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Easy home health tests, aka “DIY physical” that you can do yourself to assess overall wellness, spot patterns and address problem areas before they become chronic.
If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably know that I am no fan of all those lab tests that typically come with an office visit to the doctor to get a physical.
Honest observation…in my 25+ years of coaching people on their personal journey to wellness, I’ve not seen the time and cost necessary for all these tests prove to be worth it in the long run.
In my opinion, the reason for this is likely because lab tests offer only a snapshot in time of what that person’s biology is experiencing.
In other words, the same set of tests at a different time of day or season of the year could produce a far different picture with conflicting results.
Another issue I see with these medical tests that keep growing in number is that they seem to be a tool to scare people into taking prescription drugs.
DIY Physical
Lab tests at a physical are certainly not a good gauge of overall health!
At best, they give people a false sense of security that all is well (when it very well may not be), and at worst, they generate fear and an easy path to be manipulated into taking harmful drugs (usually forever).
I personally know of a number of people who suffered a serious health emergency like a heart attack or stroke within weeks of getting the “all clear” at a physical.
Thus, I am in favor of keeping tabs on things yourself at home, except in a true health emergency.
Of course … sometimes you really DO need to see a doctor and get testing done, but “prevention” is not one of them.
Conventionally trained doctors know little to nothing about preventative medicine!
Suggestion: Buy a spiral notebook at the office supply store and log the results of each of these tests below.
Some can be done at the start of every season. Some only need to be done once.
By doing them regularly, patterns can easily be spotted and problem areas addressed before a situation becomes chronic.
There are certainly other home tests to evaluate health that I may have missed. These are just the ones I’ve used over the years.
If you know of others, please share in the comments!
At-Home Colorectal Screening
Many people do not realize that you can order an at-home colorectal screening kit to avoid colonoscopies.
Most patients have no idea that the prep for a colonoscopy is more damaging to your gut flora than a round of antibiotics could ever be. And they want people to get these regularly? Uh, no thanks.
At-home tests are inexpensive, gut flora safe, and convenient. Blood, polyps, and other abnormalities are quickly detected by using a simple stool sample. Results are available fast with lab-accurate results.
If you have a positive result from one of these home tests, then it makes sense to get a colonoscopy. But, in most cases, you will get a negative result, saving you the discomfort and serious risks of colorectal screening.
Autoimmunity Test
The Past Pointing test is a straightforward home test for autoimmunity issues.
Here’s how Dr. Mark Frank DC describes how he conducts this test in his office. However, you can do this at home yourself too:
Stand with feet very close together, and close your eyes. You should feel steady on your feet even with your eyes closed. If you start to fall over even with this initial part of the test, that is a sign of potential nervous system problems possibly caused by autoimmunity.
Why?
When you remove the eyes which help tell us where we are in space, we must fully rely on joint and muscle signals to the brain instead.
If you are doing fine at this point, then continue to the next portion of the test.
I then ask patients to touch the tip of their index finger to the tip of their nose. Then repeat with the other hand. Frequently they will miss with one hand or it will be more difficult.
I also will have them march in place with their eyes closed. Without realizing, many will spin 90 to 180 degrees within 50 steps!
If you fail one, two, or all three portions of this test, it is a sign that there are nervous system issues possibly triggered by autoimmunity.
Toxicity Test
This simple home toxicity test was taught to me by a massage therapist nearly three decades ago.
It involves rolling the skin on the back to identify whether there is any toxin build-up between the skin and fascia.
For a healthy person, rolling the skin up the back will feel pleasant and pain-free. If there is toxin buildup, however, the process is uncomfortable and slow.
In my experience over the years, this home test is an easy way to gauge if your diet and lifestyle are successfully keeping your body free of toxins.
Body Oxygen Level Test
The Body Oxygen Level Test (BOLT) has been around since 1975.
The test involves the measurement of the length of time a person can hold his/her breath comfortably as an indication of relative breathing volume during rest and breathlessness during physical exercise.
