Latest / Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease / 151 // At-Home Lab Test Kits [Hashimoto's Health Lab]

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151 // At-Home Lab Test Kits [Hashimoto's Health Lab] · Health with Hashimoto’s - Thyroid or Immune Education for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

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  Welcome to the Health with Hashimoto's podcast. Our summer series is the Hashimoto's Health Lab.
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  This series is going to be 10-minute episodes.
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  Every week, we'll talk about a specific tool or practice. We're going to cover
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  everything from environmental detox to stress reduction, energy boosters,
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  biohacks, and all of it is going to be designed to give you tools for better
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  health with Hashimoto's.
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  I'm your host, Esther Yunkin. I'm a registered nurse helping women uncover their
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  root causes and regain energy.
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  So these episodes are going to be short. If you are ready for a deeper transformation,
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  check out the Holistic Hashimoto's course. It will help you identify your unique
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  triggers and root causes so that you can focus your own energy on what really
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  matters for your health.
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  Are you ready to explore a new strategy for thriving with Hashimoto's?
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  Let's dive in. This is the Hashimoto's health lab.
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  Today's episode is about at-home lab test kits, because sometimes you don't
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  want to go and see what the doctor wants.
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  Maybe you have listened to the Health with Hashimoto's lab episodes.
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  Episode three, what did my thyroid labs mean? Episode nine, we talked all about vitamin D.
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  Episode 39, I talked about all of the thyroid labs that you ideally want to test everything.
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  You know, you want your TSH, you want your free T4, your free T3,
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  you want reverse T3, you want the thyroid antibodies, you want your vitamin D tested.
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  Personally, I also want my C-reactive protein tested to know that level of inflammation in my body.
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  There's several different things that you want to test. And sometimes you know what you want.
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  You don't want to go visit your doctor and have to wait for them or pay them
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  in order for them to say, this is what I think you should have.
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  You already know that because you are the CEO of your own health. You make the decisions.
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  And thankfully, in most states in the United States, and it depends on the other
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  countries, some countries will allow you to, some won't, but a lot of places
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  you have autonomy over your medical decisions.
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  So let's talk about where you can get your own test kits.
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  And specifically, we're talking about at home kits.
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  Now you can go to a place like Ulta
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  Labs. And that is one thing I talked specifically about in episode 39.
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  Because that's where I have had labs, you go to Ulta Labs online,
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  and you order what you want, you pay for it.
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  And then you pick where you're going to have your labs drawn.
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  Now this one kind of falls in the middle because sometimes you can have somebody
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  come to your house and draw your blood.
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  But this is a phlebotomist and it is not poke your own finger and drip the blood
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  on a little card and send it through the mail. That's what we're going to be talking about today.
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  So Ulta Labs doesn't have that capability, but it kind of qualifies as at home
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  if you select to have a phlebotomist come to your house.
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  Otherwise, you can order the labs on Ulta and then go to a phlebotomist.
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  There are a lot of clinics who will draw labs for you.
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  So there are three primary places where you can have the at-home test kits sent to you from.
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  The at-home test kits are super convenient. You order it online and they send it in the mail.
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  You go to your mailbox, you open it, and here's a little box.
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  Inside the box, there's usually some alcohol swabs, some little finger pokers,
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  little lancets where you push the button, a little needle pops out,
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  pokes you, and, you know, makes you bleed.
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  And then there's a card for you to drip that blood onto.
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  Once it's dried, usually you have to wait an hour or two for it to dry completely.
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  Then you put it in a bag, you put that bag back in the envelope,
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  and you put that back in your mailbox.
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  And then within a week to two weeks, in your email, you have all of your labs.
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  At-home test kits are so convenient. And that is why I put them as a tool in this series.
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  Because sometimes I just want to know my numbers.
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  I don't know about you, you are the CEO of your health, you get to make the decisions.
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  And through this podcast, you are learning about what to look for.
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  And through all of your other research, maybe you've read some books,
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  maybe you've listened to some other podcasts, You are learning so that you can
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  take your information...
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  And do something with it. You are the CEO of your health.
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  In the Holistic Hashimoto's course, which is a four-week course,
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  the first week we do cover labs so that you know exactly what you're dealing
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  with and what to watch for.
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  And then of course, like I said, episode 39 is all about the different labs.
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  So listen to that one if you want an in-depth talk about what different things are.
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  Also in the freebie I have for you, which is a 10 questions to ask your doctor,
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  I do cover labs a little bit in that one.
