#diagnostic tests

two whumpee lab rats plus whumper doctor (+ attendings)

towards the start of the story I want my whumper to do a couple tests or whatever to get an 'overview' of his whumpees

what sort of things would that involve? obv weight, blood tests, the normal checkup stuff but in terms of tests, procedures etc? i basically want him to do everything necessarily to get a fully comprehensive understanding of his lab rats' bodies and health

so far i've got MRI, CT scans maybe? but what else? any level of invasive/lowk uncessary is fine, bro's insane anyway

thx

Oh I'm getting flashbacks to learning how to assess patients... Buckle up, there's a lot here.

Vital signs:

Temperature

Heart rate

Respiratory rate

Blood pressure

Oxygen saturation

Pain level (1-10/10)

Full assessment:

Height and weight

Typical diet

This head to toe assessment

Blood tests:

Complete blood count: measures the amounts of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, hemoglobin, and hematocrit in the blood

Comprehensive metabolic panel: measure the amounts of glucose; electrolytes; blood urea nitrogen and creatinine (indicate kidney function); albumin and blood proteins; and alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and bilirubin (indicate liver function) in the blood

Lipid panel: measure total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides

Arterial blood gases: test for specific concentrations of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and acids and bases in the arterial blood

Coagulation studies: test how well the blood clots

Thyroid panel: tests for the hormones produced by the thyroid gland

Cardiac biomarkers: tests for indicators of heart damage

DHEA-sulfate serum test: tests for adequacy of the adrenal glands (which regulate blood sugar, fluid balance, and sex hormones)

C-reactive protein: tests for an indicator of inflammation.

Human chorionic gonadotropin: a pregnancy test.

Prostate-specific antigen test: tests for an indicator of prostate cancer

Specific infection tests: test for viruses and certain bacterial infections

Miscellaneous noninvasive tests:

Electrocardiogram: measures the electrical activity of the heart

Electroencephalogram: measures the electrical activity of the brain

Tonometry: measures the pressure inside the eye using a sensor that rests on the surface of the eye

Exercise test: measures heart and lung function during physical exertion

Pulmonary function testing: measures the function of the lungs by having the patient inhale or exhale through various devices

Fecal occult blood test: test for small amounts of blood in feces

Urinalysis: measures the acidity; specific gravity; and levels of bilirubin, blood, glucose, ketones, leukocyte esterase, nitrates, and protein in the urine

Imaging tests:

X-ray: visualize the shape and integrity of bones.

Chest x-ray: used to visualize the heart, lungs, and other structures in the chest. This does not provide a very comprehensive image (except of the lungs), so other imaging tests are required for further evaluation.

Fluoroscopy: uses multiple x-rays images to basically create a stop-motion film of the movement of internal body structures.

Ultrasound: uses sound waves to visualize body structures. Can detect structural anomalies like enlargement or masses, but these require further evaluation with other imaging tests. These can also be used to understand blood flow through the heart (echocardiogram) and major arteries.

Mammogram: visualizes the inner breast tissues with multiple x-rays from different angles.

MRI: visualizes internal structures.

CT scan: basically does the same as an MRI, but is more detailed; may or may not use IV radiographic contrast dye to create a better image.

PET scan: uses a radiographic contrast dye to detect abnormalities in body cells. Abnormal cells pick up more dye than healthy cells; usually used to diagnose malignant tumors.

DEXA scan: uses a type of x-ray to measure bone density.

Invasive tests:

Scratch test: test for allergies by placing drops of distilled allergens on the skin and scratching the skin under them to observe for an allergic response

Tuberculosis skin test: tests for tuberculosis by injecting a small amount of purified tuberculosis protein under the skin and observing for an immune response

Electromyography: measures nerve conduction to muscles using needle electrodes inserted into the muscles being studied.

Endoscopy: a flexible fiber optic camera that can be inserted into pretty much any hole in the body, including the nose and mouth; esophagus, stomach, and intestines; pancreatic and gallbladder ducts; trachea, bronchi, and mediastinum; rectum and large intestine; urethra, bladder, and ureters; and vagina, uterus, and fallopian tubes.

