Archive for the ‘health tests’ Category

Home Health Tests Reviewed

Monday, August 11th, 2008

Home Health Tests Reviewed

Home health tests, according to an article that appeared in the Star-Telegram, are helping people take control over their health.  The article discusses the accuracy and safety of home health tests.

Home Health Tests Accurate When Administered Properly

According to the article that appeared on August 4th, home health tests that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration are generally pretty accurate.  However, the article warns that the accuracy of home health tests does depend on how the sample was collected.  The article states that if a home health test comes up negative, most of the time they are.  Although, there are times that false positives do show up and you should consider receiving a lab test from your physician to be sure of the results.

Home Health Tests vs. Lab Tests

When you consider that most home health tests are for pretty life-altering medical events, such as pregnancy, HIV, hepatitis C, cholesterol levels and prostate cancer; wouldn’t you rather leave that up to a more accurate lab test?

HealthCheckUSA provides you with the same convenience as a home health test, i.e. you don’t have to go to a physician; yet HealthCheckUSA provides you with the same accuracy and confidence in the results as going to your physician to receive tests.

Home Health Tests:  Wise Choice?

HealthCheckUSA offers physician-interpreted tests in all major health areas, such as prostate and ovarian cancer, pregnancy tests, HIV, diabetes, cardiovascular, and even complete health risk assessments based on several predictor tests.  Unlike home health tests, the samples are collected by medical professionals in a sterile environment and an accredited Medical Reference Laboratory analyzes all of the test results.

HealthCheckUSA is also priced comparably to most home health tests, making HealthCheckUSA lab tests an even better decision when it comes to taking control of your health.

Discount Health Tests Recommended

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Discount Health Tests Reduce Medical Costs

Discount health tests can help keep medical costs down.  This is according to Dr. Greg Jackson, a physician at San Antonio’s Interceptive Health.  Dr. Jackson is also writing a book on preventative health care.

Discount Health Tests Assist in Prevention

Discount health tests are part of the plan Dr. Jackson uses with his patients to help keep their costs down.  Patients of Dr. Greg Jackson are taught to focus on prevention or catching health issues early.  The main part of Dr. Jackson’s plan is to have his healthy patients only come in for physicals every 15 to 18 months vs. every 12 months.  This way the patient might be able to “straddle” two calendar years and thus only have to pay one deductible payout.

Discount Health Tests with Quality Results

The discount health tests come into play right before a patient’s physical.  Dr. Jackson likes to have his patients come in with their lab results in hand in order to avoid the time and cost of having a follow-up visit to review the lab test results.  Dr. Jackson stated that he sends his patients to us, HealthCheckUSA, as we offer up a discount of up to 50 percent than most other labs.

Not only can Dr. Jackson’s patients receive their annual blood work; they can also receive a series of other lab tests in areas, such as cardiovascular or diabetes, that might be of concern to Dr. Jackson or his patients.

Discount Health Tests for Cost-Conscious

Dr. Jackson reminds his patients and every person receiving healthcare that if health costs are a concern have a discussion with your physician.  Dr. Jackson states that many physicians will work with their patients to make healthcare more affordable.  HealthCheckUSA will also work with you and your physician to provide quality lab tests and timely results that won’t break the bank.

Nutrition to Live Better

Monday, July 7th, 2008

Nutrition is the Foundation of Good Health

Nutrition has many more important factors to your health than just your weight. Although maintaining a healthy weight or losing those extra pounds are also important for good health; proper nutrition leads to less illness, stronger immune systems and overall better health. Nutrition is very important as a foundation to health; and, in many cases, medical conditions can be treated simply by eating better.

Total Nutrition Panel

HealthCheckUSA has a nutrition panel that will allow you to work with your doctor to build a nutrition and diet plan that is just right for you. The nutritional panel consists of three different parts: CHEM-26, Vitamin B12 with Folic Acid, and TIBC.

Nutrition Panel: CHEM-26

CHEM-26 is the part of the Nutrition panel known as the “Super Chemistry” test. This lab test will check your kidney, heart, and liver functions. CHEM-26 checks your cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as your glucose, calcium, uric acid, electrolyte and iron levels. Cholesterol and triglyceride levels may indicate a need for dietary changes and possibly medications. High glucose levels could indicate diabetes, and high levels of iron could indicate a serious genetic disorder.

Nutrition Panel: Vitamin B12 with Folic Acid

The Vitamin B12 with Folic Acid gives you a thorough analysis of your body’s metabolic functions. B12 levels can help physicians determine if your body is generating enough energy to power all the organs. Low levels of B12 can be an indication of a high-risk of organ damage. This part of the nutritional panel also determines how much folic acid your body is getting. A lack of folic acid can impair protein synthesis and cell division.

Nutrition Panel: TIBC

Finally, the last lab test in the nutritional panel is the TIBC or the total iron binding capacity. Elevated levels of TIBC can indicate that you have an iron deficiency, which means that you need to incorporate more green vegetables and possibly red meat in your diet. TIBC measures how efficiently your blood transports iron through the rest of your body.

Make sure that you are eating properly and getting the right nutrition, call and order a nutrition panel test today.

Health Risk Assessment Reports Key to Good Health

Friday, June 6th, 2008

Health Risk Assessment Reports for Disease Prevention

Health Risk Assessments are a very important step in disease prevention and overall wellness. The knowledge of what health risks you have is a powerful tool to setting up your fitness and health plans for the next six months to a year.

