Understanding Your Blood Work: The Process and What It Reveals About Your Health

It’s no exaggeration to say that your blood is your lifesource. It delivers oxygen and nutrients to your body, and without blood, you wouldn’t exist. 

While the 1.2 to 1.5 gallons of blood that circulates inside the average adult sustains life, a small drop of this fluid can also reveal a great deal about your health, which is why blood tests play such an essential role in health care.

If you’re wondering why we’re so focused on blood work, our internal medicine team at LaSante Health Center thought it would be a good idea to get back to basics and review the invaluable role that blood testing can play in your health and wellness.

Standard and custom blood tests

The first thing to understand about blood work is that there are many different types of tests we can conduct, and we can tailor them to your needs.

That said, we conduct routine blood work as part of your annual wellness exams that often include:

Complete blood count (CBC)

The CBC allows us to get an accurate count of the red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets in your blood. Any abnormalities in these numbers can indicate an issue. 

For example, a higher-than-normal white blood cell count could mean you’re fighting an infection. A low red blood cell count could indicate anemia or dehydration.

Lipid or lipoprotein panels

“Lipids” is a catchall term for cholesterol and triglyceride levels in your blood, which are clear indicators for cardiovascular disease. About 86 million American adults have high cholesterol levels, which places them at risk for cardiovascular disease. A lipid panel is how we measure these levels.

Basic metabolic panel

The fourth ingredient in your blood is plasma. This fluid can also reveal much about your health, such as how your major organs are functioning. When we conduct a metabolic panel, we can look for signs of heart or liver failure, for example.

Enzyme tests

We can check for the presence of certain enzymes that signal a heart attack.

Again, these are frontline tests, and we can tailor your blood work to your specific needs. For example, if you’re at risk of joining the more than 38 million Americans who have diabetes, we can test for high glucose levels in your blood.

We also use blood tests to check for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. 

Less seriously, if you have toenail fungus and we want to place you on an antifungal medication, we might first run a blood test to make sure the medication won’t damage your liver. 

You can see that as a diagnostic and a treatment tool, blood tests are arguably the most important type of testing we have.

Getting your blood test

Not only are blood tests an amazing tool for monitoring your health, getting your blood is quick and easy, taking us only minutes. Our staff takes great pride in speed and accuracy when we draw blood, so we place your comfort first. 

While there may be a pinch when we insert the needle, we quickly extract the blood we need and then send you on your way.

If you have more questions about why we routinely use blood work to evaluate your health, we invite you to book an appointment online or call us at our Brooklyn, New York, office at 718-246-5700.

We serve the Flatbush and East Flatbush, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Little Haiti, Little Caribbean, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens communities.