What Is Biomarker Testing and How It Can Improve Your Health?

Have you begun to suspect that there’s something not quite right about your health? Maybe you’ve noticed suspicious symptoms, or you think you’ve been in close contact with an infected person.

You need answers quickly. And you can’t go to your family physician or the company doctor. You want a reliable alternative that will keep your personal affairs secret.

Fortunately, there’s a procedure called biomarker testing to turn to when both privacy and speed count. For example, you can receive an instant diabetes test. Find out what biomarkers are and how testing can finally put your worried mind at ease.

What Are Biomarkers?

Biomarkers are simply medical signs of the state of your health. They come in many forms. For example, the more well-known variety includes such routine measurements as blood pressure and heart rate.

However, often today, when people speak of biomarkers, they’re referring to biomarkers at the molecular level, such as those found in blood tests. Biomarkers give indications of what is occurring in a cell. Researchers can compare your cell activity with that of a typically healthy person.

How Are Biomarkers Used?

Biomarkers are objective indications. That is, they aren’t influenced by mood or opinion, as are the symptoms reported by patients.

A doctor has to consider the limited medical understanding of average patients and their tendency to over or understate how they feel. In contrast, biomarkers give medical personnel solid facts on which to base their assessments.

There are various biomarker tests and uses such as the following:

• Screening_ Determine the presence of a disease or the likelihood of it developing. Example: prostate cancer
• Personal Risk_ Indicate a person’s health risks or predisposition toward developing a particular disease. Example: cervical cancer
• Diagnosis_ Diagnose diseases. Example: congestive heart failure
• Prognostic_ Project the likely progress of a disease. Example: the return of cancer
• Monitoring_ Gauge the effect of treatment. Example: the effect of antiretroviral treatment for HIV
• Safety_ Help researchers assess adverse outcomes to treatments. Example: the safety of an experimental drug for pregnant women

The Advantage of Biomarker Testing

The use of biomarkers has made the practice of medicine faster and more accurate. People can become aware of their propensity to develop a condition and adjust their lifestyles accordingly.

For example, knowing that you’re prone to becoming diabetic can change how you approach your daily life. You could alter your eating, drinking, and exercise habits at a young age to lessen your chances of ever needing insulin and dialysis treatments.

The adjustments may profoundly impact your education, career, and family choices. In other words, biomarkers could change the entire trajectory of your life. 

Let’s take a close look at biomarker testing for diabetes and sexually transmitted illnesses (STIs).

Instant Diabetes Test

Have you been feeling exhausted? Are you experiencing ongoing thirst and an increase in urination? Have you had periods of unexplained blurry vision and unplanned weight loss? If so, you may want to consider having your blood checked for biomarkers of diabetes.

Diabetes strikes every race, age, and body size. The most common form of diabetes is called type 2. It differs from type 1 in that type 2 sufferers can produce insulin while type 1 patients cannot.

Insulin is a hormone that helps glucose move from the bloodstream to individual cells, which need it for energy. People with type 2 diabetes have insulin, but their bodies fail to get the most use from it.

Preparation for Diabetes Testing

You’ll receive instructions to follow before your testing. It’s not uncommon to observe a brief fasting period of around eight hours before a blood glucose test.

An eight-hour fast presents little challenge to most people, especially when the test takes place early in the morning. After all, most people spend 7-8 hours asleep overnight when their bodies are naturally fasting.

A healthy glucose reading is under 5.6 mmol/L. The prediabetes range is from 5.6 mmol/L to 6.9 mmol/L. And the threshold for diabetes is 7 mmol/L or higher.

Receiving and Understanding Your Diabetes Test Results

You can have results within an hour. You’ll know whether your test indicates that you fit the pattern of someone with diabetes or not. If it appears that you do, a follow-up test is recommended.

The initial test will focus on your blood sugar level. It could be higher than it should be but still not high enough to be in the category of type 2 diabetes. If so, a doctor might describe you as prediabetic.

If you have prediabetes, you’re at a higher risk than the average person of developing type 2 diabetes. But having prediabetes doesn’t mean that you will automatically develop diabetes.

It’s important to remember that the illness is treatable if you make an overall plan to improve your health. Healthy food and regular exercise are the cornerstones of a beneficial approach to dealing with diabetes.

Sexual Health Test

Did you know that some STIs don’t present early symptoms? For example, it’s possible to have chlamydia for a long period without seeing any physical signs. That means your partner could unknowingly pass it on to you while asymptomatic.

But chlamydia isn’t the only STI that’s initially silent. Other STIs, such as gonorrhoea, also fail to show symptoms in the early stages.

You don’t want to take your sexual health for granted when you may have been exposed to a silent STI. A test can put your mind at ease.

It’s best to opt for a blood test rather than a urine test or swab. The results are more conclusive.

At London Blood Tests, you have the option to choose which level of blood test you want. The basic model tests for chlamydia and gonorrhoea.

The premium choice looks for signs of not only chlamydia and gonorrhoea but also trichomoniasis, hepatitis B, HIV, and syphilis. And the advanced test covers everything that the premium includes and adds HSV I and II, Gardnerella, mycoplasma, and ureaplasma.

The test uses only 3ml of blood taken from your arm on the inside of the elbow. We can perform the blood withdrawal at our location or discreetly at your home or hotel room. 

Arrange Now For Your Instant Diabetes Test or Other Biomarker Testing

Don’t let another day pass without scheduling time for biomarker testing, such as an instant diabetes test. Within 24 hours, you could have the answer to the question that’s been troubling you for days, maybe weeks, or even months. Put yourself back in the driver’s seat of your health by booking your appointment today with the London Blood Tests location nearest you.