What is YOUR Doctor Searching For in Your Blood Tests?

Wow! Had a full work up done a year ago and lazy me, just discovering what all my blood test say.
With the new year upon us, my doctor always wants a fresh workup at the start of every year. Last year, because the types of tests she would order cost so much, many tried to opt out. To correct this, she went through a new laboratory and offered to drop the copay costs. “Hell of a deal!” I thought. And 8 vials later of the red stuff for general testing and another 10 for misc things like arthritis and new up and coming diseases, we had my work up. It wasn't until today when my husband asked about my genetic markups (What the ? He was reading his tests more closely, as well.), that I really took in the 12+ page print out in all it's pretty colors.

Beyond all the LDL's, HDL's, lipids, lippo-protein particles, inflammation/oxidation, myocardial stresses, platelets, lipo-protein genetics, platelet genetics, and coagulation genetics....the sterol synthesis markers, the sterol absorption markers and all the male and female hormones known in the world was 3 sheets of comments. Most being words requiring a medical dictionary, I gave up before even trying to understand all the gibberish. My doc went over the basics. Told me where and how to improve. Put a copy in my hands and told me to call if I had any problems.

Problems????? According to all the fine print, I'm a host of problems! Eighteen little boxes explained how different proteins and missing compounds affect a person. It ALSO flagged my doctor to suspect things that could possibly pop up in the future should these minor things ever become big things.
It mainly pushed the points on how missing minerals, proteins, and compounds affect memory, the logical thinking process, and thereby cause a host of mental illnesses. The cardio area pushed the idea of depression, due to not breathing well and getting enough oxygen. Because I have an allergy to mold, I'm supposedly a risk to society. I could possibly come down with severe depression....maybe get a little wacky....and God knows what I could do then!!!

My doctor is still using the same laboratory (afraid to say name for fear of lawsuit), and guess what? A copy goes on file with my insurance! I'm sure if my insurance has this list of potential threats, then should I figure the NSA does too? Maybe I'm on the “no fly” list now? Could a future employer be afraid to hire me for fear of employee retaliation should I go nuts? Nothing is private anymore. And a lot is misconstrued. A lot of “what if”, and “possible", and “could be” become facts in the public's eye.
It was interesting to know that by the time my doctor had her copy in hand, so did my insurance. The only way to bypass this is to pay cash out right. However, being I have worked in insurance, I know that insurance companies can request (and often do) any “patient paid testing” that the doctor has on file. It is NOT necessarily private between you and your doctor! Insurance companies use this information to determine the rate of future premiums. The more you could have wrong, the more it will cost you.

Recommendations: Bypass all medical tests unless you MUST have them. You also can check your local and state laws concerning the right of your insurance company to demand patient paid test results from your doctor. Know that if your insurance pays for it then you might too in the long run!

reply to post by smcneil01


You're going to love this:
Not sure where you live, but in 2014 health care providers in the US must begin to provide health records in an electronic format- or suffer monetary penalty. Most facilities have already made or are making the transition.

The goal is for any physician caring for you to be able to pull up your record, no matter where you received prior services (even internationally, eventually) and have some level of integration with pharmacy records (e.g, no more paper prescriptions). That can be a good thing in emergency situations- knowing what medications you take, what you're allergic to, without needing to wait for a fax or paper copy to be delivered.

The government is also pushing the claim is that the electronic health record is more secure. But in light of the NSA activity, or other cyber threats, will increased security really be the case? I personally believe insurance companies and hospitals, and other groups are going to data mine the hell out of these medical records (that's not to say they'll have personally identifiable info on you).

Integration of all your medical information is going to be an ongoing process and there's more to the story, but you get the idea.

OP, where are you? Cuz that level of blood testing in the US is unheard of; you're lucky if they look at your blood sugar, electrolytes, hemoglobin, and lipid profile.

You nearly have to BEG for more testing if there's something specific you might be looking for yourself (after reading about something on that horror of docs everywhere, the internet).

All I can figure is maybe you have a lot of pre-existing conditions and a really thorough doc?

As far as what it's for, either spend some time looking up each individual test especially the 'flagged' ones, or ask the doc to explain it. That's what s/he is getting paid for. Kinda...

reply to post by FatherStacks


Not to worry, Fatherstacks. They don't read that stuff except in a quick scan, and that's if you're lucky. I'm the proud typist of over half a million medical records and I'm convinced most will never be looked at, even by the guy who signs off on them.

I actually had the surreal experience of once typing up my own physical exam and later, surgery.

The 'history' I gave him bore little resemblance to what was dictated hours later, and the less said about the surgery, the better

Sucks its required for most surgery now, even eye surgery and some reconstructive/cosmetic procedures.

Looks like anyone getting stuff fixed, is gonna need a blood test every year

It's good to be able to learn to read what is going on in a blood test. Doctors look only for what they want to find. They often just look for what they can make money off of or prescribe meds for so you have to return and need their services every year. They do not usually want to look at finding a cure for your problem so you don't come back.

If you go to a doctor who knows a lot about how to read the patterns of blood tests, they can tell you a lot. I haven't met one myself yet, the general practitioners just look at cholesterol and triglyceride levels or hormones. I actually don't think they know how much can be learned by looking at a test, they may have been partying in college at the time or they met a girl or guy and their mind was on that.

Or maybe they don't even teach the family doctor this stuff, only specialists.

I wouldn't worry about others knowing what your blood tells them. I know how to prove that what they are looking at is a misconception. Some here are doctors, they know how little a blood test can tell you about your overall health. It can usually tell you about things giving you immediate problems only except for a few cases. A1C is a joke, there could be a few reasons for an elevated level of that not being tied to sugar at all. It could be glutamates. It could be endocrine disruptors. Low iodine. ETC,,, the result is clogged or damaged blood cell receptors.

I've never even heard of half those tests.
Standard in Canada - HDL, LDL, total cholesterol, triglyceride levels, fasting glucose, liver enzymes, iron levels.
Maybe certain other vitamin levels like B12 if requested (if patient has strange symptoms).
Blood pressure, ECG.

Money isn't an worry for the patient, it doesn't cost us.
Info mostly stays with the doctor, unless the pharmacist needs to double check something if you're on some type of prescriptions.


Apparently the NSA also taps into our medical records (which should be illegal), but I'm not worried about not getting into the US because of it.
Just reading about what Americans go through with their excessive amounts of laws these days, keeps me from ever wanting to go down there again.