What cheap home blood tests are available?

[CrimpJiggler]

So far I know of glucose and iron test kits which are both dirt cheap. I looked into a kit for testing blood oxygen levels, turns out its called a pulse oximeter but they don't come cheap unfortunately. What other cheap test kits are available?

 

[missmeyet?]

Well, what kind of test are you looking for? I mean, is there something in paticular you are concerned about? Do you want tests that you can get results at home, right then? Or just tests that you can choose to get because your doc won't order them?

Depending on the answers to those questions depends on what's available. As a nurse (almost 20 years) I believe the ones you mentioned are about the only ones that you can do at home and get a result right then without having to mail it off to a lab. There are quite a few more you can do at home but send off and then get results. Then, there also places you can pay online for test (just about any kind of blood test) then go to a lab locally and have it done without having your doc have to put an order in for it.

Oh and the pulse oximeter is just a little electonic machine that has a sensor you place on your finger and it reads your pulse and O2 level. It is something you can use over and over, not really a test so to speak..

 

[CrimpJiggler]

I just want to be able to gain an understanding of whats going on inside my body, that way I might be able to figure out the cause of the various strange things that happen me on drugs (i.e. on amphetamines I often abruptly start feeling like complete crap, and all sorts of physiological processes change) and when I'm off them. Lately something weird has been going on, I'm getting severe drowsiness, headaches, fevers and other miscellaneous symptoms like shortness of breath. If I take opioids at the moment they make me feel like shit, which is very unusual since they usually give me positive effects. Same goes for amphetamines.

I want to get a glucometer (well I already have one but ran out of strips) and an iron test kit so I can see if hypoglycemia or anemia are the cause of these weird symptoms I have right now. I think its pretty cool to be able to get an understanding of whats going on in your body, so I'd like to get more tests like this. For example, I want to check my testosterone cuz low testosterone could be the cause of my lethargy. I'd love to be able to check my levels of B vitamines but I'm guessing thats more complicated.

What about testing levels of your electrolytes i.e. Na+, K+, Ca2+, Cl- etc. That way you could check if they are imbalanced, then balance them if needs be. Are you sure there aren't any more of these cheap home tests (which don't need to be sent into a lab)? Electrolytes can't be that hard to test for can they? Maybe they could use strips with zeolites that trap atomic cations, then separate them based on their size.

Glucometer strips contain glucose oxidase which traps and oxidises glucose. Why couldn't they employ the same principle for other biomolecules? For example to detect epinephrine, to trap and deaminate the AA, then the device can detect the change in pH.

 

[sekio]

see a doctor

 

[missmeyet?]

I agree /\

Plus, drugs have been known to make people feel like crap at various points in their use!

Seriously though, I kind of understand what you are saying about being curious about what havoc is being wreaked on your body by checking for yourself. I am pretty sure the things that are affecting you are not going to show up on available home tests. You could check CBCs and other general bloodwork panels and maybe liver function tests by your own request but any at home tests are pretty simple ones and very limited.

Whether or not it should be easy enough to check electrolytes and such the tests just aren't available for at home use. Many of the symptoms you mention should be checked by a doctor as they could indicate something serious (fever esp) and knowing how your blood sugar is running for the day will not help you at all in these circumstances.