tips | MediFee Healthcare

10 Things You Need to Know Before a Blood Test

Your blood is responsible to carry nutrients, minerals, body fluids and most importantly, oxygen to different parts of your body. Whenever your body is attacked or affected with infection, inflammation or any other disease state, it produces chemicals that notify your system that something is wrong. This is why, for most types of disorders, a blood test is carried out to diagnose a health condition.

Types of blood test

Blood tests can say a lot about your system functionality. Therefore, they are divided into varied types that serve a specific medical purpose. As a patient who is undergoing such a test, there are some things that must be known before you take a blood test.

Here are 10 things that you need to know before a blood test

1. Type of Test you are taking

You must know which type of blood test you will undergo as there are minute changes in two similar types too. A basic understanding is therefore necessary.

As mentioned before, there are “n” number of health problems that can be studied with the help of a blood test. As a result, blood tests have different types, and aim towards learning each problem individually.

Blood test can be in a form of a singular test or group tests (also known as a profile). A profile contains more than one type of blood test or more than one type of diagnosis in a single test. For example, in a thyroid profile, blood is sampled to learn about levels of T3, T4, T3RU and TSH.

Blood test

Other types of blood tests include blood culture test, smear test and other types. Blood culture test is performed to study specific types of infections. Blood in such test is cultured and kept under observation to learn about the nature of infectious microorganisms in your blood. A smear blood test is a microscopic examination of your blood for variety of medical reasons. Other types of blood tests usually include learning about the measurement of a specific component that is present in your bloodstream.

2. Normal and abnormal measurements

Blood analysis for counting the amount of a particular substance should be within its normal range. If the count exceeds or becomes less than its normal range, body tasks begin to alter. This causes minor to major problems with respect to the substance we are addressing.

Blood analysis

Note that the normal range of measurements for blood tests differs in men and women.

3. Diet

Few types of tests need a proper follow-up of diet, 1-2 days prior to the day of test. Some are asked to avoid specific food items or beverages (alcoholic/non-alcoholic) 2-3 days prior to the test, whereas others are asked to fast, hours before the test. The change in diet depends on the type of test you are taking.

4. Medication

Medication If you are taking a routine check-up that doesn’t usually need a prescription, you must note down this point. Before going for few tests, you may require to discontinue medicines that can alter your test reports. If you do not have any idea about the same, talk to the lab technician in advance.

5. Pregnancy

While taking a blood test it is important to inform your doctor if you are in your gestational period. During pregnancy, a lot of hormonal changes occur that will be reflected in the blood reports of that woman. As a result of which, sugar levels may increase. Test reports will be considered according to a pregnant state of that patient.

6. Previously diagnosed disorder

Nothing is ever completely cured. If you are previously diagnosed with a disorder, there can be a possibility that the micro-organisms associated with it still remain inside your body. Even though the disorder is treated, patients experience risks and complications after the cure. You should inform the lab assistant about your previously diagnosed disorder which may be one of the problems that reflects on your test results. risks and complications, even after a cure.

7. Health history (hereditary)

The study on your blood samples will be done with respect to certain points. One of them is your family’s health history. A hereditary health issue can be seen in your blood reports. This is why you should keep your physician informed in advance about the same.

8. Disorder that may spread through body fluids

HIV If you are suffering from a serious disorder like HIV, you should let your lab technician know. This is because such diseases can spread through body fluids. Lab analysts must be extra careful with the blood samples of such individuals.

9. Number of samples required for your blood test

For some tests, it is important that blood samples are collected by lab assistants on more than one occasions. This step depends on the type of examination you will undergo. So be well prepared. Carry a packet of biscuits containing glucose or juice to keep you energetic after you have provided your blood.

10. Immediate precaution

Some patients show sudden reaction on their skin or body area from where blood is collected. On the other hand, few cases may require an immediate precautionary measure, right after the test is conducted. For example, the point of injection can lead to swelling or any other issue after the test is done. Using an ice pack can help reduce it.

