Lab tests are an integral part of life with arthritis. Learn exactly what your doctor is looking for when he orders a vial of blood or draws fluid form an inflamed knee.
More than for most other diseases, the diagnosis and treatment of arthritis requires a hands-on approach. By examining your tender joints and muscles and listening to your description of your symptoms and their severity, a doctor can usually get a pretty good idea of what is going on inside your body.
But there are times when a doctor needs information that only a laboratory examination of bodily fluids and tissues can reveal. When he needs to confirm a diagnosis, monitor disease progress or medications effectiveness, or determine if the drugs you're taking are causing potentially dangerous - but not evident - side effects, lab tests are in order.
Click here to read about common lab tests.
