What is a procalcitonin test?

A procalcitonin test measures the level of procalcitonin in your blood. A high level could be a sign of a serious bacterial infection, such as sepsis. Sepsis is the body's severe response to infection. Sepsis happens when an infection in one area of your body, such as your skin or urinary tract, spreads into your bloodstream. This triggers an extreme immune reaction. It can cause a rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, decreased blood pressure, and other symptoms. Without quick treatment, sepsis can lead to organ failure or even death.

A procalcitonin test can help your health care provider determine if you have sepsis or another serious bacterial infection in the early stages. This may help you get treated promptly and avoid life-threatening complications.

Other names: PCT test

What is it used for?
A procalcitonin test may be used to help:

Diagnose sepsis and other bacterial infections, such as meningitis
Diagnose kidney infections in children with urinary tract infections
Determine the severity of a sepsis infection
Find out whether an infection or illness is caused by bacteria
Monitor the effectiveness of Antibiotics therapy

Why do I need a procalcitonin test?
You may need this test if you have symptoms of sepsis or another serious bacterial infection. These symptoms include:

Fever and chills
Sweating
Confusion
Extreme pain
Rapid heartbeat
Shortness of breath
Very low blood pressure
This test is usually performed in the hospital. It is mostly used for people who come to the emergency room for treatment and for people who are already in the hospital.

What do the results mean?
If your results show a high procalcitonin level, it's likely you have a serious bacterial infection such as sepsis or meningitis. The higher the level, the more severe your infection may be. If you are being treated for an infection, decreasing or low procalcitonin levels can show that your treatment is working.

Is there anything else I need to know about a procalcitonin test?
Procalcitonin tests are not as precise as other laboratory tests for infections. So your health care provider will need to review and/or order other tests before making a diagnosis. But a procalcitonin test does offer important information that can help your provider start treatment sooner and may help you avoid serious illness.

What is a lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) test?

This test measures the level of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), also known as lactic acid dehydrogenase, in your blood or sometimes in other body fluids. LDH is a type of protein, known as an enzyme. LDH plays an important role in making your body's energy. It is found in almost all the body's tissues, including those in the blood, heart, kidneys, brain, and lungs.

When these tissues are damaged, they release LDH into the bloodstream or other body fluids. If your LDH blood or fluid levels are high, it may mean certain tissues in your body have been damaged by disease or injury.

Other names: LD test, lactic dehydrogenase, lactic acid dehydrogenase

What is it used for?
An LDH test is most often used to:

Find out if you have tissue damage
Monitor disorders that cause tissue damage. These include anemia, liver disease, lung disease, and some types of infections.
Monitor chemotherapy for certain types cancer. The test may show if treatment is working.
Why do I need an LDH test?
You may need this test if other tests and/or your symptoms indicate you have tissue damage or disease. Symptoms will vary depending on the type of tissue damage you have.

You may also need an LDH test if you are currently being treated for cancer.

What do the results mean?

Higher than normal LDH levels usually means you have some type of tissue damage or disease. Disorders that cause high LDH levels include:

Anemia
Kidney disease
Liver disease
Muscle injury
Heart attack
Pancreatitis
Infections, including meningitis, encephalitis, and infectious mononucleosis (mono)
Certain types of cancer, including lymphoma and leukemia. A higher than normal LDH level may also mean treatment for cancer is not working.
Although the test can show if you have tissue damage or disease, it does not show where the damage is located. If your results showed higher than normal LDH levels, your provider may need to order more tests to make a diagnosis. One of these tests may be an LDH isoenzyme test. An LDH isoenzyme test measures different forms of LDH. It can help your provider find out about the location, type, and severity of tissue damage.

What is D-dimer test?

D-Dimer is one of the fibrin degradation products. So when a body part is damaged or is bleeding from somewhere, the body tries to stop the bleeding by clumping together the cells there to make a network. That network is formed from a protein called fibrin. So vibrating starts together at the bleeding site and makes a blood clot. That blood clot is due to the crises crossing of fibrin. When the healing is done, or when the body thinks that the cloud is no longer necessary, it starts to degrade that clot and starts breaking down the fibrin. When the fibrin breaks down, it forms fibrin degradation products or FDPs. And one of the FDP is D-Dimer.

