Let’s face it: online wellness testing is everywhere.
For a few hundred dollars, you can order a “comprehensive” blood panel from your couch. Hormones. Thyroid. Vitamins. Metabolic markers. Inflammation. Insulin. Cortisol. You name it. Some companies test dozens (or even hundreds) of biomarkers and promise to give you a better picture of your health.
And listen, we are HUGE advocates for taking control of your health.
We believe in asking questions. We believe bloodwork can be an incredibly useful tool. We believe there is a difference between simply falling inside a laboratory’s “normal” reference range and looking at your results in the context of how you actually feel, your health history, your medications, your lifestyle, and your goals.
So we certainly aren't going to tell you not to get bloodwork.
But we ARE going to tell you to ask a few questions before you hand over your credit card.
What Does “Comprehensive” Actually Mean?
This word gets thrown around a lot. A company advertises a “comprehensive wellness panel” with 50, 75, or 100+ biomarkers, and it sounds impressive.
But more tests don't automatically mean better information.
Why are those particular tests being ordered? What question are they trying to answer? And what are you supposed to do with the results?
Testing everything just because we can test it isn't necessarily good healthcare.
Bloodwork is a tool. The value comes from knowing what to test, understanding what the results mean, and then figuring out what, if anything, you should do about them.
Who Is Actually Looking at Your Results?
This is a big one. Before purchasing an online panel, find out exactly what you're getting.
Who ordered the tests? Who reviews them? What are that person's credentials?
Does your purchase include an actual consultation with a qualified practitioner, or does it include an automatically generated report showing which values are green, yellow, and red?
If you want to speak to someone, is that included, or is it another fee? And if something comes back abnormal, who is responsible for helping you figure out why?
Because knowing that your ferritin, insulin, thyroid markers, or other values are outside someone's “optimal” range is not the same thing as understanding what those results mean for you.
A Lab Value Doesn't Exist in a Vacuum
This is where we think functional health should actually be functional. Your bloodwork is one piece of a much larger puzzle.
Your symptoms matter. Your medications matter. Your supplements matter. Your diet matters. Your sleep matters. Your age matters. Your health history matters. What was happening in your life when the blood was drawn can matter.
Sometimes even the timing of the test matters. A number on a screen doesn't know any of that. And simply labeling a result “suboptimal” doesn't automatically tell you what needs to happen next.
And Then Comes the Supplement List…
This is one of our biggest concerns with some of these programs:
You order the bloodwork. You get the beautiful report. And suddenly you have a shopping list of supplements based on every marker that isn't considered “optimal.”
Blood sugar markers aren't ideal? Here's a supplement. Stress or cortisol markers caught their attention? Here's another. Cholesterol isn't where they'd like it? Add something else. A hormone marker is a little off? There's a supplement for that too.
Before you know it, you've got $500 worth of supplements in your cart. Does that mean supplements are bad? Of course not. We recommend supplements ourselves when they are appropriate.
But supplementation should have a reason behind them.
Before automatically adding another capsule, we should also be asking: Could diet help? Could lifestyle changes help? Is there something else contributing to this result? Is this supplement even necessary? Could it interact with a medication you're already taking? How long should you take it? And are we ever going to recheck the thing we're supposedly treating?
Because yes, you absolutely can take too much of certain vitamins, minerals, and other supplements.
And even when you're not taking a dangerous amount, sometimes all you've accomplished is creating really expensive urine without actually addressing the reason you didn't feel good in the first place.
A good plan shouldn't look like one abnormal marker = one new bottle. The goal should be figuring out what the bigger picture is telling us and deciding what changes will actually make a difference.
So Is Online Testing Easier?
Maybe. Ordering bloodwork while sitting on your couch certainly sounds easier. But what happens after the results arrive?
If you now need to find someone else to interpret them, pay for another consultation, explain your entire medical history, sort through a giant supplement recommendation, and then figure out which suggestions actually make sense… Was it really easier? And was it actually cheaper? Not necessarily.
For comparison, we can put together a comprehensive blood panel through Ulta Lab Tests for around $250, depending on what we're evaluating.
But the bigger difference isn't just the price of the bloodwork. It's having a real person to help you along the way.
Find Someone You Can Actually Trust
If you're going to invest in your health, look beyond the slick website and the giant list of biomarkers:
- Ask who you're working with.
- Ask about their credentials.
- Ask how they determine which tests you actually need.
- Ask whether they're willing to recommend food, sleep, exercise, or other lifestyle changes before handing you a bag full of supplements.
- Ask whether they make money from the products they're recommending.
- Ask what happens after the first appointment.
And perhaps most importantly, ask yourself: Does this person actually know me, or am I a lab report and an order number?
Technology is going to continue changing healthcare. At some point, you may find yourself getting health recommendations generated largely by an algorithm or AI. Technology can be an incredible tool, but it cannot replace the value of a knowledgeable healthcare professional who listens, asks questions, understands the circumstances of your life, and knows when the numbers don't tell the whole story.
We've been doing this for 8 years. Not because functional health became trendy. Not because selling giant lab panels became a good business model. And not because we want to turn every slightly imperfect lab value into another supplement sale.
We do it because we want to help you.
We want to look at the whole picture. We want to explain what your numbers actually mean. We want you to understand your options. And we want to walk alongside you while you figure out what makes sense for your health.
Online testing isn't inherently bad. There are good platforms and qualified practitioners doing good work online. But there are also plenty of businesses that have discovered there is a lot of money to be made from people who are tired of feeling lousy and tired of being told that everything is “normal.”
Those people deserve better than a colorful report and a $500 shopping cart.
Advocate for your health. Get the bloodwork. Ask the questions. Look beyond “normal."
Just make sure the person helping you interpret it is someone who's interested in more than your credit card.