This test is not a measurement of how long you can hold your breath. Rather, it assesses the time it takes for your body to react physically to a lack of air.
Fitness level does not impact results. Elite athletes can sometimes score lower than couch potatoes!
This test provides a DIY assessment of lung and circulatory health.
Zinc Challenge
The zinc challenge test is an inexpensive and fast way to test your zinc levels yourself.
Low zinc is an immunity-threatening deficiency that requires prompt dietary modification.
Simply take 1 teaspoon of liquid zinc in your mouth and hold it there for up to 30 seconds. You do not need to swish it around.
If you immediately taste something strongly bitter and unpleasant, such as a metallic taste that makes you grimace, this indicates excellent zinc status!
The longer it takes to taste something other than water, the more deficient you may be.
If after 10-30 seconds, you still do not taste anything or the solution “tastes like water”, this can signal that you are very deficient.
Vitamin D Test
Most people do not realize that they can test Vitamin D levels without going to the doctor.
This home Vitamin D test is inexpensive, and you receive results securely and quickly within about a week.
Low D puts a person at greater risk for infections of all kinds. Chronically low levels can contribute to degenerative conditions like osteoporosis, MS, depression, and cancer among many others.
Candida Saliva Test
The candida home test is a simple way to identify systemic fungal overgrowth without messy samples or expensive labs.
All you have to do is spit into a clear glass filled with filtered water first thing in the morning after you get up before brushing your teeth or eating/drinking anything.
Then, watch the glass at 15-minute intervals for one hour. If you notice any of the changes below, you likely have fungus in your saliva and a possible systemic infection.
- Stringy legs that travel downward through the water from the saliva floating on the surface.
- The saliva is cloudy and sinks to the bottom of the glass within an hour.
- Cloudy specks of saliva remain suspended in the water.
Iodine Deficiency Test
The iodine skin patch test is a home assessment I’ve used a number of times over the years.
It requires a 2” square patch of iodine to be painted on the arm or thigh. The length of time it takes for the patch to fade is observed. The faster the body absorbs the iodine, the greater the need for iodine.
2% iodine tincture is the type to look for and it is inexpensive and readily available at any pharmacy costing just a few dollars.
While not perfect, this easy, inexpensive, and noninvasive test can quickly assess your relative iodine status.
Home Allergy Test
The pulse test for food allergies is as good as the skin pricks at the allergist in my experience.
The only downside is that it takes a bit of planning as only one food can be tested at a time.
The four steps to conduct the test are as follows:
- Avoid the suspected food for at least 4 days.
- Eat a moderate amount of the suspected food on an empty stomach. Consume no other food within the previous 2 hours (drinking water is fine).
- Measure pulse rate (beats per minute) before and 5-10 minutes after eating the tested food.
- Calculate the difference in pulse rate. Did you find a significant rise of more than just a few beats per minute? If so, then an allergy or intolerance is likely even if you do not identify any other symptoms.
Nickel Allergy Self-Test
Exposure to nickel is one of the most common triggers for atopic dermatitis, an itchy, inflamed skin condition more commonly known as eczema.
Thus, if you have issues with atopic dermatitis, knowing if you have a nickel sensitivity is important!
For example, simply eating a pasta meal with tomato sauce in a restaurant could cause an uncomfortable outbreak.
This is because most stainless steel cookware contains nickel, and this heavy metal leaches into acidic foods.
Try this easy self-test for nickel at home. Simply try on a pair of cheap earrings. Most of these are made with nickel.
If you don’t have pierced ears, clip-ons work fine too.
Do your ears get itchy, red, or inflamed within a few minutes?
If so, it is important to avoid cooking acidic food in your stainless cookware, swap it out for nickel-free brands, or have a clay or (safe) enameled pot to use instead.
The knowledge from this simple test can help avoid eczema outbreaks that seemingly come out of nowhere but actually have nickel exposure as the cause.
