I have seen my doc and I have been sent to have some blood tests. I know there are some doccy types who frequent these parts and am wondering what some of the terms mean
CRP, ESR, FBC (i assume is full blood count?), HBA 1c, U&E, Liver profile (im assuming this is to check on liver function?), bone profile.
Its just because I'm a nosey barsteward.

well I hope they dont take that much!!!!

CRP - C-reactive protein (sounds interesting )
ESR - Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (sounds more interesting)
FBC - Full blood count
HBA 1c - some sort of hemoglobin thing. Seemingly related to diabetes tests.
U&E - Urea and Elctrocytes (basically piss and sh*t) lol! Not quite but it does measure the amount of urea and other chemicals in your blood. Measures how your kidneys are doing and that sort of thing.
Bone Profile - not really sure about that one.

Sounds like a fairly standard set of tests though.

I never look at mine as I get the envelope, walk down a corridor and hand it in. Don't really get time to examine it.

They'll prob take 5ml for each test. Although there will be some that go to the same desk so probably might have 3 vials with 5ml in each.

All depends on what your symptoms were and what they suspected.

CRP and ESR are inflammatory markers that can go up either in infection, in inflammation (eg arthritis), or if systemically unwell. The higher they are, the more concerning it is.
FBC is just full blood count.
U+Es - kidney function
LFTs - liver function
Bones - basically calcium level
HbA1c - measure of glycosylated haemaoglobin - basically are you diabetic?

Bear in mind that blood tests are there to help direction and not usually definitive. They say that 90% of a diagnosis comes from history alone (the remainder coming from examination, investigations etc). There are times when, within a minute of the patient speaking, I know exactly what's going on. But if I don't ask more questions and don't do an exam, they'll feel fobbed off and if they complain, it's not really defendable.

Sometimes tests are done to reassure the patient. Telling them there's nothing to pick up on the tests means they'll interpret it as "everything is okay" and that "there's nothing to worry about".

well back from the vampire nurse, all done and dusted in a minute.

My experience here too. Blood tests seem to be one NHS thing that works fairly well.
I have given 5 tubes in a months :S
And no more anaemia

Minor hijack...

I had a longterm blood pressure monitor last week. The b****y thing didn't work properly (for 3 hours, it checked every 2 - 3 minutes, because it couldn't get a proper reading, instead of every 15 minutes). I took the thing off after 8 hours. The doctor looked at the "results" and decided I had high blood pressure (185/90 average). You try having your arm crushed every 2 - 3 minutes and see what that does for your stress level and blood pressure!

She gave me Ramipril tablets. Yesterday I was feeling dizzy and tried measuring my blood pressure, the wrist monitor I have couldn't get a reading the first 2 times, then it gave several reading between 99/58 to 105/62... I'm off to the doctor's for a proper reading shortly!

Wrist monitors are unreliable and NICE have advised against their use. A blood pressure of 185/90 is high enough to start treatment there and then. It's too high to be put down to "white coat hypertension". I had to have one of these machines recently too and felt very stressed but managed to cope. The other option (in the UK) is to take regular home readings over a week, using a blood pressure monitor that measures around the upper arm. It needs to be measured against the doctor's measurement so it can be corrected (our home blood pressure machines routinely read 10mmHg lower for both values so we have to add them on). Is this something you could suggest to your GP if you couldn't tolerate the ambulatory blood pressure machine?

Ramipril is appropriate if you're under the age of 55 years.


Maybe I should start charging for my advice?

BP was 130 to 80 this morning, in the practice.

Now the wrist monitor is reading 249/149! It's going in the bin.

I bought a wrist monitor out of curiosity. I found I can get it to give any reading I want by tightening it.

My dad has one that goes around the upper arm. It was specifically recommended by a specialist, and provided by a chemist. It's better than the wrist one, but still seems to vary by about +/- 20mm in successive readings.

I want the results of my TSH test

results of blood tests in and it appears all is within expect parameters except i had an elevated glucose level, so now for a fasting blood test. Thankfully its an early morning test so that shouldnt be a problem