5 Reasons Why Your Physician May Prescribe a Lab Investigation
A lab investigation speaks volumes about your health. After all, they’re used to diagnose disease, assess the functioning of your various organs, and track the overall course of a condition or treatment. Read on to know more about the various circumstances under which your doctor might prescribe these tests.
To Detect Impending Health Conditions
There are certain health problems like heart diseases and stroke that develop slowly due to associated factors, with little or no apparent signs or symptoms. Regular health check-up blood tests can hint towards these warning signs in advance. Your physician may get a detailed insight into the functioning and condition of your cardiovascular system from a cholesterol test. This test measures the four types of fats (LDL, HDL, total cholesterol and triglycerides) present in your blood. A high amount of cholesterol is bad for your health as it may lead to narrowing of your blood vessels, and ultimately result in a heart attack or stroke.
To Diagnose Diseases Based on Your Symptoms
Diagnosing the disease is the first step in your treatment regime. This can be done through blood investigations, among other tests. The process of diagnosing a disease can be either through a change in readings of blood constituents, or through the positive or negative outcomes of certain testing methods. Some of the common diseases for which your doctor may prescribe diagnostic blood tests include diabetes, malaria, dengue, typhoid, HIV, and various types of cancers.
To Access How Your Organs are Functioning
Your blood can tell a lot about your organs’ health and working conditions. The most common blood test that is used to determine organ performance is the kidney function test. In this test, the amount of creatinine present in your blood is measured. Creatinine is a waste product present in your blood. Under normal circumstances, your kidney removes this. A raised creatinine level indicates that your kidney is not functioning properly. This investigation is vital for your doctors to determine your condition and treat it accordingly.
To Reveal the Efficacy of Your Medications
Lab investigations are not just about diagnosing a condition. Often, your physician may prescribe them to monitor how the medications you are taking are working. If you are a diabetic, getting a blood test done at regular intervals shall be necessary to monitor your blood glucose level. Diabetes medications keep your blood sugar level in check. But taking medications while your blood sugar level is low may also be detrimental to your health. A blood test has a chance of being inaccurate for which a doctor may ask you to take it more than once. What shows up in a blood test will then be extremely useful to your physician in determining further course of treatment.
To Check for Conditions such as Pregnancy
If you present signs of pregnancy such as missed periods, nausea, weakness, etc. your doctor may suggest you take an hCG test (human chorionic gonadotropin test). Human Chorionic Gonadotropin is a hormone that is present in the blood, usually when you’re pregnant. Its presence can, therefore, help your doctor confirm your condition. Getting a blood test in a timely manner—as per your doctor’s advice on MediBuddy—is a prudent way to maximise good health and happiness. After all, it helps you to take of your health as comprehensively as possible, as you’re better equipped to:
- Undertake preventive treatment for a disease - For instance, prediabetes can be managed effectively so as to prevent its escalation into full-blown diabetes.
- Fight disease more effectively through early detection- Research indicates that early detection triples survival rates for various cancers. Early detection also helps you fight a myriad of other diseases more successfully.
- Check the progress of a condition- Be it for pregnancy, diabetes, or anything else, the treatment plan can be tweaked as and when required for it to be as effective as possible.
[av_promobox button='yes' label='Book a Lab Test' link='https://www.medibuddy.in/?utm_source=blog_cta&utm_medium=blog' link_target='' color='blue' custom_bg='#f00' custom_font='#ffffff' size='large' icon_select='no' icon='ue800' font='entypo-fontello']Every health issue requires intervention at the earliest. Lab tests are just one of many yardsticks that delve deep into diagnosis and treatment. That said, tests should only be recommended by a doctor and should be carried out by experts.[/av_promobox]
