Marijuana and blood tests are a question that a lot of people have, and usually, it’s something that a lot of people worry about. Here’s what you need to know abut it.
All about Blood Tests
When you go in to get a blood test, they’re not looking for every compound, usually, they’re looking for certain aspects of something that’s found in a blood test based on the symptoms that you provide. Since every single blood test is ran as its own thing, it requires different samples, and money, and it wouldn’t be logical for the outcome to be different, since only a few symptoms are looked for. It may show that you have symptoms, but unless you explicitly tell the doctor, they’re not going to test for marijuana. However, for drug tests, they look for all drugs, which is what marijuana will be classified under.
Types of blood tests
There are different types of blood tests, which look at different things. Complete blood panels look for red and white blood cells, but also hemoglobin, your hematocrit, which is the red blood cell space and mentions anemia, your platelets to look at clotting, and the mean cell volume which is the size of your cells to give you information on the anemia type that may be there.
There are also basic metabolic panel which looks at blood sugar, organ functions, and electrolytes to look at how the body is functioning. A complete metabolic panel does include the same testing the blood metabolic panel gets, but it also looks at the liver functions too.
Thyroid functions are another one, to see if you have an overactive or underactive thyroid, and also to look at protein deficiencies, thyroid disorders, or abnormal estrogen and testosterone types of levels. There are also blood enzyme tests which is something that’s done for those who have a heart attack. Finally, you may get a lipid panel to look at the cholesterol levels, and also look at the risk that you may have for heart conditions as well.
So which ones detect Marijuana?
If you’re curious about whether or not your blood test will detect you marijuana, there are of course, tests that are done in addiction and psychiatric centers, since this of course may interfere with recovery, or with medications. Some of the workplaces that you have may ask for you to take a drug tests.
If there is a marijuana test done, they’re usually looking for metabolites of the THC compound, which is responsible for this. It usually is based on broader drug testing panels, since marijuana use is usually found up to seven days in people, but for those who use it chronically, they can show up for up to a month, sometimes more.
Most of the time though, when you go in for a doctor’s appointment, the doctor is not going to test for cannabis. Unless you’re experiencing various symptoms because of cannabis use, usually they don’t care, but you’ll be informed of this long before you take the test. If you do test for cannabis, the result of the positivity does depend on the cannabis that you use, the types of products that are consumed, how many times you use it, and the last instance of you taking this.
Overall though, most places do not test for this, so it’s important to remember this when you’re looking to get tested for marijuana use, and also to look at the different factors of each, in order to see if you’re potentially at risk for marijuana to show.
No comments:
Post a Comment