home test kit for cp or measles?

[newmum35]

is there a blood test available for chickenpox or measles or do you have to go through your dr? Like you can do home testing for urine, hair analysis, vitamin D levels etc (through finger prick blood). They have so many home kits these days I thought who knows there might be one out there somewhere.

also, how accurate are these blood tests? what are the chances of false negatives or false positives? Ive heard people here say they tested negative but clearly were immune (having had the illness in the past I suppose)

[Marnica]

There are no home kits for antibody titre tests that i am aware of, but you can order tests without your Doc.

Dr. Tenpenny partners with Direct labs and you can order tests from them. I have done this for discounted vitamin d levels. here is how it works:

http://drtenpenny.com/titer.aspx

[newmum35]

Originally Posted by Marnica

There are no home kits for antibody titre tests that i am aware of, but you can order tests without your Doc.

Dr. Tenpenny partners with Direct labs and you can order tests from them. I have done this for discounted vitamin d levels. here is how it works:

http://drtenpenny.com/titer.aspx

Thanks so much. That was what I meant. I assume after receiving the test kit, you take it to a local lab who will draw blood for you? We have a high deductible and thought it would be cheaper to skip the dr visit part and just go right to the lab (or send in a sample if home kit) but I thought labs wouldnt do it without a dr slip.

I see pertussis on the list. For some reason I was thinking this wasn't detectible in lab blood tests and not an option. Hmmm. Forget why I thought that now. Its not on the list of the link you gave, but when scrolling down under "how to do it" the link that takes you to directlabs I do see the Bordetella Pertussis AB listed near the top.

Some of these would certainly be interesting to know. I do recall this site in the past and had forgotten about it. May want to do some of them someday.

If anyone has done more than one, how does it work? Do they need a vial of blood for each test or can they do all the tests from the same tube of blood? When I was last at our ped for my sons visit, and they were ordering lead and anemia test, I also asked for the vit. D, and so they ended up doing 3 tubes of blood at the lab. I'm guessing it works same way here too but not sure. (always wondered why they couldn't do the test with a much smaller amt of blood.. then again, the tube thing probably just looks big, its probably not as much blood as it appears.)

I do wonder in the case of the vaccine titres how many false results there are, or if there are any studies about this. what percentage of people might get a false negative for example and think they are vulnerable to a particular illness, but actually do have immunity. would be good to know.

[Marnica]

This is not a kit that you bring to the lab....you basically get a doctor's order. They have a medical director whose name appears on the requisition form that you download when you order the tests. You print out the requisition form and bring it to a participating lab. They have a link on the site to see if there is a lab near you. You can't just go to any lab.

The tests are done and and the results are posted in your account within a few days. You can log in and get your results. I have only done the vit d test through them, so Im not sure about the number of vials taken for multiple tests, but there is a 1-800 number on the link. You could call and ask.

My DS is 2, but when he is a bit older, I think some of these tests may be useful. I know that titre levels are not always an accurate reflection of immunity, so I would take any results with a grain of salt. You can have no detectable antibodies toa disease, but still be immune and visa vera. But some information is better than none right?!

[amnesiac]

Moved to H&H.