Home Kits/Devices To Measure Labs: Thoughts, Recommendations

shepherdgirl

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Currently there are many home kits or devices for obtaining labs. (If they are taken at home, can they still be called "labs"?) Lots of people would like to avoid the expense and inconvenience of traveling to obtain laboratory testing. Some doctors refuse to order the labs desired, or insurance won't cover them. Some state laws prohibit consumer ordered labs, so home testing could help the consumer when noone else will. Home testing could allow for frequent, and sometimes immediate, feedback on how lifestyle changes affect labs. Home testing can help people avoid dealing with doctors when they don't want to or help them to monitor labs while away from their doctor. Some people are homebound and cannot even get to a lab easily, so home testing is required.
I am wondering if anyone would like to share their experience with home lab devices/kits - just to name a few: cholesterol meters, blood sugar meters, infrared blood sugar meters, blood pressure/pulse readers, blood drop/saliva/hair kits, etc, etc. There are too many to list. What has your experience been with use of home kits- were they easy/fast to use? Were they accurate? Do you think lab testing is better? etc.

I have had good experience using various brands of blood pressure monitors. They seem to yield pretty consistent readings that tend to be in line with nurses' readings. There is an art to measuring the blood pressure, so I think there is more chance of error when a nurse measures bp. Also, patients in the doctor's office are likely to be nervous and have unnaturally high bp. Regarding the bp monitor, the cuff has to be put on correctly and bp should be measured after being still, etc.

Pulse measurement: I do not have faith in the apps that use your phone's camera to measure pulse because I have read that they are inaccurate. For the same reason I do not have faith in the oximeter apps. Has anyone tried these apps? What has been your experience?
My impression is that the pulse measurement on many bp cuffs is likely decently accurate. My pulse results are in the expected range. Can anyone else share their impressions?

I am interested in home monitoring of cholesterol (total and maybe also LDL and HDL) and blood sugar - has anyone tried any of the meters? Or perhaps a home testing kit or one that you send back? Do you find them to be worthwhile/accurate? How do they compare to lab measures?
 

x-ray peat

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I think blood sugar tests are pretty reliable and fairly cheap. I was thinking about getting one.
 

HDD

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@shepherdgirl you didn’t mention vitamin d home test kits. I recently ordered one for my son from the Vitamin D council site. I will post about when we use it.
 
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shepherdgirl

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I think blood sugar tests are pretty reliable and fairly cheap. I was thinking about getting one.
What type of blood sugar test are you considering? I was thinking of getting a monitor so i could see my sugar over the course of the day, before and after meals, after sleep, etc. There are the fingerprick ones and the new ones that do not require a finger prick but are probably pricey.
 

Dan W

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What has your experience been with use of home kits- were they easy/fast to use? Were they accurate? Do you think lab testing is better? etc.
I've never read these in-depth, but ZRT Labs (an at-home urine/blood-spot/saliva test provider) has some studies to support their reliability. And Labrix (one of the saliva hormone testing providers) has a similar page, though I wish they'd actually link to the research. They're both kind of expensive/limited compared to regular lab tests though.

I have had good experience using various brands of blood pressure monitors.
I agree, I even seem to get reliable results from the 2 wrist ones I've tried. Plus they're convenient enough to make it easy to watch for patterns throughout the day.

Pulse measurement: I do not have faith in the apps that use your phone's camera to measure pulse because I have read that they are inaccurate. For the same reason I do not have faith in the oximeter apps. Has anyone tried these apps? What has been your experience?
I've been trying Welltory, and so far it seems close enough to my own pulse measurement for me to trust it.

I am interested in home monitoring of cholesterol (total and maybe also LDL and HDL) and blood sugar - has anyone tried any of the meters?
A bunch of the Quantified Self people did experiments with the CardioChek and Cholestech devices. There's some limited info about their reliability here that suggests to me they work well enough for self-experimentation. It was cool to see the kind of info they gathered that wouldn't have been practical with lab tests, like testing hourly to look for rhythms, and testing the response to different meals/diets.

I think blood sugar tests are pretty reliable and fairly cheap. I was thinking about getting one.
Yeah, I've never compared them to lab results or anything, but the cheap tests have usually given me results that seemed correct.
 
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shepherdgirl

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I've never read these in-depth, but ZRT Labs (an at-home urine/blood-spot/saliva test provider) has some studies to support their reliability. And Labrix (one of the saliva hormone testing providers) has a similar page, though I wish they'd actually link to the research. They're both kind of expensive/limited compared to regular lab tests though.
Have not tried either of these testing providers as yet, but I have looked into the ZRT tests a little - they offer a 24hr salivary cortisol test that samples saliva at 4 different times during the day, something that would not be convenient/affordable with a lab test, that gives a much broader picture than just a single measurement.

I've been trying Welltory, and so far it seems close enough to my own pulse measurement for me to trust it.
That's great to hear. I really like the idea of monitoring my stress and energy levels. Also, even if these tests are inaccurate compared to labs (and I'm not saying they are), there is value in seeing the changes in the relative scores over time, provided the meter is at least consistent.
A bunch of the Quantified Self people did experiments with the CardioChek and Cholestech devices. There's some limited info about their reliability here that suggests to me they work well enough for self-experimentation. It was cool to see the kind of info they gathered that wouldn't have been practical with lab tests, like testing hourly to look for rhythms, and testing the response to different meals/diets.
Thanks for this - will definitely check it out.
 

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