Remember all the above points. They can be useful for you in some way. Apart from the mentioned ones, there are general points that every patient must consider. If you have symptoms like weakness, fatigue, or any thing associated with a low energy, carry an energy drink or ORS supplement. Take at-least one glass of it after you have given blood.

Apart from all this, rest is the most important thing that patients with ill health must take. Drink plenty of water and keep your body hydrated enough. Eat healthy to stay healthy.

What is Salt Room Therapy?

Salt room therapy is one of the newer alternative therapies that is rapidly gaining popularity for all the right reasons. It is based on the principle that direct exposure to the right amount of salt helps in rejuvenating all the body tissues. It is part of dry salt therapy and has been used successfully to treat several disorders.

Salt room

Salt room therapy is inspired by an ancient form of therapy that originated in Poland. People used to visit caves that were known to have a good amount of salt deposits. Exposure to salt helped them get rid of several ailments. There are several spas and health resorts all over Europe, America and Asia offering salt room therapy.

Health Benefits of Salt Room Therapy for Patients

Some of the health benefits of salt room therapy are mentioned below:

Respiratory System:

Salt room therapy is said to be the most beneficial, for treatment of respiratory disorders. Patients suffering from asthma, COPD, asbestosis, experienced considerable improvement in their symptoms after regular sessions of salt room therapy.

Respiratory System

Exposure to dry air laced with salt helps in drying up the unhealthy secretions of lungs and bronchial tubes. This is one of the major benefits of salt room therapy for lung ailments.

Nervous System:

Salt room therapy is known to have a rejuvenating effect on tired and fatigue ridden nerves. Many people who need a break from their daily grind opt for a session of salt room therapy and come back refreshed.

Nervous System

Salt particles help in stimulating nerves to conduct electrical impulses better and leave the patient feeling energetic. Salt room therapy is also known to have beneficial effects in curbing headaches of nervous origin, migraine, spinal nerve disorders etc.

Mental Health:

Exposure to salt and minerals stimulates energy levels and also enhances blood circulation to all body tissues. This helps in improving cerebral circulation and helps in maintaining healthier brain cells.

Patients battling depression have experienced great benefits from regular salt room sessions. Anxiety, sleep disorders, mood disorders are also known to benefit from this therapy.

Skin and Hair:

It is said that salt helps in balancing the moisture levels of skin. People undergoing salt room therapy get their skin directly exposed to salt. This allows the salt particles to repair dead and damaged skin and help to retain the required amount of moisture.

Skin and Hair

Health conditions like psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis respond very well to salt room therapy. Salt has an anti bacterial effect which makes it an efficient cure for skin infections. Aside from skin disorders, salt therapy also helps in cleansing the skin and making it healthier. People who opted for salt room therapy as part of rejuvenation, developed healthy, glowing and soft skin.

Salt is also known to have a beneficial effect on one’s immune system. It helps to control levels of IgE and thus helps in battling allergic responses. Salt is a known anti inflammatory agent. Therefore, salt therapy is also helpful for patients suffering from joint disorders, auto immune disorders etc.

Salt Room Therapy for Healthy People

Other than helping to treat several health disorders, salt room therapy is also known to provide a rejuvenating and relaxing experience. Many people who want a break from their daily grind, indulge in salt room therapy regularly. People have reported feeling fresh and more energetic by spending time in a salt room on a regular basis. Salt room therapy helps to get rid of mental stress, tired nerves, muscular soreness, which has become part of the daily fast paced life most people lead.

What is a Salt Room?

Salt room therapy is conducted in artificially built salt caves. Temperature controlled rooms are built in an attempt to simulate a sea side experience, minus the humidity. Floor of these rooms is layered with salt and salt is also introduced in the room through air vents. Due to absence of humidity, patients can can experience the benefit of dry salt therapy. The salt is usually imported from ancient caves in Poland known for their rich salt deposits or from Himalayas. The salt is then processed and refined before using it for therapy sessions.

