Gretna Medical Center
315 Westbank Expressway
Gretna, LA 70053
Phone:(504) 364-1844
RSV Testing in New Orleans
What’s an RSV test?
The respiratory syncytial virus is referred to as RSV. The respiratory tract is affected by the virus. Your nose, lungs, and throat are all respiratory system components. RSV testing examines a drop of nasal fluid to determine whether the RSV virus is the source of respiratory infection symptoms. Our facility can test adults and children for RSV. We serve the New Orleans and Westbank area of Louisiana.
RSV is highly infectious, making it simple for viruses to pass from one person to another. It is also fairly normal.
RSV typically affects children by the age of 2. RSV typically results in minor symptoms similar to a cold. However, the virus may cause severe breathing difficulties, particularly in a few specific populations, such as:
- Infants, particularly those aged under six months
- Elderly folks, particularly those over 65
- Individuals with lung or heart conditions
- People whose immune systems are weakened
Most of the time, two types of tests are used to find RSV infections:
- Most people get tested for RSV with rapid RSV antigen tests. They look for specific proteins from the RSV virus known as antigens in a sample of nasal fluid. Your immune system fights the virus as a result of RSV antigens. In less than an hour, rapid antigen testing can produce results.
- Molecular tests called RT-PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests check for RSV virus DNA in your sample. These tests can detect smaller quantities of the virus than antigen testing. Hence, RT-PCR testing may be applied to older children and adults with lower virus levels inside their noses than newborns and younger children.
Most of the time, samples will be sent to a testing lab. Your doctor may often request a molecular test called a respiratory pathogens panel. This test helped us identify RSV, other respiratory viruses, and bacterial diseases.
Additional names for this test include respiratory syncytial antibody test and RSV rapid detection.
What does it do?
RSV testing is generally used on newborns, elderly individuals, and those with weak immune systems to determine if RSV is the source of mild to severe cold symptoms. People with minor symptoms might be tested to monitor the virus’s spread.
Reports of RSV infections are more frequent during the “RSV season,” when the test is typically conducted. In the US, the RSV season normally occurs in the middle of fall and lasts until the beginning of spring, though it might vary depending on location.
Why do I need to be tested for RSV?
Adults and older children who are healthy normally do not need any RSV testing. Most people who become infected with RSV only have very mild symptoms, including sneezing, runny nose, and headaches. However, if a baby, young child, or someone over the age of 65 exhibits signs of a severe or serious infection, an RSV test may be required. These things are:
- Fever
- Wheezing
- Severe cough
- Having trouble breathing or breathing faster than usual
- The color of the skin is blue
RSV’s only signs in babies younger than six months old may be:
- Getting angry or grumpy
- Not moving as much as usual
- Having no appetite
- Inhale and exhale pauses
What happens throughout an RSV test?
A swab of liquid from your nose is used to test for RSV. Different ways can be used to get the sample:
Rinse or blow your nose. Most of the time, this is how a sample for testing RSV is taken. To do a nasal aspirate, a doctor or nurse will put a saline solution (salt water) inside your nose and then gently suction it out.
- For nasal aspirate or wash, a doctor or nurse will put a saline solution (salt water) inside your nose and gently suction it out.
- Nasal swab test. Your nose will be sampled by a medical professional using a particular swab.
Samples for RSV testing must be taken within a few days after the initial signs of illness. This is due to the fact that the virus’s amount in your nose drops with time, possibly reducing the accuracy of test results.
You can buy test kits to use at home without needing a prescription. One sample is used to check for flu, RSV, and COVID-19. The kit comes with a swab for the nose that can be used to get a sample to send to a lab for testing. Talk to your doctor about taking a test at home.
Blood tests can reveal if a recent sickness was caused by an infection with RSV, even though they are not commonly used to diagnose RSV. So, people in charge of public health sometimes use blood tests to figure out how big an RSV outbreak is in a town.
Should I do anything to get ready for the test?
An RSV test doesn’t require any special preparations.
Is the test risky in any way?
RSV testing poses only a minimal risk.
- An aspirate or wash of the nose may hurt. These effects will not last forever.
- Swabbing your nose during a test could make you gag or feel uncomfortable for a moment.
What do these results mean?
A negative result implies that your sample showed no signs of the RSV virus. They could be signs that you have another illness.
However, a negative test outcome does not exclude RSV. The virus may not have been present in sufficient amounts in the sample for the test to detect it.
If the test is positive, you almost certainly have RSV.
If a patient has breathing difficulties or has lost too much fluid and is becoming dehydrated, they may require hospital treatment. IV fluids and oxygen may be given. A respiratory machine called a ventilator may be required in extreme situations, but this is rare.
Is there anything else I should be aware of with an RSV test?
If you have signs of RSV but are otherwise healthy, your doctor probably won’t test you for it. Most healthy adults and children with RSV will feel better in one to two weeks. Your doctor may tell you to take over-the-counter medicines and drink lots of water to feel better.
Before you give your child any medicine, talk to their doctor.
New Orleans Suboxone Clinic
Suboxone is a prescription drug often used to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) in people addicted to drugs. It helps people stop using opioids by relieving the symptoms of withdrawal and cutting down on cravings. If you or someone you know suffers from opioid addiction and wants to find a solution, you may be interested in discovering how Suboxone and our pain management clinic can aid in recovery.
Continue reading to understand more about Suboxone medication, how it works, the advantages of using Suboxone for treating addiction, possible side effects of using Suboxone, and how our Suboxone doctor in NOLA can help with your treatment.
What is Suboxone?
