When I learned how easy it is to get your vitamin D, thyroid, cholesterol, and inflammation tested, I was immediately hooked. It was much easier to make progress on my health problems once I had an objective way to see what was and wasn't working. So I made this site to cobble together my notes on how to order any kind of test you can think of (both bloodwork and at-home kits), primarily for when I hassle people about checking their bloodwork.

How does the process work?Why do I blood test?About me
What tests do I get?Full test list (with price-comparisons)
And look for updates on my Facebook logo / Twitter logo / YouTube logo

How does the process work?

Generally, you place an order from a consumer-oriented web site that then sends you a form to take to a local blood-draw center. They'll take a blood sample and you'll usually receive the results over e-mail within a few days. Often the company will offer some kind of consultation based on the results. Here's the full details of the process.

Regional issues

Why do I blood test?

Buying my own bloodwork lets me:

What tests do I get?

My favorite hobbies in life are feeling good and not dying. So I mainly monitor:

Over the years I've also been known to get individual tests to check hypotheses, like ferritin (for iron status), ceruloplasmin (for copper status), vitamin D (for managing my avoidance of that pesky "outdoors" thing), and TSH / T3 / T4 / reverse T3 (for thyroid function).

And if I ever overcome my guilt on spending a good $900+ on bloodwork over the years, I'd be curious to test some of the more expensive things like selenium, glutathione, and organic acids.

I also have a page on resources for tracking, understanding, and influencing your bloodwork.

Full list of tests (with company price comparisons)

Compare the options from the eight direct-to-consumer providers I know of for the following tests:

LabEspy and FindLabTest have more-comprehensive price comparisons if you're hunting for a test or provider I don't have.

About me

I don't have any health/medical background, I'm just a nerd who had a lot of seemingly-unrelated health problems (struggles with endurance, body composition, insomnia, and chronic fatigue) that I finally started making progress on, with blood testing being my most useful tool. Hence having a web site where I obsess over testing :)

You might be interested in my YouTube channel about feeling better using biomarkers. As a sample, my most-recent video is a simple thyroid function test you can do at home:

You might be vaguely familiar with me if you're a fan of the ideas of Ray Peat: I maintain a directory of Peat-related sites, a podcast feed for his interviews, and a page for searching his content. Testing Peat's ideas with before-and-after blood tests was what originally got me intrigued by his ideas: in just couple months my high CRP dropped 86%, my high LDL dropped 37%, my triglycerides dropped 83%, and my prolactin dropped 58%. And more importantly I could eat, sleep, and exercise like a functioning human being.

And on the 0.001% chance you run a WooCommerce store, I can probably help fix your broken emails.

Comments

Let me know if I've missed any tests you're interested in, or if you just want to reminisce about how good The Office was.

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