A halogenerator is used in most of the spas offering salt room therapy. This device filters and spreads salt evenly into the salt rooms during therapy sessions. People can enjoy a relaxing session of dry salt therapy in one of these rooms for a time span of anywhere between 25-45 minutes. Salt therapy does not make use of chemicals, steroids or any artificial preparations. This makes is 100% safe with little possibility of side effects.

Limitations of Salt Room Therapy

Salt room therapy has proven to be beneficial since ancient times. People have been benefiting from it since as early as the 1800s. However, no scientific or medical experiment has been conducted to prove its efficacy. Therefore, this therapy has not received adequate recognition.

There is no documented evidence of salt therapy proving to be beneficial in every patient. The therapy cannot replace medical or surgical treatment completely. It has to be used in conjunction with main stream treatment. While ancient proofs and documents exist about how salt therapy was discovered and used, there is no proof of any recent study being done for the same.

Contraindications of Salt Room Therapy

While salt room therapy is impressing one and all across the globe, it may not be helpful for everyone. Certain health conditions may contradict the use of salt room therapy.

Pregnant women should not undergo this therapy; especially if they have been battling blood pressure issues. It is also inadvisable for patients with cardiac disorders to opt for this therapy. While salt room therapy has proven to be beneficial in case of respiratory ailments, it should be avoided during acute exacerbations of symptoms. Patients who have recently suffered from burn injuries, should also refrain from undergoing salt room therapy as it may irritate the skin.

Salt room therapy should be chosen as a treatment method, only if it has been approved by a qualified physician. This form of therapy is widely available in Europe, America and parts of Asia.

Home Remedies for Back Ache

Chronic back ache is one of the most pressing problems that everyone from young adults to senior citizens is forced to deal with today. It is emerging as one of the common complaints; especially from people who work in India’s IT industry and spend more than ten hours a day before a screen. But though this is a worrisome illness, it is also one that is easily ignored and brushed aside. Here’s why that’s a bad idea.

Continue reading “Home Remedies for Back Ache” →

Get Ready for Monsoon – Useful Tips for You

It is the time for monsoons. If you’re a rainy season person then you might be looking forward to tucking in with a hot cuppa while in bed as it thunders and storms outside or going for a long walk with the drizzle for company. But this change of weather brings with it a lot of cause for concern.

But before you slip into your rain wear and pick the next hike in the mountains, watch out for a few things. The monsoon looks like a fun season, but it brings with it the danger of a lot of diseases and health effects. There is a higher risk of allergies and infections and the spread of water-borne diseases is much higher. Also, since there is minimum sunlight, bacteria and viruses thrive in this weather, attacking our immune system. rain5

So just at the onset of the monsoons, we thought we would prepare a short checklist of things that you need to go through to make sure you’re weather ready. Right from your diet, clothing and exercise your routine would need to be modified slightly to accommodate the season of the rains. Continue reading “Get Ready for Monsoon – Useful Tips for You” →

Are You Working Out at Work?

The 21st century office-goer in large metros or smaller cities, spends more than half his day commuting to work and back and sitting before his desk. This behavior is making us all unhealthy. There are no immediate repercussions but every minute you spend staring at your screen, bustling through meetings and skipping lunch to read the brief one last time, you’re either unwittingly gaining weight, adding to your stress levels and fueling hypertension and anxiety. It is not exactly the healthiest thing for your heart either. office

But to battle this silent assailant, people across the world are exercising at work. In small and mysterious ways, the workplace has changed from being a strictly professional work environment to a place where you can take twenty to go for a run, shove your jogging shoes in your drawer next to your files and have health food delivered at your desk. So are you working out at work? Continue reading “Are You Working Out at Work?” →

Don’t Waste Time! Know These Facts About Yoga

The excitement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation brought about in creating two Guinness Book World Records for India, one for largest number of people practicing Yoga simultaneously and the largest number of people of different nationalities coming together to perform the exercise, has turned attention back to India’s ancient form of training of the mind and the body. International Yoga Day was declared by the United Nations of June 21, with close to 36,000 people performed asanas with the prime minister.

