Why lab work is important

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You may be asked to undergo blood work on the first or subsequent visits. If you cannot recall why you were asked to do this, please refer to several reasons below. Keep in mind these are only a couple examples, call me at the clinic if you need further explanation.
- certain medications increase your risk of weight gain, diabetes, rise in cholesterol values, etc. It does not mean that this will happen to you, but it means that it is possible. We monitor above mentioned values, as well as others, to hopefully catch changes in time to be able to decrease your risk or minimize consequences.
- sometimes the way you feel may be influenced not only by your mental health status, but also by physiological processes in your body. For instance, some people suffering from depression complain of fatigue, but fatigue could also be caused by low red blood cells. Other conditions, such as vitamin D levels, thyroid health or metabolic disturbances may contribute to the way you feel.
- some medications require periodical level checks, that is, we need to make sure that the levels of medication in your blood are just right, not too low, not too high. For that reason, we check the levels couple of times after starting medication, after adjusting the dosages and periodically afterwards.
As always, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to call me!

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