As a TLC Surgery patient, you will need to have some labs drawn. Once your blood is tested, you’ll receive a copy of your lab report, and you might be wondering what it all means.

It’s always our priority to help our patients take an active role in their own healthcare, as this is an essential aspect of overall health and the journey to living a more health-conscious life.

Hopefully, this post will help you make sense of your labs and what you can learn from them.

How Often Should I Have Labs Drawn?

We require lab results before bariatric surgery, and post-surgical patients need to have them drawn 3, 6, and 9 months after surgery. We also recommend annual lab work after that.

How Do I Prepare for Lab Work?

There is not much you need to do before having your blood drawn, but there are steps you can take to ensure the most accurate and helpful results. We request that all patients fast for 6-8 hours prior to having their labs taken. You should also stop taking vitamins for 24 hours before testing. Food, caffeine, and some vitamins can skew lab results.

How to Read Your Lab Report

After your blood is drawn and tested, you’ll receive a copy of your lab report. But what does this all mean? What are the important values, and what are they testing?

The first thing you should know is that test values in the “normal” range are appropriate for bariatric patients. That said, you should also know that values that are lower or higher than normal don’t necessarily mean you are sick or in a health crisis. These may just be indicators that there are certain diet modifications you need to make or parts of your body that need closer monitoring.

Here are some of the elements of our lab results that you might like some help decoding:

Complete Metabolic Panel: This tests your body’s glucose levels, electrolyte balance, fluid levels, and the function of your kidneys and liver.

CBC: This is your complete blood count. This measures the key components of the blood, like red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Protein, hemoglobin, and plasma ratios are also tested here. High or low values here may point to an infection or a medical condition.

Lipid Panel: The lipid panel tests levels of triglycerides (fats) and cholesterol in the blood.

Vitamins and Minerals: Low values for iron, B12, B1, Vitamin A, and Vitamin D may all signify that your body isn’t getting the nutrition it needs. If this is the case, we may set up a meeting with your dietician so that you can make appropriate adjustments.

Hemoglobin A1C: This test shows your blood sugar level, which is important for many of our patients who have diabetes.

Prealbumin: Prealbumin is another nutritional marker.

Contact TLC Surgery

If you have recently undergone lab work and would like more help understanding your results, we are happy to assist you. To learn more about this and other health indicators for bariatric patients, please contact us.