There are many reasons why you might need to have a blood test. Whether it’s from a recommendation by your doctor or you request a blood test as a personal choice, such tests provide valuable insights into your health.

A wide variety of health conditions cause changes in levels of various molecules in the blood. Many conditions can be diagnosed with a simple blood test for this reason, and doctors can monitor the progression or regression of these conditions by taking regular blood samples from their patients.

Let’s take a closer look at the reasons you might need to get a blood test.

Health Check-Up

Even if you’re not symptomatic, you might choose to get a blood test as a general check-up. Regular blood tests offer insight into your overall well-being and provide peace of mind if nothing sinister comes up in your results.

How often should you get a routine blood test for your health check-ups? Learn more in this article here.

Diagnosis Before Symptoms

Doctors can use a single blood test to identify and diagnose conditions before they manifest in symptoms, too. For example, they can check for anemia, infections, types of painful arthritis, or digestive issues like coeliac disease by analyzing a blood sample.

With an early diagnosis, your doctor can offer preventative advice that will decrease the risk of your condition worsening or progressing. They can also provide treatments and therapies to minimize future symptoms.

Checking Hormonal Levels

Hormones travel through the bloodstream to their target organs. A series of blood tests can provide in-depth information about your hormonal health and how each hormone is fluctuating over time.

Blood work can be particularly helpful for checking the levels of thyroid functions in the body. Too much or too little thyroid hormones can result in a range of negative symptoms. Thyroid function blood tests can identify related disorders so doctors can provide the necessary treatments to reduce these symptoms.

Similarly, female reproductive hormone levels can be checked with a series of blood samples over the course of the month. If estrogen, progesterone, LH, and FSH levels are too low, too high, or unchanging throughout the menstrual cycle, it may indicate a hormonal condition like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA).

Checking Blood Sugar Levels

In a healthy individual, blood glucose levels naturally fluctuate throughout the day, increasing after meals and decreasing with extended fasting. In this case, checking blood glucose levels might not be necessary.

However, for those with diabetes or prediabetes, regular blood testing is an essential part of the management of these conditions. Doctors may check the levels of HbA1c (hemoglobin A1c) to get a deeper look at a patient’s blood sugar control.

Doctors may also measure blood glucose levels first thing in the morning before a person eats breakfast to see how their body is coping with an extended fasting period. They can use the results to adjust the patient’s medications accordingly.