Rehab Medical

Health information

Lab orders

A test is only worth doing if its result would change something. That is the whole rule, and it is why we ask what you are worried about before we tick anything. We order the panel that answers your question, explain what the numbers mean in your context rather than against a printed range, and tell you plainly when a mildly abnormal figure means nothing at all — which, for a lot of the values people arrive alarmed about, it does.

When it cannot wait

Signs that mean today

These are not reasons to book an appointment. They are reasons to be seen now, or to call an ambulance on 123.

  • A result flagged critical by the lab — very high potassium, very low haemoglobin, very high glucose — is acted on the same day. If a lab calls you directly, do not wait for your appointment.
  • Chest pain, breathlessness or fainting while you are waiting for results — go to an emergency department; the result will follow you there.
  • Yellow eyes or skin, dark urine, or confusion with abnormal liver tests.
  • Fever with a very low white cell count, especially if you are on chemotherapy or an immune-suppressing drug — that is an emergency.

When to book

Reasons to be seen

  • You have a result you do not understand, from anywhere. Bring it — interpreting someone else's lab report is a normal part of the job.
  • You have symptoms — tiredness, weight change, thirst, palpitations — and want to know which tests are the right ones rather than ordering a panel yourself.
  • You have never been tested for hepatitis C or B. Both are simple blood tests, and hepatitis C is now curable with a short course of tablets.
  • A doctor asked for tests and you would rather have the blood taken and the result explained in one place.

Published data

Lab orders in Egypt

15.5%
of Egyptian adults have raised blood glucoseRaised blood glucose has no symptoms for years. A single blood test finds it, and finding it early is what keeps eyes, kidneys and feet intact.Source: Egypt STEPS survey, ages 15–69 (WHO, Ministry of Health and Population, CAPMAS), 2017
87% / 93%
of Egyptians with hepatitis C were diagnosed, and 93% of those were treatedEgypt was the first country in the world to reach WHO's gold tier on the path to eliminating hepatitis C. It is the clearest proof available that screening a whole population actually works.Source: World Health Organization, 2023

What a visit looks like

What a visit for this involves

  • 25–30 minutesClinic visitAt the clinic, unhurried
  • 20 minutesVideo consultationFrom anywhere in Egypt
  • 15 minutesFollow-upAfter a recent visit, same complaint

In the room

What the doctor checks

  1. The question first: what are we trying to find or rule out? Every test on the form should trace back to it.
  2. How to prepare — fasting, timing of the sample, which medicines to take or hold that morning. Getting this wrong is the commonest reason a test has to be repeated.
  3. The result explained against your own history and your previous values — a trend, not a verdict against a printed reference range.
  4. A decision written down: what changes, what is repeated and when, and what needs nothing at all.

Come prepared

What to bring

  • Previous results, in date order if you can — the same number a year apart tells a story a single reading cannot.
  • Every supplement and vitamin you take. Biotin, in particular, distorts thyroid and cardiac blood tests badly.
  • The referral or request form, if another doctor sent you.

Next step

Tell us what's happening and we'll arrange the right kind of visit.

Message the clinic on WhatsApp. We reply with the times that are free and what the visit costs, before you agree to anything.

Book on WhatsApp

At home

Between visits

  • Do not interpret your own report against the lab's reference range alone. Those ranges are population statistics, not a definition of health, and about one healthy person in twenty falls outside one of them by chance.
  • Keep every result, dated, in one folder or one photo album on your phone. It is the cheapest medical record there is.
  • If a repeat was scheduled, keep it even when you feel better. The follow-up test is often the one that mattered.

Before you write

Questions patients ask

Written and clinically reviewed by Dr. Rehab Ahmed, MBBCh, Ain Shams University · Diploma in Family Medicine. Last reviewed August 2026.

What this page is based on

This page is general information written by the practice. It is not a diagnosis and does not replace seeing a doctor. In an emergency, call 123.

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