42 replies to this topic

[maestro949]

I just picked up 3 DIY monitors :

1.Omron Blood Pressure Monitor
2.Omron Fat Loss Monitor (FAT % & BMI)
3.CardioChek Blood Test

The cardiocheck has strips for:

Lipids
Total Cholesterol
LDL-Cholesterol
HDL-Cholesterol
Triglycerides
Glucose
Ketone
Creatinine

Does anyone else use this? I'd be curious as to how they compare to profesional lab equiptment.

CardioChek® Home-Use Cholesterol Test Meter Now Available at America's Largest Retail Pharmacy, CVS/pharmacy®

CardioChek® Analyzer for Cholesterol Testing Named Best of What's New by Editors of Popular Science, World's Largest Science and Technology Publication

Company Website

Edited by Bruce Klein, 03 December 2007 - 03:05 AM.

[zoolander]

What was the cost of the Cardiochek® if you don't mind me asking?

What are the cost for the individual strips?

EDIT: only available here in Australia to health care professional

Price for the unit AU$599

Test strips come seperately
• Lipid Panel Test Strips 15 pack
(Total Cholesterol, HDL, Calculates LDL & Triglycerides) $179.00 AUS
• Glucose Test Strips 25 pack $29.00 AUS
• Total Cholesterol + Glucose 25 pack $109.00 AUS
• Total Cholesterol + HDL 15 pack $109.00 AUS
• Total Cholesterol 25 pack $99.00 AUS
• HDL Cholesterol 25 pack $99.00 AUS
• Triglycerides 25 pack $99.00 AUS
• Multi-Chemistry Control solutions $75.00 AUS
• HDL Cholesterol Control solutions $45.00 AUS

Edited by zoolander, 19 November 2006 - 05:12 AM.

[zoolander]

seems as though the cardiochek is fair accurate when compared to clinical lab testing

Cardiovasc J S Afr. 2005 Mar-Apr;16(2):112-7. 

Performance of the CardioChek PA and Cholestech LDX point-of-care analysers compared to clinical diagnostic laboratory methods for the measurement of lipids.Panz VR, Raal FJ, Paiker J, Immelman R, Miles H.
Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism Research Unit, Department of Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Point-of-care (POC) blood testing is intended to provide results more rapidly than can be obtained from a central laboratory. Precision and accuracy of the CardioChek PA and Cholestech LDX analysers were compared to clinical diagnostic laboratory methods. In 100 patients, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) and LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) levels were measured by both analysers and compared to those analysed by the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) laboratory. Data were evaluated for conformance with National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) guidelines. Results were grouped into low, middle and high ranges and were similar to those obtained by the NHLS, except in the high range where TC and LDL-C levels were under-read by both analysers. All analytes measured by both analysers correlated significantly with NHLS (p < 0.0001). With the exception of LDL-C, both analysers showed reasonable compliance with NCEP goals for coefficients of variation and bias measurements. Both analysers met NCEP guidelines for all analytes at two clinical cut-off points. We concluded that, compared to NHLS methods, performance of the CardioChek PA and Cholestech LDX analysers is acceptable and that they offer healthcare professionals a rapid, POC method for the measurement of lipids.

PMID: 15915279 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

NOTE: The other item mentioned above, Cholestech LDX, has the ability to measure hs-CRP

[maestro949]

I paid about $110 USD for the CardioChek. (sorry, didn't pay that close attention to price). I picked up two sets of strips for Total Cholesterol and HDL that came in packs of 3 each. They were $13 USD. Froogle has the CardioCheck ranging from $90 - $200.

I took my mom's cholesterol. It was 237 in the doctor's office a month ago. CardioCheck reported 229 but she's lost 8lbs, has been eating much better and taking some supps I've been sending her way so those might account for the difference. She's going to the doctor's for another cholesterol test in January. I'll test the same day before she goes and compare.

The LDX sounds good but not sure . hsCRP seems like one of the better indicators for heart disease.

Used LDX for $750
Cholestech LDX

Great, I'm already the friends & family IT guy. Now they're all lining up for longevity, supplement advice and bloodwork. [huh]

[zoolander]

Sweet!

[maestro949]

Devices for monitoring coagulation. Pricey for the average joe but cardiac failure and paralyzation can't be cheap either...

Roche Diagnostics Coaguchek S Meter Care Kit

Protime Microcoagulation System

[maestro949]

A good article regarding the present and future of self-testing.

[starr]

I wonder if they'll come out with home hormone testing anytime soon.

[maestro949]

Non Invasive Glucose Monitoring

http://www.orsense.c...es/703/ring.jpg

They also have one for hemoglobin.

[maestro949]

I wonder if they'll come out with home hormone testing anytime soon.

There are some...

TSH
Cortisol, Melatoni, Testosterone, Progesterone, ß-Estradiol, Estrone
SleepCheck - Melatonin
Bunch of Tests Here

[zoolander]

That non-invasive glucose monitor is not due until mid 2008 which probably means mid 2009. Have a look at glucoband



looks a lot nicer than the above glucose monitor

What about sleep trackers?

