When you feel healthy, it’s easy to overlook the importance of routine bloodwork. However, these simple tests can provide an inside look at how your body works and uncover hidden health issues before they become serious.
Our team of primary care providers uses routine bloodwork to provide patients a clear picture of their health, shape treatment plans, and track the management of chronic conditions.
Read on to learn what your routine bloodwork at Select Family Practice and Urgent Care in Raleigh, North Carolina, says about your health.
Routine bloodwork acts like a window into your health. It can help:
Your bloodwork measures the levels of cells, nutrients, and chemicals in your blood. This information helps our team identify early signs of conditions such as anemia, diabetes, thyroid problems, infections, and heart disease.
How do you know if your current treatment for high cholesterol, for example, is working? Through your bloodwork. Our team can ensure that your cholesterol levels decline once you start medication.
Bloodwork can also help prevent and even reverse certain conditions. For example, if your results indicate prediabetes, you can often turn it around with changes in diet and exercise, which can reduce your risk of full-blown diabetes.
Information that your Select Family Practice and Urgent Care provider can learn from bloodwork includes:
A complete blood count (CBC) checks red and white blood cells and platelets. This test can help detect anemia, infections, and clotting problems.
We may order a glucose test or hemoglobin A1C, which can reveal if you have diabetes or are at risk. This test particularly helps detect prediabetes. About 84 million Americans have prediabetes, but as many as 90% of them are unaware they have it.
Lipid panels measure cholesterol and triglycerides, showing your risk of heart disease. This test can diagnose high cholesterol and monitor the effectiveness of your current treatment plan.
Metabolic panels can show how well your kidneys and liver filter waste and process nutrients.
Tests like thyroid panels check for overactive or underactive thyroid glands that can cause fatigue, weight changes, or mood shifts. If your hormones aren’t balanced, we may recommend hormone replacement therapy.
Blood tests can screen for infections, including common STDs like HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis. You might benefit from STD testing if you experience symptoms of an infection or have recently started a new relationship.
Not sure if you need an STD test? We follow the CDC guidelines.
For most adults, we recommend routine bloodwork once a year during their annual physical. However, if you have chronic conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, or thyroid disease, we may suggest more frequent testing.
When we receive your bloodwork results, we discuss with you what each test measures and what your numbers mean. Depending on your results, we may diagnose a condition (such as high cholesterol), adjust your treatment plan, or prescribe medication.
We can also compare your current results to past lab work to spot trends in your health.
If you’re due for bloodwork or need to schedule your annual exam, call us at 919-676-0202 or request your appointment online today.