Suboxone also known as buprenorphine/naloxone is an opioid used to treat substance abuse, acute pain, or even chronic pain. Suboxone usually relieves pain within an hour with lasting effects up to an entire day. Suboxone is an opioid drug to treat people who are addicted to opioids. It can help stabilize someone going through withdrawal during medical detoxification and can also be used as a treatment to help anyone with opioid addiction get better.
It contains two drugs, naloxone (an opioid antagonist) and buprenorphine (a partial opioid agonist). It has an added dissolvable film underneath the tongue or directly into the cheek. In 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized a generic sublingual formulation of buprenorphine with naloxone.
How does Suboxone Work?
Buprenorphine is what’s called a “partial opioid agonist.” It works like an opioid, but its effects aren’t as strong. This makes it simpler for you to stop using your prescribed opioid drug since buprenorphine lessens withdrawal symptoms and cravings without having the same negative effects as other opioids (such as fentanyl, oxycodone, heroin, hydrocodone, etc.).
Due to its high binding affinity, it may also prevent other opioids from attaching to and triggering your opioid receptors, preventing their abuse.
As a partial agonist, buprenorphine’s opioid effects have a maximum dose, even as the dosage is increased. Because there is a limit to the amount your opioid receptors can be active, the risk of abuse and overdose is lower compared to other opioids. It is less likely that an opioid overdose will cause dangerously slow breathing, called respiratory depression.
Naloxone is an antagonist of opioid receptors mixed with buprenorphine in Suboxone and related generic formulations. Even though naloxone is being used by itself to reverse the side effects of an opioid overdose, it is included in this combination to stop people from misusing buprenorphine on purpose. If it is dissolved and injected or inhaled through the nose, it will cause opioid-dependent people to go through withdrawal very quickly.
Suboxone is effective at treating opioid addiction, but it is usually used as part of a more variety of medications that also includes behavioral interventions, mutual-help groups, and, if necessary, treatment for any co-occurring mental health problems (like depression or anxiety).
What Are The Advantages of Using Suboxone in Addiction Treatment Medication?
Buprenorphine is one of the World Health Organization’s lists of essential drugs. It is an important tool for helping patients with opioid use disorder deal with mild to severe withdrawal symptoms and cravings. Some other advantages of using Suboxone to treat addiction are:
- Made it safer to overdose
- Less chance of misuse
- Long-lasting effects may allow for dosing every other day
What Are Possible Side Effects of Taking Suboxone?
Suboxone is accompanied by harmful effects, similar to the case with other medications, even though taken as recommended. Respiratory depression is a rare cause of death with Suboxone. Still, it could happen more often when Suboxone is used with other drugs that slow breathing, like tranquilizers, benzodiazepines, sedatives, or alcohol.
Some of the more common side effects of Suboxone are:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Constipation
- Headache
- Insomnia
- Sweating
- Swollen arms and legs
- If you take the orally dissolvable film, your mouth or tongue may feel numb, burn, or turn red
Among the less common but more serious side effects are:
- When you stand up, your blood pressure drops
- Breathing problems caused by sleep.
- It can hamper liver function
- Adrenal changes
- Reactions to allergies (allergic to any of the ingredients)
What are Suboxone's uses and risks?
Suboxone is a treatment for opioid use disorder, the corresponding results for opioid addiction. Medication is gradually becoming the conventional treatment for the management of OUD. If you join rehabilitation for opioid addiction, you may receive drugs for addiction recovery as part of your program approach. For treating addiction, medications like Suboxone are just one component of a treatment plan that also includes counseling and behavioral therapy.
Suboxone is safe when taken as prescribed for the treatment of OUD. Suboxone recently changed some of the details in the dosage and management section of the drug’s packaging. It includes suggesting that healthcare providers also prescribe naloxone because people with opioid use disorder may relapse, which places them at risk for an opioid overdose. Also, the full dose of Suboxone for people addicted to short-acting opioids was reduced by half to no more than 8 mg/2 mg on the first day of intense opioid withdrawal.
It has a low possibility of overdosing when used as prescribed due to the limit of the opioid effect stated above.
Using Suboxone inappropriately, like injecting it or taking more of it than prescribed, using it while consuming alcohol or sedatives, or have taken it too soon after using other opioids, can make you more likely to have bad side effects.
If you take Suboxone too early and use other opioids, you might experience undesirable opioid withdrawal symptoms like sweating, shaking, stomach problems, and anxiety. Other possible but usually rare side effects include overdose, slowed breathing, or drug overdose.
How addictive is Suboxone?
Because buprenorphine is an opioid, taking it for a long time can make you physically dependent on it. But dependence isn’t the same as addictive behavior. If you develop a habit, even from taking a prescription drug, you could have withdrawal symptoms if you stop using it all of a sudden.Don’t stop using Suboxone without your doctor’s approval. During treatment, your use of Suboxone will be monitored closely by people who work in health care. When it’s time for you to stop taking Suboxone, your doctor will help you taper off it. This means that you will slowly lower your dose.
Suboxone’s buprenorphine component does have an inherent risk of abuse, just like any opioid. However, because it is just a partial opioid agonist, it cannot provide the similarly intense euphoric effects of other, more widely misused opioid medications like heroin and oxycodone. Naloxone is added in the combination formulation to reduce misuse potential since opioid receptor blockage and withdrawal may occur if inappropriate use routes are used to achieve a euphoric high.
Also, it’s important to know that using Suboxone to treat opioid use disorder is not just swapping one addiction for another. Instead, Suboxone helps people stop using opioids as much and as badly as they used to, so they can live a normal, healthier life again.
Why pick out facility for your pain management?
Our clinic is open 7 days a week. This means you don’t have to pause your life when you need treatment because our options will fit around your schedule.
Open 7 days a week. Walk-in patients are welcome.
