HOW A HEALTHY DO-IT-YOURSELF TEST KITS

HOW A HEALTHY DO-IT-YOURSELF TEST KITS

Want to know the best time of the month to design, or if your partner sperm count is high enough to do? If you have a urinary tract infection or yeast infection? If your child is using drugs? These days, whatever it takes, it is a few drops of blood, urine or semen, or an extract from hair, find the answers - right to the intimacy and comfort of your own bathroom. To identify your blood to detect the signs of HIV, colon or rectal cancer, a home medical kit is available at your pharmacy closest to help you.

According to the National Institutes of Health, one of the first documents written test house was a pregnancy urine based test used in ancient Egypt. The papyrus document described a test in which a woman was able to determine pregnancy by urinating on seed of wheat and barley during several days. If the barley grew, it meant that she was pregnant with a male child; the growth of wheat indicated a female. And if no grain grew, she was not pregnant. Although the ancient Egyptian test was unlikely to have had the accuracy of 97 to 99% claimed by the manufacturers of pregnancy tests present House first marketed to the public in 1978, as the kits of today, he identified a substance in the urine of a woman who was present only during pregnancy.
Today food and Drug Administration (FDA) Kit medical qualified home is essentially the same as those used in your doctor's office, said Shilpi Agarwal, MD, certified family physician practising in Los Angeles, California. And when used properly, she added, they are quite accurate. But before you decide to start playing the doctor, she warned, it is important to remember that your doctor is a controlled environment, and the tests are performed by health professionals trained in the use of the test. "At home, there is more room for error, which modifies the accuracy of the test," she said.
And while you may think that it is less expensive to test yourself for an infection of the urinary tract at home rather than spend the money goes to the doctor, said Dr. Agarwal, more often "as otherwise, you will need to seek care from your doctor for treatment anyway."
This means that you have spent $10.99 for the test kit at home - more the co-payment for the visit of the doctor, laboratory tests to confirm a diagnosis and any medication you may need.
And if the home test is negative? "You can get a false sense of security," said Dr Agarwal.
The test result is negative at the moment, she says, does not mean that it is really negative. For example, a kit of HIV testing measure cells that the immune system of your body produces (antibodies) in response to infection by the human immunodeficiency virus. This antibody response may take up to three months, or perhaps even more, to become detectable in the body fluids. So if you have been infected with the HIV virus and test a month after the virus enters your body, you can get a negative test result - yet still be infected.
However, under the right circumstances, medical test at home kits can be helpful, said Florence Committee, MD, a Manhattan based Endocrinologist and author of the book of men's health, Keep It Up. "As people become more involved in their State of health, these kits can help them take better care of themselves," she claims. "But the crucial question is to test, there are often decisions on their treatment to take, decisions sometimes difficult. This should be done in collaboration with a reliable health care professional. »
Dr. Agarwal has agreed that test house is useful in situations where there is already a diagnosis and the need for a control to a State of chronic health at home between visits to the doctor. This includes blood sugar for diabetes, infection or urinary tests if you get frequent infections and work with your doctor to treat them. And of course, she added, test house is appropriate in situations where you will follow it upwards with your supplier health, such as for pregnancy tests.
One thing certain, according to Dr. Committee, what is DIY testing is here to stay. "It will just to be more in addition to the available tests in the future," she said. "You'll be able to go to Walgreens and find a wide range of medical tests at home."

The result? If you're intrigued by the thought of the medical tests at home, it may be good to have a chat with your doc, what can explain the advantages and disadvantages of using it, help you to interpret the results and propose a plan of treatment post-tests, if necessary. "The public has a right to understand and participate in their own health care," said Dr. Committee. "And as a physician, I like this idea. But using a single test in vacuum can be overwhelming and scary - and may do more harm than good. There must be a balance. 

KITS
Auto diagnostic kits can either be "Test Kits," where collect you the sample, run the test and you read the results, or "Collection Kits," where you take a sample, mail it to a laboratory and receive the results by telephone or mail. Although there are many test kits which are available in the United States, the three most popular are:

The Test: Allergy Test, 'My Allergy Test' by Immunetech, FDA cleared
Cost: about $50, available at Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Meijer
How it works: use provided the Lancet to collect a few drops of blood in a test tube, then send the sample to a laboratory certified to test for 10 common allergens, including eggs, milk, wheat, mold, dust mites, cat, ragweed, cedar and two types of grasses. Results are mailed to you or you can connect to a Web site to receive.
Advantages: If you're wondering what are the causes as drippy nose and watery eyes, you get every spring, or if you're wondering why whenever you go to your cat-loving friend you get a stuffy nose and headache, you can get answers. You can also find out if you really have allergies before you spend money on an allergist.
Limitations: There is a wide range of possible allergens, and the kit only tests for the 10 most common allergens.

The Test: urinary Infection Kit, including "AZO Test" by Amerefit and "Reveal" reveal, FDA cleared
Cost: $10-20, depending on the product. Available on CVS, Wal-Mart, target, Walgreens and other pharmacies
How it works: dip a strip in a sample of urine or urinating on the band. Read the results of 1 to 2 minutes. Test determines that there is nitrite and leukocytes (white blood cells) in the urine, which may be present when you have a urinary tract infection.
Advantages: Can be useful in determining if your urinary tract infection responds to medications you have been prescribed, or for early detection of infections of the urinary tract if you get frequent and work with a doctor to treat.
Limits: In certain circumstances, you can have a negative result even if you have a urinary tract infection. Negative results in the presence of symptoms of a urinary tract infection may also indicate a more serious problem such as kidney stones or a tumor.

The Test: Male fertility Test, "SpermCheckFertility" by Fairhaven health
Cost: $40, available at Walgreens and CVS, will be available in pharmacies from April
How it works: combine a sample of semen with the solution in a bottle, and then put the drops of the mixture on a test strip. The test for the number of sperm with a result "positive" or normal or a number of sperm "negative" or displayed low in about 10 minutes.
Advantages: while the male factors contributing to sterility problems most of the time, many men fail to request medical tests because of the embarrassment. Testing at home for normal sperm or abnormal County may exclude an aspect of infertility.
Limitations: while the number of sperm is an important indicator of male fertility, motility and viability of sperm is also important, who does the test measure.

TIPS FOR HOME OF MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS
It is important to use test kits medical home properly and safely. Here are some tips from the U.S. Public Health Service and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA):

Buy your good reputation or the pharmacy pharmacy test kit so that you know that the kit has been cleared by the FDA. Some online sites sell test kits that are not approved, which are not exact.
Check the expiration date on the home test kit package before use and do not use it if it has expired.
Store your kit to test properly according to the instructions; exposure to extreme conditions may cause deterioration of the product.
Understand what the test is supposed to do and does not want to; the tests are not always 100% accurate.
Read the inspection instructions carefully before using the kit. Be aware of special instructions, like avoiding certain foods before the test or the use of your first urine of the morning for the test.
If you do not understand how to use the kit, call 800 on the packaging or ask your pharmacist or health care provider.
Follow the instructions exactly; do not skip steps.
Use a precise timing for tests requiring synchronization.
Report positive results to your health care provider and ask for follow-up advice.
If the results are negative and you still have symptoms or concerns, check with your health care provider. MS. & F

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