Fluorescein angiography: uses a contrast dye to visualize the blood vessels in the retina. The dye in injected through a vein in the arm.

Myelogram: uses a contrast dye injected into the fluid-filled membrane that surrounds the spinal cord to detect abnormalities in the spinal cord.

Voiding cystourethrogram: uses a contrast dye instilled in the bladder through the urethra to visualize the flow of urine through the urinary tract.

Hysterosalpingogram: uses a contrast dye instilled into the uterus through the vagina to visualize the structure of the uterus and fallopian tubes.

Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography: uses a contrast dye injected directed into the liver to enhance x-ray images of the liver and identify blockages.

Lumbar puncture: obtains a sample of cerebrospinal fluid for analysis by inserting a needle into the fluid-filled membrane that surrounds the spinal cord.

Cardiac catheterization: measures heart function using a thin catheter inserted through a leg artery and guided to the coronary arteries (arteries that surround the heart)

Pap smear: takes a sample of the cervical tissue to test for cancer

Thoracentesis: uses a needle to obtain a sample of fluid from the pleural sac (membrane that surrounds the lung)

Paracentesis: uses a needle to obtain a sample of fluid from the peritoneum (membrane that surrounds the abdominal organs)

Pericardiocentesis: uses a needle to obtain a sample of fluid from the pericardial sac (sac that surrounds the heart)

Cultures:

Test for bacteria, fungus, and other pathogens in the blood, urine, throat secretions, mucus/sputum, cerebrospinal fluid, pleural fluid, peritoneal fluid, pericardial fluid, synovial fluid (surrounds the large joints), vaginal secretions, semen, feces, and almost any other body fluid/secretion

Biopsies:

A sample of a body tissue taken for analysis. Tissues include the liver, skin, bone marrow, prostate, cervix, endometrium, breast, or any other soft tissue.

I put together a list of pros and cons that I could think of when I first saw this. If you’re in New England, I would highly recommend learning solutions, since that was the place I went to. They were AMAZING. If it wasn’t for the fact that they actually cared, I wouldn’t have gotten my diagnosis because I’ve learned to cope a little too well on my own and it masked every problem I claimed to have on the paperwork. I don’t know if LS is in other parts of the country.

None of this information is meant to scare you, I wanted to be 100% real with every aspect of the testing, from my own experience. Other can feel free to chip in if they have additional information!

Pros:

• Access to academic accommodations.

• Access to workplace accommodations.

• Access to federal help like Occupational therapy, psych therapy (if you don’t have coverage already), scholarships, etc.

• Support from family and friends.

• Self-reassurance that you are indeed autistic and not making it up.

• If you have another condition beside autism, it may be diagnosed as well.

Cons:

• You may not get a diagnosis the first time. Or you can get misdiagnosed.

• It’s expensive. Most insurance doesn’t cover every test needed to get a diagnosis. As an estimate, my testing and visits ended up being a little over 3k.

• It’s time consuming. Getting in for your first appointment can take months to a year, and the testing itself usually takes a few more months on top of that. Each visit is multiple hours long.

• A diagnosis comes with a level of bias from the general public that you’ll have to advocate against.

I would like to caution heavily against relying on quizzes or checklists to try to diagnose autism. 

A quiz or checklist can provide a general sense of whether or not there’s a chance you’re on the spectrum, however, these quizzes are neither sufficient to determine autism nor reliable. 

Many of these tools simply do not go in-depth enough to get enough information about a person to even start to guess if they may be autistic.  Even for those that ask a lot of questions, many of the questions are repeated and a large number rely on stereotypes. 

If you are looking to self-diagnose, it’s ok to use these quizzes as a first stepping stone, but these should never be used as the basis for a self-diagnosis. It is so important to learn extensively about autism and understand the diagnostic criteria to know whether or not you are actually autistic. 