[starr]

I wonder if they'll come out with home hormone testing anytime soon.

There are some...

TSH
Cortisol, Melatoni, Testosterone, Progesterone, ß-Estradiol, Estrone
SleepCheck - Melatonin
Bunch of Tests Here

Those have to be sent to a lab. I'd like a home machine.

[maestro949]

Seeing lots of research in this area. This looks promising...

Biomedical Diagnostics Institute

The Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI) is a multidisciplinary research institute focused on the development of next generation biomedical diagnostic devices. These devices, which will directly affect the quality of peoples lives worldwide over the coming decades, will be used in Point of Care applications as well as for self-test, home use.

The BDI has developed a cutting edge collaborative research programme involving leading researchers form academic institutions, companies and the clinical environment to form a complementary, integrated, cohesive partnership.

[maestro949]

Buy a stethoscope and listen to your own heart and get familiar with the sound of it. You can even record it and have software analyze it. Recheck it every now and then and if you see a change, call the doc. Careful though, you might freak him out...


"What do you mean your auscultation chart looks different!?!"



My doc told me I was the first patient he had that did his own bloodwork. The excel spreadsheet I handed him rasied an eyebrow [glasses]

[niteinnyc]

After researching different BP monitors I bought a Microlife and am happy with the quality.

http://www.amazon.co...7331544-6249558

[niteinnyc]

After researching different BP monitors I bought a Microlife and am happy with the quality.

http://www.amazon.co...7331544-6249558

Don’t hesitate to confirm the accuracy on it.
On a side note: I’d recommend checking BP before, during, and after exercising and also make sure your blood pressure returns to normal within a reasonable amount of time.

Thanks for the good advice. I get a sense it's fairly accurate after using it many, many times under different conditions(after all, it's convenient and free). That gives you a real education on how varied bp can be. I plan to bring it to my next checkup anyway for comparison. I've seen the Omron's in the drugstores and they don't look of the same quality.

Do you have any experience with the blood testing devices? The cardiocheck looks pretty decent, especially the PA model, which is the model mentioned in the tests posted by zoolander above. The Cholestech looks like overkill for home use, since you are paying so much extra with the only real advantage that I can see is the hs-CRP test capability. While this test no doubt-ably seems important, I don't imagine it is something one would need to check fairly often.

Edited by niteinnyc, 28 March 2007 - 10:44 AM.

[maestro949]

maestro949 - How's the CardioChek been working for you? Accuracy seem ok, is it holding up well, etc...?

Fairly well. I did my mom's stats before she had her panels done and they differed by 5%. When I did mine they were slightly worse. My brother went to the doctor and they did his bloodwork with a cardiocheck! I didn't do his bloodwork with mine though prior (he's in another part of the country).

I get tested through one of the national labs. As you may already know, this can be done without visiting a physician in order to obtain a lab referral. I’ve been thinking about starting a thread on the topic to discuss who people use for bloodwork.

I heard a radio commercial the other day for a lab advertising it's services. That was a first. I forgot the name so the ad wasn't terribly effective.

Edited by maestro949, 28 March 2007 - 09:59 PM.

[niteinnyc]

niteinnyc-

I get tested through one of the national labs. As you may already know, this can be done without visiting a physician in order to obtain a lab referral. I’ve been thinking about starting a thread on the topic to discuss who people use for bloodwork.

Some states have banned this (idiotic thinking), NY and NJ being two of them, unfortunately for me. I even called a few of them up to see if it was OK to use them with a Dr.'s requisition, but not even in that case. Apparently the reason is due to the way the labs make pricing deals with different customers. Most of the places that do the marketing for this are not the actual labs themselves. The one national lab that was offering testing directly to the public has since stopped. There has been some scrutiny about this from some people, for obvious reasons if you ask me, but it's always under the guise of "protecting the public", and apparently they were powerful enough to effect bans in some places, as I said. Here are a few examples of the promoters:


http://www.healthcheckusa.com/
http://www.directlabs.com/index.php
http://www.labsafe.com/

Edited by niteinnyc, 28 March 2007 - 10:10 PM.

[niteinnyc]

Yep, Labsafe... that's them. Aside from the delay receiving the results, they've been great.  Labsafe uses LabCorp. LabCorp and Quest seem to be the two prominent nationwide labs. Anyone else use Labsafe or the equivalent?

I'd also like to hear more about this Kronos lab I've heard mentioned here.
http://www.kronoslab...atory/home.aspx

ETA: That's right, Quest used to provide the service. I'd like to know why they stopped?

"Quest Diagnostics, a leading diagnostic-testing company, ended its online retail unit, QuesTest.com, in March because of poor sales performance. "I hated to see them go," said Mr. Bell. He added QuesTest.com helped "legitimize a gray area." Quest Diagnostics, Lyndhurst, N.J., tests patients at walk-in service centers, but those require patients to have a doctor's order."
http://www.directlabs.com/WSJ.php



Poor Sales performance?

