Test for Arthritis: Tips on How to Diagnose Arthritis

It is important that a blood test for arthritis be done for a patient who is experiencing the classic signs and symptoms of the disease. Not only will this help provide a conclusive diagnostic for the individual but also make way for the proper management of arthritis. This disease is disabling and painful, timely treatment and accurate diagnosis is important to ensure that the affected person continues to live actively and fruitfully.

 

Test For Arthritis – The Tests

 

Laboratory blood tests are vital tools for diagnosis used by every reliable physician who only wants the best for his patients. They may not be conclusive when taken on their own but with other test, they become definitive. Apart from the tests, a complete history of the patient’s medical illnesses and clinical picture should also be obtained in order to ensure that all bases are covered in the diagnosis.

 

The complete blood count is a test designed to count the red, white and platelets of the blood. This is fairly quick and easy to do and can greatly help in detecting abnormalities within a person’s body. An accurately done blood test for arthritis will start with this.

 

The white blood cells are for protection of harmful invaders of the body. Since arthritis have been proven to be an autoimmune disease in most cases, increased level of the white blood cells can indicate inflammation and infection which are also another symptoms of arthritis. Normally, the white blood cells should have a count of 5,000 to 10,000 in the body although such conditions like exercise, cold and stress may cause a temporary shoot up of their levels.

 

The normal count for red cells in the body depends largely on the gender of the individual being tested. Males should have around 5 to 6 million per microliter while females should approximately be in the vicinity of 3.6 to 5.6 million per microliter. Hemoglobin on the other hand, is 13 to 18 g/dl for the males and 12 to 16 g/dl for the females.

 

The process of inflammation affects the results of the blood test for arthritis since it can cause changes in the blood count of both the red and the white cells. The red cells may increase in number, the white cells may also elevate in count as well as the platelets. Anemia is a possible symptom of inflammatory arthritis although it is important that all other possibilities are ruled out by the attending physician.

 

Test For Arthritis – Conclusions

 

Apart from the blood test, there are also chemistry panels that can be done to test for substances associated with arthritis. Rheumatoid Factor is a known antibody that is found in elevated amounts in arthritic patients. This was discovered back in 1940 and has long been used as a vital diagnostic tool for several kinds of arthritis. The higher the rheumatoid factor or rf content of the body, the more worst the scenario is although such substance can take so long before it fully manifests itself in the blood.

 

There are several more laboratory experiments and at least one other definitive test for arthritis available out there but the above mentioned are the most commonly known.

 

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