Boston: Medical Home Screening Tests - Taking Health Into Your Own Hands

Boston,

Think you’re pregnant? Take a home pregnancy test before you paint the nursery. Worried about your cholesterol levels? Take a test monitor reading to see whether your HDL is okay or whether you should lay off the butter tarts and call your doctor in the morning.

Today more people are using medical test kits in their homes to diagnose, screen and monitor certain health conditions, from pregnancy to gluten intolerance to colon cancers. The trend to self-administered care is growing. Advances in technology make it easy for almost anyone to purchase online or walk into a drug store and pick up a variety of medical devices to perform any number of self-care diagnostic and monitoring tasks.

Here’s how you can take your health into your own hands: Screen for an illness or health condition: These self-care kits are for those who appear to be healthy with no outward signs of an illness or health condition. For example, a person might use a screening kit to detect blood in the stool for early detection of colorectal problems. You might administer a smell test to check for Alzheimer’s disease.

Recently Health Canada approved the Biocard Celiac Test Kit, the first home-test kit that screens for celiac disease, a potentially debilitating hereditary condition in which a person responds negatively to gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.

Diagnose a health condition: If you think you’re pregnant, this urine test will let you know in about three minutes. Other do-it-yourself urine tests can reveal your current loss of bone mass, giving you the heads up to start a program to combat osteoporosis. Still other home screening kits can be used to check for sperm concentrations to help determine male infertility.

For women, home ovulation tests provide an accurate window to determine your best chances of conceiving. Monitor an Illness: These tests measure the health conditions of an existing illness or health condition. Adjustments may have to be made, depending on the readings. Diabetics, for example, often test their glucose levels to monitor their blood sugar levels. Hand-held tests now measure your body fat composition, so you can adjust your diet and exercise accordingly. Thyroid testing will help you and your doctor identify and monitor an under-active or overactive thyroid condition. Many home screening benefits It’s no wonder home screening and monitoring kits are catching on with today’s health-conscious consumer:

1. Testing is done in the privacy and comfort of your own home.

2. Tests are usually quick and easy, often completed in minutes. In the case of the Biocard test to check for celiac disease, a person can have results in 10 minutes.

3. Home testing is convenient, accurate and reduces expense and traveling time to a lab, or hospital.

4. Advanced technology helps us diagnose, monitor and take control of our own health-and gives us the confidence to seek the right treatment from health professionals.

Self-screening: A good first step–but not the only step In most instances, most home screening kits are considered medical devices, and as such, need proper understanding.

While the self-administered tests can give us clues to a suspected disease or health condition, the tests have to be conducted properly and interpreted correctly. The do-it-yourself test kits are not replacements to doctors and licensed health care professionals, but rather a way to compliment their advice and services and to give us the confidence to talk to them about our health issues. Is too much information a dangerous thing? Not when it comes to your health.

Source by Mark Fodchuk

Medical Home Screening Tests - Taking Health Into Your Own Hands