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  So you want to make your own decisions. You already know that you want labs.
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  You don't feel like you need to talk to your doctor right now.
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  Now I'm going to make a caveat.
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  Please talk to your doctor or your provider at least once a year,
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  if not every six months, just to make sure you're on the same page.
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  Maybe they have some insights.
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  And if you are on medications, you do need to see a provider either virtually
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  or in person to get your Synthroid or levothyroxine or whatever,
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  or any other medications that you're on to support your autoimmune health like LDN.
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  That was episode 129. I did an interview with a pharmacist. He's explaining
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  all about LDN, what it is, why it's beneficial, how it can help people with Hashimoto's.
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  I take it. I notice a huge difference.
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  I've talked to a lot of people who take it.
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  So check out that episode. But anyway, back to at-home test kits.
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  So you have decided that you want some labs. You know what you want and you
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  want it to be done at the convenience of your own home, you don't feel like
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  you need a doctor's visit at this time.
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  There are several different companies who offer this convenience,
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  and I don't know when you're going to be listening.
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  If you're listening in the future, right now it's June 2025.
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  Make sure to check online and see what's out there now, because these do change,
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  and there's more and more popping up as the technology is out there.
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  So I said earlier in the episode, there's three companies. I changed that,
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  and there's four, because I found another one while doing this episode.
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  The first one and the one that I have used is Paloma.
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  Paloma has everything thyroid. They have virtual providers. They do at-home
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  test kits. They have a podcast.
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  Maybe you listen to that one in addition to mine, and they are very convenient.
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  They're all convenient.
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  Another one is Everlywell. Everlywell was, I believe, the first big company
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  to offer at-home kits, and they did not start with thyroid.
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  I think they started with like vitamin D maybe and something else,
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  but now they offer thyroid kits as well.
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  Another company is MyLabsDirect. Again, you're going to go to their website
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  and you select on this one, you select how you want your labs drawn,
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  which is different than the other ones.
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  The thyroid test kit from Paloma and from Everlywell come with a little finger
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  prick, but the MyLabsDirect is different. I have never seen this type of blood draw.
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  It intrigues me. I don't know how it works. But if you have seen the continuous
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  glucose monitors where people put them on their arm, this works kind of like that.
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  You stick it on your arm and you push a button and somehow it draws your blood.
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  They say that it is quick and painless.
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  It's called the quick draw collection method.
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  There is a little video on their website. They also have a finger stick collection
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  method like the other companies do. That is MyLabsDirect.
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  And then the fourth company is called Let's Get Checked. They also have a thyroid kit for your home.
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  If you are outside of the US, if you are in the UK, there is a company called
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  Monitor My Health, and they also offer at-home test kits.
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  So all of these, like I said, work the same way. They're going to send you the little kit in the mail.
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  You're going to poke your finger, draw your blood, send it back, and get your labs.
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  And as the CEO of your own health.
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  You get to look at the results and you get to make decisions.
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  I want you to do this with wisdom and know what you're looking at.
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  So make sure to listen to episode 39 where we go over all of the labs and what
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  they mean. Make sure you do your reading.
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  Make sure you track your stuff. And I know I'm doing a lot of like shoulding on you.
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  You should do these things, but this is your health. And if you are going to
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  be the CEO and take ownership of your numbers and your labs and your trends,
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  you do have to watch what they're doing.
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  I keep a spreadsheet and I know all of my numbers forever.
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  I type them in. I know that my doctor can have that and the lab does,
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  but sometimes I use different labs. So I keep a spreadsheet on my computer of
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  my stuff and that way I can see if it's going up or down and I encourage you to do the same.
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  And oh hey, there's one more tip. If you are drawing your blood with the finger
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  pokes, make sure that your hands are nice and warm. You can do some jumping jacks before.
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  That does help mobilize the blood and it makes that finger prick go a little easier.
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  And also make sure that anytime you're doing thyroid labs, you're doing it first
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  thing in the morning because that is when your levels are highest.
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  All right, so at-home test kits. That was this week's Hashimoto's Health Lab.
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  Stay tuned for next week's episode where we're going to talk about another tool for your health.
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  This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.
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  Please discuss any changes with your trusted healthcare provider.
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  To take your next step, join our school community and explore the courses available
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  there. You do not have to figure your health out alone.
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  So that is school, S-K-O-O-L.com, and it is the Health with Hashimoto's community.
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  I'll see you next time on the Health with Hashimoto's podcast.