The most important thing that you can do when feeling ill is to see a caring physician. To the physician, a clear picture of a problem that you may have could be revealed by Blood testing, the main tool used to assess medical problems. A Blood test can also help you to learn more about your body and detect potential problems in early stages when treatment or changes in personal habits can be most effective. Our bodies change constantly, and these laboratory Blood tests are helpful tools in evaluating the health of an individual at the time of the test, and trends over years.
Our position is that testing, when you are not sick, is very important. It establishes a base line of what the 'reference test result range' is for you. This can be the standard starting point from which all interpretation of future tests is done. With this information, you and your physician will know, for certain, what is 'normal' for you. Coupons for free Blood tests and free Blood test results.
It is important to realize that test results may be outside of the so-called 'reference range' or 'normal range' for many reasons. These variations may be due to such things as the meals eaten or not eaten (fasting) in the 24 hours preceding the test, race, dietetic preference, age, sex, menstrual cycle, degree of physical activity immediately before the test, collection and/or handling of the specimen, non-prescription drugs (aspirin, cold medications, vitamins, etc.), prescription drugs, alcohol intake, the quality of the sleep that you got on the night before the test and a number of non-illness-related factors. Any unusual or abnormal test results should be discussed with your physician, nutritionist, and/or other qualified health care worker.
Most Blood labs establish the reference result statistical range for a particular test so that 95% of healthy patients fall within that reference or 'normal' range. This means that 5% of healthy patients fall outside of the reference range, even when there may be nothing at all wrong with them. Thus an abnormal test does not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with you. Blood test results can mean many different things and are analyzed by doctors in the context of other important factors, such as symptoms (e.g., fever, pain, or diarrhea) and the results of a physical examination. Statistically, if you have 20 or 30 individual tests run as part of a panel, or group of tests, chances are that one or two will be slightly outside the reference range. Part of what you pay your doctor or other medical professional to do is to interpret whether or not these extra-normal test results are significant.
This briefing is intended to help you to better understand the different types of Blood tests most often ordered by doctors and to enable you to ask your doctor informed questions about your lab results in order to better understand your own health.
We recommend that you start to keep copies of all of your lab reports to monitor your own health over time. This will show a 'norm' for you, and establish a personal trend. If you and/or your physician are comparing the results of your Blood tests over time, try to schedule your Blood tests for the same time, every time, and eat the same things, at the same times before the testing.
You will certainly be informed in advance as to exactly what, if anything, and when you should eat before testing. You will also get advice on use of medication before testing. If you are not advised about these things, you must ask.
Remember, if you have any questions at all about any of your Blood tests, be sure to speak with your physician. Take notes..... the doctor takes a lot of notes! You have a lot of time invested and the tests cost a lot of money.
We also recommend that you note the following information on each test:
Most Blood is drawn for Blood testing in the office of your physician, however, this is not always the case. On the day of the testing we suggest this checklist for a Blood test visits:
Nothing presented here is intended to be replace the discussion of your test results with your physician or other qualified health professional
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last updated 03/10/2013 bloodbook.com