If you read the reports or saw the coverage and felt like pulling out your yoga pants or checking the price of a yoga mat online, let’s take a moment to understand this effective form of exercise. Deemed as one of the more balanced training vitalizing the spiritual, religious, physical and mental condition of the body. It may not be taken lightly. So before we jump onto the bandwagon, let us look at what we know about yoga, and the more important do’s and don’t’s.

What you need to know:

Yoga is not just a physical exercise, but it improves muscles and skeleton structure of the body and does wonders for your cardiovascular system
It is the purest form of meditation, and practise it regularly and notice yourself becoming calmer, reducing levels of stress, hypertension and many lifestyle related diseases
If you’ve suffered from mild attacks of anxiety or depression, you have naturally been recommended Yoga. It is a prescribed cure for improving mental stability and battling depression
Ditto for insomniacs; Yoga will relax the mind, clear the head and will help you sleep better
You’ll never have looked better. Yoga clears up your skin, improves your poster and sculpts and tightens your muscles. Like mentioned before, Yoga is not to be taken lightly. An exercise that lends so much to your system needs to have a set of guidelines. So before you start practicing Yoga at home or sign up for the next class nearby, browse through these important do’s and don’t’s.Do’s:
Drink lots of water daily: If you’re not in the habit of hydrating yourself, make one of out it now. Yoga looks like it’s a breeze, but regulars will tell you how taxing asanas can be. You need plenty of water to avoid cramping and exhaustion.
Invest in a Yoga mat: If you plan to take Yoga seriously, buy a mat. The thickness and size will save you back pain. Never practise on the floor directly. If you don’t have a mat, carry a light mattress, sheet or perform on carpeted floor.
Be an early bird: Join an early morning batch or wake up an hour earlier to your schedule to do Yoga. The benefits of waking up early to an hour of Yoga are endless. It is a healthy start to the day when your mind is at its most peaceful and calm state. Perfect for Yoga.
If you’re a beginner, join a class or perform Yoga under supervision
Breathe: Yoga helps you breathe better. Throughout the exercise, breathe through your nose. Make it a habit, and it will help you breathe easy otherwise as well.
Beginners, join a class: For people who have not practised Yoga before, it is advised to join a class or hire a trainer. Yoga is more complicated than it looks, and maintaining the right poster, stretching the correct limbs and not overdoing it is of extreme importance.

Don’t’s:

Food woes: Never practice on a full stomach. Yoga must be performed on an empty to light stomach.
Women, pay attention to your cycle: Skip the class when you’re on your menstrual cycle. Pregnant women should also keep away from Yoga.
Patients stay away: If you’ve just been through a surgery or an accident, consult a physician before you resume Yoga. Your body may not be in the right state to start stretching yet, and you may end up doing more harm than good.
Take thirty: Wait for twenty minutes to half an hour before you eat or drink anything. Your body has been through an intense workout. Give it time to cool off.
Do what you can: If you’re a beginner, take it easy. If you can’t strike a particularly tricky asana, try it later but don’t push yourself too hard. You’ll end up pulling a muscle instead. If something hurts, stop. It is your body telling you that it can’t take it.
Yoga is not easy; if something aches, back off. It’s your body’s way of telling you it’s in pain
Keep calm and carry on: You’re not going to see results in one or two sessions. But continue for a few weeks and you’ll start feeling the difference. If the first few classes bore you out, (yes, it’s a slow exercise and there’s no music) stick it out. You’ll not regret it.

Under the practised care of an expert, Yoga will elevate your exercise experience. So if you’re a beginner, an expert or just interested to give it a shot, there’s no better time than now. The world is, literally at its feet. So take a deep breath and begin.