No Time For Hesitation – Test Your Cholesterol Levels!

The cholesterol test is often done as part of the routine overall check up of the body.Dont give any room for hesitation to test your cholesterol level. You get your cholesterol test done at the medical centers or you can do your own cholesterol test using test kid. In this way you can monitor the cholesterol in your body. One of the options is to visit medical spas to take some blood tests. This article guides you to get your cholesterol test done and risks involved in it. Read more.

This article covers

• When Is a Cholesterol Blood Test Ordered?
• How Is The Cholesterol blood Test performed?
• The Risks Involved
• How Does One Prepare for the Cholesterol blood Test?
• In Children and Infants
• What Should Be The Ideal Cholesterol Level

A Cholesterol Blood Test is used for measuring the amount of cholesterol and triglycerides in the serum - a part of the blood. This can be done with a simple home cholesterol test or cholesterol self test, using a cholesterol test kit. This sort of cholesterol blood test can also be done at a medical centre, and the cholesterol test results are used, not so much as to diagnose or to monitor a disease, but to evaluate the individual’s risk for heart disease. Cholesterol test preparation and testing are considered as routine parts of preventive health care, since high blood cholesterol is associated with heart disease, hardening of the arteries, and enhanced risk of death from heart attack.

Cholesterol is a sort of fat (lipid) in the blood. While high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or “good” cholesterol helps in the protection of the heart, low – density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” cholesterol could clog the arteries of the heart. Some cholesterol home tests- or tests done at the physician’s- are also used to measure tryglicerides, which is another type of fat found in the blood.

When Is Cholesterol Testing Ordered?

A Cholesterol Screening Test is recommended

• Once in every five years if the individual is more than 20 years old. It is usually done in combination with other tests like HDL, LDL, Triglycerides -or what is called a lipid profile test- and in conjunction with a routine physical examination.
• If the individual has been prescribed a special diet or medication in order to control cholesterol, then the cholesterol self test must be done more frequently. It would be advisable for him to follow his doctor’s recommendations on how often he should take a cholesterol blood test. This cholesterol self test is used for the tracking of how well these prescribed measures of medication and diet have succeeded in lowering the cholesterol to the desired levels, thereby reducing the risk of developing heart disease.
• Cholesterol ought to be measured when a person is healthy. During a period of severe illness, blood cholesterol levels are temporarily low, for instance in the period immediately following a heart attack, or during times of stress following an accident or surgery. The patient must wait at least six weeks after any sort of illness, before he gets his cholesterol levels measured.

How Is The Cholesterol Test performed?

To take a home cholesterol test, using a cholesterol test kit, the patient would need to prick his finger with a lancet, in order to get a drop of blood. This drop of blood must be put on a piece of paper which contains special chemicals. The paper would change color depending on the level of cholesterol in the blood. Some home cholesterol tests use small cholesterol test machines to inform the individual as to how much of cholesterol is present in the blood.

How Does The Test Feel?

While taking a cholesterol home test, when the needle is inserted, some persons feel only a prick or a stinging sensation, but other feel a moderate sensation of pain. There may be some throbbing afterward.

The Risks Involved

While preparing for cholesterol test, and before using the cholesterol test kit:

• Excessive bleeding
• Feeling faint or lightheaded
• Infection( a slight risk that could occur anytime the skin is broken)
• Hematoma( a condition when the blood accumulates under the skin)
• Multiple punctures that occur when locating veins

How Does One Prepare for the Cholesterol Test?

Some of the various but common risks involved in these cholesterol self tests include:

• The patient must fast for at least 9 to 12 hours.
• His health care provider may advise him to stop taking those drugs that can affect the accuracy of the cholesterol test results.
• The patient can drink water during the fast, but coffee, tea, soda and other like beverages could affect the cholesterol test results.

In Children and Infants

Here, the cholesterol test preparation is provided depending on the child’s age and his/her previous experiences. There are various infant and adolescent cholesterol test preparations, varying age wise:

• The infant test or the procedure preparation( from birth to one year)
• The toddler test or the procedure preparation( from the age of 1 year to 3 years)
• The preschooler test or the procedure preparation( from the age of 3 years to 6 years)
• The school age test or procedure preparation (from the age of 6 years to 12 years).
• The adolescent test or the procedure preparation ( from the age of 12 years to 18 years)

Continue to : What Should Be The Ideal Cholesterol Level

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