If you are interested in pursuing a self-diagnosis, I recommend starting here. 

I know it’s so tempting to just want to find something that will give you a quick yes or no, but knowledge and understanding of self (what a self-diagnosis really is) are not that easily found. 

-Sabrina

The AQ is a freely available self-report schedule. It is used alone as a pre-screening schedule but it can also be used in conjunction with other schedules like the RAADS-R, DISCO, and generalized schedules like the MMPI.

It is important to note that schedules like the AQ and the RAADS-R absolutely are intended to be self-report. The scoring of these schedules is also standard, and there is no reason why a computer can’t do it - in fact, most professionals rely on computer scoring.

You can, however, get these scores for free because they are standardized and well known.

So why self-report tests in a professional setting? Because no single test will ever tell you if you are autistic. They are used in conjunction with other tests, and what professionals are good at is identifying consistencies and discrepancies in your scores that allow them to:

1.) confirm a diagnosis

2.) rule out a diagnoses

3.) identify comorbidities

4.) identify fraudulent answers

Taking the self-report tests online is fine as long as you understand that what you are looking at is only one small clue in a broader mystery and that no single test is going to confirm anything.

That said, paying for these tests online as individual tests is… not fraudulent per se, but absolutely skeezy at the very least because accurate versions are abundantly available for free.

These are the ones that I prefer: http://aspietests.org/index.php

Note that these are only some of the tests that might be given by a clinician, and that the actual tests they give you can vary widely based on your developmental history interview.

Where tests differ between minors and adults, these tests will be for adults. These are also versions of the tests that can accurately diagnose non-male phenotypes of autism, but that doing so also requires knowledge by a clinician on how to interpret social-emotion reciprocation deficits in those phenotypes.

Put another way, the “female” phenotype of autism still meets the same criteria as the “male” phenotype, but what changes is how it meets those criteria. The self-report tests still accurately calculate for men or women, but it is the interpretation of those results by the clinician that messes up whether or not a person is autistic.

Part of this includes interpreting the empathy and emotional clinical observation tests and the emotional and empathy self-report tests.

Point of this… Avoid paying. Its probably a scam. No one test will tell you anything. It doesn’t matter if you are a boy or a girl because criteria don’t change, only how you get there changes. Taking multiple self-report tests in which are taken in good faith with exaggeration will give you a fairly reasonable baseline, but cannot diagnose autism because clinical observational testing is still required to compare to the results of self-report tests.

Many people visit a doctor only when symptoms appear. However, preventive healthcare focuses on identifying health issues before they become serious. Regular health checkups play a crucial role in maintaining long-term wellness and reducing disease risks.

At Apple Diagnostics, preventive screening programs help individuals stay informed about their health status and take proactive steps toward healthier living.

Why Are Health Checkups Important?

Many conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and certain cancers can develop without obvious symptoms. Routine screenings help detect these issues early.

Recommended Health Checkup Frequency

Ages 20–39 General health assessment every 2–3 years, depending on risk factors.

2. Ages 40–59 Annual health checkups are generally recommended.

3. Ages 60 and Above Comprehensive health screening should be performed annually or as advised by a physician.

Common Tests Included

Complete Blood Count (CBC)

Blood Sugar Testing

Lipid Profile

Liver Function Test

Kidney Function Test

Thyroid Function Test

Blood Pressure Assessment

Benefits of Preventive Screening

Early disease detection

Better treatment outcomes

Improved quality of life

Lower healthcare expenses over time

Final Thoughts

Regular health checkups are an investment in your future well-being. Apple Diagnostics offers comprehensive full body health checkup packages designed to support preventive healthcare and early diagnosis.

Overview of Veracyte and Its Recent Developments Veracyte, Inc. is a pivotal player in the biotechnology sector, focusing its efforts on the discovery and commercialization of diagnostic solutions for cancer and other diseases. The company leverages a unique business model that emphasizes genomic diagnostics, facilitating precise diagnosis and informed treatment decisions for patients and…