Your Lab Results
Laboratory tests help evaluate the health status of an individual. Realize that laboratory results may be outside of the so-called "normal range" for many reasons. These variations may be due to such things as race, dietetic preference, age, sex, menstrual cycle, degree of physical activity, problems with collection and/or handling of the specimen, non-prescription drugs (aspirin, cold medications, vitamins, etc.), prescription drugs, alcohol intake and a number of factors not related to illness. Any unusual or abnormal results should be discussed with your physician. It is not possible to diagnose or treat any disease or problem with this blood test alone. It can, however, 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 lab, like almost all labs, sets the normal result range for a particular test so that 95 percent of our healthy patients fall within the normal range. That means that 5 percent of our healthy patients fall outside of the normal range, even when there is nothing wrong with them. Thus an abnormal test does not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with you. Statistically if you have 20 or 30 individual tests run as part of a panel, chances are that one or two will be slightly outside the normal range. Part of what you see your doctor is to interpret whether or not these changes are meaningful.
This review is a brief summary of the most common tests and is not intended to be comprehensive or replace discussion of your results with your health care team. Click on any of the topics below to find out more.
Glucose
Electrolytes
Waste Products (BUN, creatinine, uric acid)
Enzymes
Proteins
Blood Fats
Cardiac Risk Markers
Minerals
Thyroid
Thyroid Antibodies
Glycohemoglobin
Hormones
Complete Blood Count (CBC)
Urinanalysis
Questions about your lab tests? Send us a message on our online Patient Portal provided for our patients 24 hours a day. To access, use the Username and Password provided to your by the office staff. For help, follow these directions. link to Patient Tools page.
Otherwise, please call us at the office at (910) 338-0588 so we can explain your results.
The information contained in this section is courtesy of Amarillo Medical Specialists
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