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C-reactive protein (CRP) is something that the liver makes when there is inflammation. It can be caused by a lot of different things, like arthritis, cancer, an infection, etc. . High CRP levels can also mean that your heart’s arteries have inflammation, which can make you more likely to have a heart attack.
The CRP test is very broad, though, and does not pinpoint the cause of the inflammation; it just measures the presence of it.
It’s important to know that a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) test is a little different from a regular C-reaction protein test. The regular C-reactive test measures high levels of protein, which can help find diseases that cause inflammation. The hs-CRP test measures lower levels of protein, which are still high, and can show the risk of heart disease and stroke.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believes that the following are major risk factors for heart disease.
A complete blood count (CBC) gives important information about the kinds and numbers of cells in the blood, especially red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. This panel of tests looks for many illnesses, including anemia, infections, and leukemia, in your blood.
The Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP) test checks your blood for 14 different substances. It checks the balance of chemicals in your body and your metabolism, which is how your body turns food into energy. CMP is used to check how well organs are working and find diseases like diabetes, liver disease, and kidney disease. The CMP may also be ordered to keep an eye on conditions like high blood pressure and to check on people who are taking medicine for any side effects that might affect the kidneys or liver.
A CMP checks your blood for the following things:
A CMP also measures four electrolytes. Electrolytes are minerals that, when dissolved in a liquid, carry an electric charge. These electrolytes in your blood control how your nerves and muscles work. They also keep your blood’s acid-base balance (pH balance) and water balance in check.
A CMP also checks for the three enzymes below in the liver. Enzymes are substances that speed up the way that some body processes work.
What does a complete metabolic panel do?
With a comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP), you can find out a lot about your health as a whole. With 14 different measurements, it can check a number of body processes and functions, such as:
Why do I need a comprehensive metabolic panel?
A comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP) can be helpful in a number of situations, especially if you have signs of problems with your kidneys, liver, or metabolism. If you have a general symptom, like feeling tired, a CMP measures several important parts of your blood and can help find or rule out some causes of a common symptom.
What’s the difference between a basic metabolic panel and a full metabolic panel?
A basic metabolic panel (BMP) has eight of the 14 tests in a comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP). The liver enzyme and protein tests are not part of a BMP. Depending on your health history and needs, your doctor may have you go through a CMP or a BMP.
A fibrinogen test, or Factor 1 Activity test, checks how much of the protein called fibrinogen is in your blood. Your liver makes fibrinogen, which helps your blood clot.
If you don’t have enough fibrinogen, it might be hard for your blood to clot. If your fibrinogen levels are higher or lower than usual, it could indicate problems with how your blood clots, a fibrinogen deficiency, or uneven fibrinolysis, which is the process by which your body breaks up blood clots that shouldn’t form.
A fibrinogen test can help if you have signs like:
* Trouble stopping bleeding or excessive bleeding when cut.
* When you’ve received unusual or abnormal results from a blood clot test, such as a Prothombin time test (PT) or Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APTT).
There are a few different kinds of fibrinogen shortages:
Hypofibrinogenemia is when your fibrinogen levels are too low. Hypofibrinogenemia is more common than afibrinogenemia. Experts don’t know exactly how many people have it, but they do know that it’s more common.
Free (Thyroxine) T4 can sometimes be indicated when binding globulin (TBG) problems are perceived, or when conventional test results appear inconsistent with clinical observations. It is common in subjects with high thyroxine-binding globulin hormone binding who are euthyroid (ie, free thyroxine should be normal in non-thyroidal diseases). It should appear normal in familial dysalbuminemic hyperthyroxinemia.
Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) is used to determine why a patient would have elevated levels of alkaline phosphatase or also known as ALP. This test would be recommended for any patients with disease associated with the bile duct, and also for patients who have liver or bone disease.
The hemoglobin A1c test tells you how much average sugar has been in your blood over the past 2 to 3 months. It is also called HbA1c, the glycated hemoglobin test, and glycohemoglobin.
This test is kind of like a baseball player’s batting average for the season. One game doesn’t tell you how well a player is doing over the course of their career, and one day’s test results don’t show you how well your body is working as a whole. But because this test is often used to find out if someone has diabetes, people with diabetes need to check this number often to make sure their levels stay in the normal range. It can tell you if you need to change your diabetes medicines or the way you control your blood sugar.
How the Test Works:
Red blood cells have a protein called hemoglobin. It’s what makes your blood red, and its job is to carry oxygen all over your body.
Glucose is the name for the sugar in your blood. When glucose builds up in your blood, it sticks to the hemoglobin in your red blood cells. The A1c test is used to find out how much glucose is bound.
Since red blood cells only live for about 3 months, the test shows how much glucose has been in your blood on average over the past 3 months.
If your glucose levels have been high for the past few weeks, your hemoglobin A1c test will be higher.
Your levels can go down with a combination of diet, exercise, getting rid of toxins, and medicine.
Every 3 months, people with diabetes should get an A1c test to make sure their blood sugar is in the right range. If you have good control of your diabetes, you may be able to go longer between blood tests, but experts say you should still check at least twice a year.
If you have a disease that affects your hemoglobin, like anemia, this test may give you misleading information. Some supplements, high cholesterol, kidney disease, and liver disease are other things that can impact the results of the hemoglobin A1c test.