Why do we need D-Dimer during COVID?

The test shows the presence of clots in the body when COVID becomes serious. We get a lot of clots in the body in the lung especially, because of which reason the lungs cannot breathe. The blood flow is hampered due to clotting. So, the body tries to break down these clots. D dimer is detectable for up to eight hours after formation until the time the kidney clears it out.

What does the high or low level of D-Dimer mean?

A higher level of D dimer in the body shows that there is a lot of clot presence in the body which can be a dangerous sign when affected with COVID. So we use D-Dimer to assess for severity of COVID disease and if the patient is going to need oxygen in the future, because the higher their D-dimer, higher is the number of clots in the lungs and the higher the chances that they will need oxygen.

What Is a CRP Test?



C-reactive protein (CRP) test, is mainly conducted for patients who are hospitalised for Covid virus treatment, but a large number of doctors are recommending the same test even to those Covid positive patients who are in home isolation with moderate to mild symptoms.

CRP is not a diagnostic test but it has prognostic value. Then, why are doctors recommending it to patients in home isolation?

What is a CRP test?

It is a blood test and it tells about inflammation level in the body during any ailment and indicates about the infection level. It can be done for any ailment. The higher value of CRP level than the normal level indicates that the infection is increasing. CRP tests is a marker which shows the level of C-reactive protein, which is made by the liver, in the blood.

Why is it recommended for the treatment of Covid patients?

Doctors are conducting it mandatorily for the patients with critical conditions who are in hospital care, because it is one of the indicators showing the body’s reaction to the ongoing treatment.



“If the CRP, which is also recommended in the guidelines for Covid treatment, is normal then the patient’s body is reacting to the treatment positively and if it is higher than the required, then doctors need to check the infection level in the body through other tests like CT scan,” said Doctor SS Johal, who runs a hospital in Jalandhar and also has Level-3 facility for the treatment of Covid patients.

“It is recommended for those in home isolation too if they do not show any improvement in their symptoms even after the passing of a week or so,” he added.

The habit of drinking too much coffee

 

Due to lockdown, people are working from home these days. The lockdown has changed the routine of people. During this time, the time of people to get up, the time to eat at bedtime and many things have changed in food. Along with this, many people have got used to tea and coffee in this lockdown. There are many people who love coffee. Coffee helps you in keeping you active. That's why people consume it more and more. And while you are at home, the consumption of coffee will be increasing even more. So if your coffee has become too much in this lockdown, then you need to know something like this. Yes, drinking too much in high doses has many disadvantages.

Sleepiness or insomnia - Excessive intake of coffee can cause insomnia. Drinking large amounts of coffee causes sleepiness or insomnia. The caffeine present in coffee acts as a stimulant for your brain and makes you unable to sleep. Due to sleep correctly, your nature also becomes irritable.

Increase in stress level - If you drink coffee in the morning, then you must know that at this time, especially around 8 to 9 in the morning, the stress hormone Cortisol is at its peak. If you drink coffee at this time, then your stress level may increase rather than decrease.

Chest irritation- Coffee is one of those beverages that are acidic, so it can irritate your intestine and cause irritation. If you already have acidity problems then you should avoid coffee consumption. Not only coffee, but the things which contain caffeine should either be reduced or maybe it should be stopped.

Kidney damage- Drinking coffee may also cause you to urinate frequently. Excessive caffeine is also harmful to your kidney health. It also increases the risk of kidney spread. According to a study, oxalate present in coffee combines with calcium present in the blood to form calcium oxalate, which is the main cause of kidney stones.

Many people have a habit of drinking coffee along with food, before or just after eating. Doing so is harmful because it impedes the absorption of iron in the body.

