Blood tests: everything you need to know
Your blood tests are an important source of knowing your overall health. It’s not always the comfortable part of your doctor’s visit but health experts say your blood can reveal a lot about your overall health. Lab work is a part of a puzzle piece, the physician uses that in order to determine what’s going on. Blood works typically checks for three things- CBC, metabolic panel and fasting lipid panel. You can have your blood tests done at a private blood test in London. Often times, diseases come up without giving you enough signs and hence they lurk inside your body for quite a long time.
The frequency of getting your blood test done
Private blood test can help you in understanding about your health conditions before they become difficult to manage. Routine testing can detect the risk for heart attack, stroke, diabetes or cancer. All these diseases can have a major impact on one's life if it is not detected early. Doctors recommend having a routine blood test on a yearly basis- once in a year. This is just a general conception of giving your body enough time to be detected under blood tests but sometimes you need tests based on your current condition.
The importance of having blood test
Blood tests help in knowing how your body is reacting with inflammation, illness, any type of injury and if you are taking medications then how your body is pulsating with it. Your blood constitutes a balanced rhythm so that your body can work well. When you get an abnormal report on your blood test, it shows that something is wrong with your normal functioning and hence your doctor can work on to rectify it. This is how symptoms are being treated based on the signs your blood result shows. The blood tests help in recognising the possible threat in your body that might spoil your happy life. The only condition is, you have to get your blood test done at an appropriate time so that you can treat the disease as early as possible.
Where do I need to do my blood test?
There are three sources from where you can have your blood test done.
- At any hospital which provides the testing services
- Your nearby GP
- A practice nurse who has experience in drawing blood
The NHS health check up includes a blood test that looks for cholesterol levels and blood’s glucose. If the report shows the level of your blood test higher than recommended, you will then be sent to a hospital for a full body checkup. These types of additional checkup ensures that your problem is detected in the right way.
The process of blood drawn
First of all, before getting to a person who is responsible for drawing your blood, make sure that the individual is well trained and has the knowledge in drawing blood. A professional hand is worth holding up the task as it would be far much painless and will be quicker than you would imagine. Often times you have seen that the moment the blood is drawn you never know if something has happened. It’s because the individual is trained in his field and knows the tricks.
If you are anxious about blood being drawn, you can tell this to the practitioner or the collector. It’s no shame in informing them about your fear of blood as 70% of patients are already going through the same fear. Hence, they have a pretty solid experience in handling such cases. Once you have calmed down your mind and have full trust in the person who is drawing your blood, now is the time for the actual process.
The collector will ask you to sit peacefully on the chair. A rubber strap will be tied on your arm. This strap is also known as tourniquet. The reason behind doing this is that the rubber strap will force the vein to jump up so that the collector can see clearly. This makes the injection much easier!
A sterile alcohol is used to clean up the skin around the vein. The needle will then be inserted into the vein which will draw your blood. The process is usually painless but you may have some pinching feeling on your arm. The syringe will collect enough blood to be tested on the lab. These are then collected on the tiny bottles which will be easier for the lab tester to study on it.
Unfortunately, a lot of patients don’t go through the same process. It becomes hard for the collector to find their veins. For such cases, a special type of needle is used which is called ‘butterfly’. This needle will then be inserted into a small vein. Once the blood is drawn successfully, a piece of gauze is used on the puncture side. You have to hold it for some minutes and then you can remove it. Bleeding will stop in a minute but if you continue having it which is okay for patients if they are on a blood thinning medication.
Though blood tests need to be done once a year but some reasons also compels you to have the test more than just once in a year:
Why do you need blood tests more often than a year?
- When you have some symptoms that just continue to grow and stay with you persistently. It might be just fatigue or gaining of weight.
- If you want to optimize your health, you need to have the blood test privately done in order to know if your organs are performing well. When you know the blood components of HDL and LDL cholesterol, you can change your diet and lifestyle so that you will get the optimum nutrients needed for your body. Unhealthy habits can destroy your life by putting you down with tons of diseases and illness.
- Get routine blood tests to reduce the risk of many diseases that can cause severe health risk in future. The blood test has the ability to catch the warning signs of heart, lung and kidney conditions. If your body has any type of risk against these organs, it will be detected in your blood tests.
You need to consult with your doctor in order to get your blood tests done more than once a year. Maybe your doctor will also recommend you for some important tests that need to be done frequently.
What will happen to the blood after the test?
We all know the science of clotting once the blood flows so the same logic should fall when your blood is in those bottles right? That’s why the medical care centres use chemicals to stop your blood from clotting in the passage and the entire process. The bottles will contain your name and the type of test done. Other than these, your date of birth and hospital number is also mentioned on them. The top will be of different colors so that it would be easy to distinguish.
What is the blood test for?
Your blood will be drawn based on the type of clarification you need as per your symptoms and strange body signs. Blood tests can help you minimise the risk of many major diseases that can not be treated completely if diagnosed late. Some tests need to be done annually to keep the record of your healthy living. Other tests need more often than annual, only if you are suffering from some serious conditions or have family history of genetically inherent diseases.
Here’s a list for 5 types of blood test you should do every year!
Broad Thyroid Panel
Your doctor will check for 1 or 2 thyroid markers. Usually, the ones checked are TSH and/or total T4. this gives you an entire picture of how the thyroid is functioning.
Essential Nutrients: iron/ferritin, vitamin D, vitamin B12, magnesium
Our body has some essential nutrients that needed to be tested on a regular basis. Iron, vitamin D, vitamin B12, and magnesium are important for optimal bodily function.
Metabolic panel and blood count
There are two basic blood test london that every primary care will recommend on an annual basis. These blood tests are really important to understand about a person’s electrolyte and hydration status, kidney function, liver function, and blood cell values.
Metabolic Markers: Hemoglobin A1c, fasting glucose and insulin, lipid panel
These nutrients will help us in understanding how a person is processing the macronutrients that they eat. In most primary care visits, a basic lipid panel and glucose level are done on a yearly basis, and if you’re lucky you’ll also get a Hemoglobin A1c. We at Blood London, started offering Covid 19 Home testing kit with next day delivery of report at your door with sample pickup.