Homocysteine is an amino acid that is produced by the body by chemically altering adenosine. It may be used to evaluate heart function, vitamin B levels, folate levels, renal (kidney) function or enzyme activities, and those with a history of heart disease or stroke.
High homocysteine levels can directly damage the delicate endothelial cells that line the inside of arteries, resulting in vascular inflammation, arterial plaque rupture, and blood clot formation.
Symptoms that qualify a patient to have a homocysteine test include but are not limited to:
Individuals who have recently experienced a stroke or heart attack may want this test to assess risk of cardiovascular disease, inflammation, or disorder.
Insulin is used to diagnose an insulin-producing tumor and verify that the removal of the tumor has been successful. It can also be used to diagnose hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, and can be paired with a C-peptides test to determine levels of insulin being produced in the body, and levels of insulin coming from an outside source such as insulin injections.
Iron & TIBC is used to aid in the evaluation of a number of conditions involved with red cell production and destruction, iron transport, or iron metabolism.
The LDH test is used to evaluate and monitor a number of different diseases and conditions including acute or chronic tissue damage, and different forms of anemia or severe infection. The LDH test can also help stage and monitor treatment such as chemotherapy for several different forms of cancers and germ cell tumors.
The lipid panel is used to guide practitioners regarding what treatment is best for patients who have borderline or high risk of heart disease. HDL particles are involved in the process of removing excess cholesterol and transporting it to the liver for removal. LDL particles deposits extra cholesterol in the walls of blood vessels. Because of this, HDL particles are known as “good cholesterol” and LDL particles are known as “bad cholesterol”.
Primary hyperparathyroidism and other causes of calcium elevation, including ectopic hyperparathyroidism (pseudohyperparathyroidism).
The signs and symptoms of phosphate depletion may include neuromuscular, neuropsychiatric, gastrointestinal, skeletal, and cardiopulmonary systems. Manifestations usually are accompanied by serum levels <1.0 mg/dL.
T3 Total (Triiodothyronine) is needed in patients who have clinical evidence for hyperthyroidism, in whom the usual thyroid profile result is reported as normal or borderline. The T3 Total test is recommended for patients with supraventricular tachycardia, for patients with fatigue and weight loss not otherwise explained, or for patients with proximal myopathy who also have T4 levels that are not elevated.
Total T4 is a thyroid function test. Total T4 is decreased in hypothyroidism and in the third stage of (painful) subacute thyroiditis. It is increased with hyperthyroidism, with subacute thyroiditis in its first stage and with thyrotoxicosis caused by Hashimoto disease. Total T4 is also used to diagnose T4 toxicosis.
TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is the most common test used to evaluate thyroid function and symptoms related to a thyroid disorder such as hyperthyroidism, or hypothyroidism. Produced by the pituitary gland, the primary role of TSH in the body is to stabilize amounts of T4 (thyroxine) and T3 (triiodothyronine) in the blood. This process controls how much energy the body burns.
The TSH test is often ordered to:
The TSH test is often ordered with a free T4 test, free T3 test, and/or thyroid antibodies. These tests can be ordered together in a panel called a thyroid panel.
Symptoms related to hyperthyroidism include anxiety, weight loss, shaking, weakness, sensitivity to light, or eye problems (swollen eyes, irritation/dryness).
Symptoms related to hypothyroidism include swollen skin, tiredness/fatigue, hair loss, weight gain, dry skin, or irregularity with menstruation in women.
Individuals who are being treated for a thyroid disorder often have the TSH test ordered at regular intervals. It is also ordered when an individual has an adjustment in their thyroid medication. The American Thyroid Association recommends that patients wait 6-8 weeks after adjusting medication before they retest thyroid stimulating hormone levels.
The uric acid blood test is used to detect high levels of this compound in the blood in order to help diagnose gout. The test is also used to monitor uric acid levels in people undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatment for cancer. Rapid cell turnover from such treatment can result in an increased uric acid level. The uric acid blood test is ordered when a health care provider suspects that someone has a high uric acid level. Some people with high levels of uric acid have a disease called gout, which is a common form of arthritis. People with gout suffer from joint pain, most often in their toes, but in other joints as well. The test is also ordered to monitor cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy, to ensure that uric acid levels do not get dangerously high.
Vitamin D-25 Hydroxy is ordered when an individual has low calcium and/or symptoms of vitamin D deficiency. This can appear as bone weakness/softness, or fractures in adults, or as rickets (bone malformation) in children.
The vitamin D test is for individuals at high risk of deficiency. It is used to monitor diseases that interfere with fat absorption. These diseases include cystic fibrosis or Crohn disease. This test also monitors the effectiveness of Vitamin D-25 Hydroxy, calcium, magnesium or phosphorus supplementation.
Individuals at risk of vitamin D deficiency include: older adults, individuals who have limited exposure to sunlight, individuals who are obese, or who have fat malabsorption.
Low levels of D-25 hydroxy are one of the earliest changes that show in individuals with early kidney failure. People with kidney disease also show low levels.
High levels of D-25 hydroxy show due to diseases that can make Vitamin D-25 Hydroxy outside of the kidneys. The two primary diseases related to this are sarcoidosis or certain lymphomas.
Long term high levels of vitamin D can eventually lead to the damage of certain organs such as the kidneys and blood vessels via calcification. If magnesium levels are low, a physician may supplement both magnesium and calcium in order to eliminate a low calcium level that is resistant to Vitamin D-25 Hydroxy.