Haemoglobin Test – Typical, high and low level reaches

credit: third party image reference

The oxygen-carrying protein found in the red blood cells is known as haemoglobin. This protein provides the red colour to the blood. It carries oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues and transports carbon dioxide to the lungs from the tissues. The hemoglobin test quantifies the measure of this oxygen conveying protein present in the blood.

What haemoglobin test reveals?

The Hb blood test (haemoglobin abbreviated as Hb) shows the result if your blood has lower haemoglobin than normal, then it means you have anaemia.The haemoglobin plays an important role in shaping up the red blood cells. The disruption in the haemoglobin normal value causes the change in the shape of the red blood cells.

The low haemoglobin level or anaemia has many symptoms and few are heart palpitations, fatigue, hair loss, shortness of breath, and feeling of wellness. The causes of anaemia include nutritional deficiency, bone marrow problems, kidney failure, chronic disease, and an excessive amount of blood loss.

The high haemoglobin level is basically seen in the people who are living in the high-altitude areas, those who smoke a lot, and it happens due to the dehydration. When the body receives the proper amount of fluid then the normal haemoglobin levels are restored. Some other causes of the high haemoglobin are advanced lung disease, certain types of tumours, polycythaemia (a disorder of the bone marrow), and due to drug abuse.

Why Haemoglobin Test is done?

Haemoglobin test can be done for several reasons such as:

The hemoglobin level is to decide during the normal therapeutic registration to screen the general wellbeing conditions. It is also used to diagnose various disorders.credit: third party image reference

The doctor suggests the haemoglobin test if you have any symptoms of anaemia or polycythaemia such as dizziness, fatigue, weakness, and palpitations. It also helps to diagnose other medical issues.

If one had any family history of genetic abnormalities such as thalassemia, sickle blood cells, or any other congenital disease then the doctor may prescribe you to take a haemoglobin test.

During any surgical treatment, if there is any excessive blood loss then also doctor prescribes for the haemoglobin test. As blood loss causes anaemia.

How should one prepare for the test?

There is no unique readiness require for the Hb blood test. If you are going for just haemoglobin test then you can eat and drink normally but if your doctor informed you about other blood tests too, then you may need to quick for a few hours before the test. Consult the doctor and get the instructions.

What happens during the blood test?

Haemoglobin can be measured as a part of the Complete Blood Count (CBC) Test. The examiner or doctor will insert the needle in your veins and take a blood sample from your veins and collect the blood in a test tube. It will take a few minutes to collect the blood sample. The doctor will instruct you about the time of day you will get the test report.

What happens after the blood test report?

The test report can be in the range of three levels – normal haemoglobin level, high haemoglobin level, and low haemoglobin level. The haemoglobin level can be stated in gram (gm) per deciliter (dL) and a decilitre is a 100 millilitre.

The scope of typical haemoglobin level reaches as indicated by age and sexual orientation. In an infant youngster, the HB level is from 17 to 22 gm/dL. In children, 11 to 13 gm/dL. In adult males, 14 to 18 gm/dL and in adult females it ranges from 12 to 14 gm/dL.credit: third party image reference

If the haemoglobin level is less or more than that then there is a reason for that. Low haemoglobin level generally means anaemia. There are many reasons for anaemia which includes stomach ulcer, colon cancer, iron and vitamin deficiency, kidney failure, thalassemia, and usage of drugs. There are several ways to increase the HB level in the body such as increasing the intake of iron-rich food (eggs, vegetables, nuts, cereals, spinach, beans, meat, and seafood), taking iron supplements, and by transfusing blood cells. Ask for advice from the doctor that by which way you can increase the Hb in your body.

High haemoglobin is expected to the polycythaemia, lung issues, lack of hydration, overwhelming smoking, consumes extraordinary physical exercise and it is typically found in individuals who live at high highet zones. Polycythaemia is a disorder in which bone marrow produces more blood cells. There are few ways to reduce the HB level in the blood such as by reducing the intake of iron in your food, limit the intake of Vitamin C, and drink more water as dehydration is one of the common causes of elevated haemoglobin.