[niteinnyc]

I will probably get the PA unit, since I want to become a member of the "500mg Res" club, and I'd like to track the effects. This unit seems like a good solution and the price is not bad for all that it does (especially multi-tests with one sample, the fewer pricks the better, I always say )

[Gerald W. Gaston]

I've used HealthCheckUSA for free T3 and free T4. Labsafe wanted well over double to do them.

[maestro949]

thymeless - why do you get tested? Are you on CR or an aggressive supplement regimen?

My testing fetish stems from the desire to make the followig LE modifications:

Aggressive Supplementation (200+mg Resveratrol + several others)
CR
Optimal Nutrition
Moderate Cardio + Light resistance workouts
Meditation + Various mental excercises & perhaps some nootropics as more data becomes available

I'm just tinkering with each of the above at this but I'd like to monitor things closely if I go full bore at them all. The DIY route simply doesn't have enough consumer priced products on the market so I'm going to pay to get some extensive bloodwork done. The downside is that few of the lab tests are significant biomarkers for aging.

[maestro949]

Regarding the meditation, my BP has been steadily going up for the past 10 years. I'm looking to reverse this. Changes in diet, excercise and supplementation have yet to make much of a difference. Study results are mixed but meditation appears to be one non-pharma mechanism that can have a significant results on :


Blood Pressure and Hypertension
Heart Rate
Redistribution of bloodflow to the brain

Worth trying though my interest in the cultural zen aspects are nil. Perhaps I'll focus my thoughts on small flying rodents on alien planets or imagine molecules and proteins bouncing into each other. I've seen the biofeedback info too. Something I certainly plan to research at some point.

[krillin]

Regarding the meditation, my BP has been steadily going up for the past 10 years.  I'm looking to reverse this.  Changes in diet, excercise and supplementation have yet to make much of a difference.  Study results are mixed but meditation appears to be one non-pharma mechanism that can have a significant results on :


Blood Pressure and Hypertension
Heart Rate
Redistribution of bloodflow to the brain

Worth trying though my interest in the cultural zen aspects are nil.  Perhaps I'll focus my thoughts on small flying rodents on alien planets or imagine molecules and proteins bouncing into each other.  I've seen the biofeedback info too.  Something I certainly plan to research at some point.

I like using the Sirius light and sound machine for this purpose. No skill or effort or breathing control is required. I just lie back and soon my arms and legs feel really heavy. Here are some BP data points for just before and just after a session. (Heart rate is unaffected and usually in the range 38-48.)

133/74 -> 102/66
117/67 -> 101/61
118/79 -> 97/66

[maestro949]

Thanks krillin. Good data. I'll look up the Sirius stuff.

[niteinnyc]

The downside is that few of the lab tests are significant biomarkers for aging.

You seem more knowledgeable them me in this area, can you highlight the few that are?

[maestro949]

The downside is that few of the lab tests are significant biomarkers for aging.

You seem more knowledgeable them me in this area, can you highlight the few that are?

I stumbled across this handy chart while doing research. It's a subset of a larger collection of data that I'm compiling on all aging related changes that span physiological, serum level and expression changes.

[maestro949]

Introducing the RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device which is intended to assist with therapeutic breathing techniques.

Lowering blood pressure via controlled breathing is often overlooked as an anti-aging therapy that's fairly easy to achieve as well as quite affordable. I have no experience with the Resperate product but would think you could accomplish the same with a stethescope and stopwatch/clock.

Here is a link to their forum's user reviews...

Edited by maestro949, 17 April 2007 - 07:25 PM.

[krillin]

Just got back my results from LEF's blood test sale.

Despite avoiding the sun (As a ginger, I lack a soul and must therefore live like a vampire.) and taking only 1000 IU vitamin D, my 25-hydroxy vitamin D is 45.1 ng/ml. (32.0 - 100.0 is the desired range)

Amusingly, they flagged my homocysteine as being too low, at 3.0 micromolar. (LEF says it should be below 7.)

My cholesterol's gone up since I dropped tocotrienols and pantethine two years ago. (I think I'll live, though.)

TC 94 -> 112
TG 52 -> 59
LDL 38 -> 42
HDL 46 -> 58

[trevyn]

krillin, I wonder if your cholesterol isn't actually in a better place, due to the dramatic rise in HDL. The VAP test is also fun if you want to keep an eye on cholesterol makeup, and it differed by several points

As far as lowing blood pressure, I have the RESPeRATE, and it does work. Quite dramatically if you give it a couple weeks. I do find it kind of hard to stick with, since it's kind of a pain to detangle and hook up the chest strap. And you have to stick with it to keep the drop. As I understand it, the only method of action is lowering breathing rate in a "relaxed" environment, so if meditation lowers your breathing rate to 7-8 breaths/minute or less, you should be good.

Supplement-wise, C12 Peption seems to have had a small but distinct effect.

Losing weight and increasing exercise also helped a lot for me, but I understand that some people are already active and at a good weight.

With various proportions of all these over the past few years, I'm down from about 140/85 to 120/74.

Going to check out other biofeedback machines, thanks...