Hey everybody,

While I know that I have many juicing fanatics out there, as YOU know, I get inundated with other questions about natural health and I have a back-log of them, so I’ll be covering a few in detail in the next couple weeks.  The latest question was regarding CBC Tests, what they are and how to use them.

One of the most common types of medical tests currently used to determine if you are sick, experiencing trouble, healthy or to better pinpoint a current complaint or medical finding is a blood test known as a Complete Blood Count, or more commonly, CBC, its acronym.

Humans could not survive without blood flowing from top to bottom within our bodies. Thus, it makes sense it is one of the first places to look when determining diagnosis. Doctors often shout for a CBC blood test in television dramas these days, but in reality, it is a vital step in knowing what’s right and what’s wrong with you, internally.

CBC Blood Tests can be ordered by your physician simply when you are not feeling well, fatigued, or even if you simply have a common cold. You need not be in the jaws of death, nor lying in an emergency room bay to have a CBC ordered.

But, that said, every year when you visit your doctor, physician or alternative practitioner for your annual check-up and yearly physical exam, if your doctor does not order a CBC Blood Test, you should ask for one. It is the cheapest, easiest, perhaps life-saving thing you can do and should do at least once a year.

Your complete blood count test represents your overall health and if there is something to worry about, odds are great clues will be found within your blood and its makeup. Not always, but more often enough. A number of determining factors are examined in CBC Blood Tests: white and red blood cell counts or levels, the HCT (or Hematocrit, which basically determines the volume of space which your blood occupies), Hgb (or Hemoglobin which accounts for the oxygen within your blood cells), and platelet count which determines your blood’s ability to clot.

Too many of one, or too few of another element of your blood, depending on those numbers can be a “red-flag” that alerts your medical team to what’s really going on. While the diagnosis variations can be vast and cover a wide spectrum, having a CBC Blood Test at least per year, when you next visit your doctor if you have not recently had one, can provide you answers to many questions about your internal and external health, that physical touch, listening to your heart, checking your breathing and opening your mouth and saying, “Ahhhh,” just can’t do.

CBC (Complete Blood Count) Tests can give you specific answers to why you are fatigued, not feeling “normal”, bruising more often than normal, having chest pains, have an infection, are showing allergic reactions, plus a slew of other possibilities. But, perhaps even more important, such blood tests allow you the pure, possibly life-saving, longevity stretching benefit of catching early warning signs of potential hazardous and life threatening trouble if ignored. Make a note now for you and those you love to regularly (at least once a year) take part in a CBC Blood Test. It may save your life, but even if nothing is terribly wrong, it’s a simple way to increase the quality of your life.

So there you have it in a nut shell, more answers to your questions will follow.  Take care,

Big Joe