A fasting blood sugar test measures your blood glucose after a period without food. The result can provide useful information, but it is not a diagnosis by itself and needs to be understood in context.
An oral glucose tolerance test can seem unusual compared with an ordinary blood test. You arrive at the laboratory, have blood taken, drink a very sweet glucose solution, and then have another blood sample taken later. But there is a reason for this process. The test looks at how your body handles a known amount…
Your T3 result may look like just another number on a laboratory report. But that number is connected to a hormone system that helps your body use energy and carry out many everyday functions. That does not mean a high or low T3 result can, by itself, tell you that you have a thyroid problem.…
If you have had a possible exposure to HIV, one of the most confusing parts of testing can be the waiting period between the exposure and the point when a test can detect infection. You may test negative and still wonder whether it was simply too early to know. This is where the HIV window…
If you have had a possible exposure to HIV, one of the most confusing parts of testing can be the waiting period between the exposure and the point when a test can reliably detect infection. You may test negative and still wonder whether it was simply too early to know. This is where the HIV…
Your T4 result may appear to be just another number on a laboratory report. But that number is connected to a system that helps control how your body uses energy, stays warm and carries out many everyday functions. That does not mean that a high or low T4 result can, by itself, tell you that…
Serum iron measures the amount of circulating iron at the time of testing. It can contribute to iron assessment, but it does not directly measure total body iron stores and should not be interpreted alone.
A fasting blood sugar test measures your blood glucose after a period without food. The result can provide useful information, but it is not a diagnosis by itself and needs to be understood in context.
An oral glucose tolerance test can seem unusual compared with an ordinary blood test. You arrive at the laboratory, have blood taken, drink a very sweet glucose solution, and then have another blood sample taken later. But there is a reason for this process. The test looks at how your body handles a known amount…
Your T3 result may look like just another number on a laboratory report. But that number is connected to a hormone system that helps your body use energy and carry out many everyday functions. That does not mean a high or low T3 result can, by itself, tell you that you have a thyroid problem.…