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Accuracy of blood tests?

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adam84525
adam84525

I've been ill a lot since Xmas with cold and flu symptoms... chesty cough with and without mucus, achey, temperature, night sweats etc. It got me worried there may be a serious underlying condition, I suffer with health anxiety anyway. I had a blood test 5 months ago which was normal and after going to the doctors had another last week which again came back normal. I felt better over the weekend but got another cold / coughon Monday, feeling better today but I've had bad night sweats. My doctor said it's likely that I'm just getting recurrent viral infections and that there's a lot of it going around. Basically should I trust the doctor and the blood tests? I know I should but I've never been this under the weather for this amount of time. I think I've had 3 viruses since Xmas. I'm 29 male non smoker.

0 likes, 8 replies

8 Replies

  • rocky31676
    rocky31676 adam84525

    Posted

    Cold and flu inefections does not mean that FBC will become abnormal. 

    They will still cause symptoms of fever, cough.....

    • adam84525
      adam84525 rocky31676

      Posted

      Thanks for your response Rocky, what I was asking though is if there was an underlying condition it would have come up on the blood test, right? I'm just anxious that's all.

    • rocky31676
      rocky31676 adam84525

      Posted

      Not all underlying conditions show up in FBC. Examples include autoimmune disorders, infectious conditions of viruses, bacteria, etc. For these you need to have special serological/PCR tests done. 
    • adam84525
      adam84525 rocky31676

      Posted

      But if there was anything wrong with my blood such as a serious blood disease this would have shown up? These recurring infections are new to me that's all. Maybe I'm just run down and there's a lot of it going around. Thanks again for your help smile

    • rocky31676
      rocky31676 adam84525

      Posted

      yes, definitely hematological (blood) disorders will show up with full blood count and differentials. 
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