For example, if upon review of your health risk assessment, you find that there is a high health risk that you might have a heart attack. You can then work with your physician, have him do a follow-up health check on your heart, and then assist you in putting together a personal heart wellness program.

Health Risk Assessment Reports are Customized

HealthCheckUSA.com provides the health conscience person with two options of health risk assessment reports.

The HealthCheckUSA Health Risk Assessment Report includes a standard health risk assessment, plus the following biometric tests.

  • Chem-26 (Master Chemistry) – assesses health risk for long-term diabetes complications.
  • Complete Blood Count (CBC) – the HealthCheck USA complete blood count with differential is used in diagnosing and treating a large number of medical conditions.
  • Ht/Wt – this lab test is used to assess the level of red blood cells.

The HealthCheckUSA Premium Health Risk Assessment Report includes the standard health risk assessment, the above listed biometric tests, as well as the following additional biometric tests.

  • Homocysteine – a homocysteine lab test can assess your risk of cardiovascular issues, like a heart attack or a stroke.
  • Cardio C-Reactive Protein (CRP) – this blood test helps estimate your risk of developing cardiovascular disease, as well as your risk of having a sudden heart attack.

The Premium Health Risk Assessment Report is an extremely important report for an individual with a family history of heart or cardiovascular disease.

Health Risk Assessment Reports Provide Health Feedback

The HealthCheckUSA Health Risk Assessment Reports contain the results of your health risk assessment and biometric tests in 29 easy-to-read and understand pages. Don’t put off being healthy any longer, order your health risk assessment report today!

Hereditary Hemochromatosis: A Shockingly Common Genetic Disease

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

What is hereditary hemochromatosis?

Hereditary hemochromatosis, referred to as HH, is a common iron overload genetic disorder. A person with hereditary hemochromatosis absorbs and stores excess amounts of iron in the body. This extra iron settles in the liver, skin, and pancreas and, if left untreated, gradually develops iron deposits that cause organ and tissue deterioration.

What causes hereditary hemochromatosis?

The HFE gene in humans monitors iron absorption; a mutated HFE gene allows too much iron absorbtion and causes hereditary hemochromatosis. People with the hereditary hemochromatosis gene are carriers for the disease. If two carriers have a child, that child will develop hereditary hemochromatosis. Recently, researchers from both the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and the University of Heidelberg, Germany, discovered that HH is a liver disease. Research lab mice that were genetically engineered to lack HFE only in liver cells showed all the key features of hereditary hemochromatosis.

How common is hereditary hemochromatosis?

Hereditary hemochromatosis is one of the most common genetic diseases in the U.S.; almost 1 in 10 American Caucasians carries the gene. Caucasians with ancestry in Northern Europe are most commonly the carriers of the HH gene. Hereditary hemochromatosis is uncommon but still occurs among African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos.

What’s the danger of hereditary hemochromatosis?

If left untreated, iron accumulations due to hereditary hemochromatosis could potentially lead to other serious health issues, such as arthritis, liver failure, congestive heart failure, impotence, skin pigmentation, and pancreas damage. Without previous testing for hereditary hemochromatosis, most people are unaware that they have the disease. Most symptoms don’t appear until after about age 30 for men and 50 for women.

Screening for hereditary hemochromatosis is easy.

There is good news, though–testing for hereditary hemochromatosis is painless and simple. A fairly inexpensive, quick cheeck swab test kit you can use at home that will show if you have the mutated HFE gene that results in hereditary hemochromatosis is available from HealthCheckUSA. You shouldn’t take iron supplements until you know your test’s results. If your test’s results do show that you have hereditary hemochromatosis, treatment comes in the form of routine blood removal, usually several times a year.

Health Tests Without a Prescription?

Monday, February 4th, 2008

Many Health Tests Don’t Require a Prescription

Health tests without a prescription are now amazingly easy. HealthCheckUSA.com brings you convenient lab and health tests — and you don’t have to schedule or pay for a doctor’s visit to get tested!

In the old days, doctors held the keys to health tests. For example, if you were on a diet and wanted to get a cholesterol test to check your progress, you’d have to see a doctor to set up a test. Every time you wanted a health test, you’d have to get a doctor’s prescription. Getting regular lab tests was like being in pre-school again — you needed someone’s permission every time you wanted to do something. Health tests were expensive, and scheduling tests was a chore.

Getting Health Tests — Without a Prescription — Has Become a Breeze

Now, however, it’s a lot easier to check your fitness with a health test. The testing laboratories in the HealthCheckUSA.com network are the same labs that process health test prescriptions for local doctors in your community. The difference is that you’re working with them more directly, and saving money on your health test too. All our health tests are accurate, analyzed by fully accredited medical reference laboratories.

In fact, in some parts of the country, you can even get a walk-in lab test. No scheduling or pre-payment — just find a lab testing location that does walk-in testing and stroll right in. The pharmacy schedules at HealthCheckUSA.com can help you find participating health test locations.

Get Your No-Prescription Health Test

Because lab tests are simple and non-invasive, there’s usually no need for a doctor’s prescription to take a health test. There are no serious health risks to taking a health test. (For the best accuracy, you should fast before your lab test, but if you schedule your test for the morning, you can spend most of those ten fasting hours during the night, when you’re not eating anyhow.)

The fact is, a doctor’s supervision isn’t ordinarily necessary to gather information on your health. That’s why it makes so much sense to work with an online consumer lab testing service like HealthCheckUSA.com.

You can find some helpful lab test taking tips at the main HealthCheckUSA.com website.