow the lab’s instructions for tests, such as fasting
for cholesterol tests, or drinking water for an ultrasound. If you
suspect your outcome was affected by an external source, it’s important
to ask to get retested.
This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.
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https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement
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