At-Home Cholesterol Screening Equipment

Hi All,

Know we can't push specific brands of things on the forum, but does anyone

have any experience with testing cholesterol at home?  i would sure be

interseted in doing so, and would like to hear what others think.  i have

looked at multiple models, all do different kinds of things.  one of the things

they warn about is for us "bleeders" - that that can cause a problem.  and

of course you don't want to overdo it, they recommend about once a month.

but i sure would like to keep better track of it myself.  there are 2 machines

that seem valid to me:  one checks one thing at a time, costs a lot less,

that is you can test total cholesterol only.  another pin prick is required for

measuring HDL.  then a more expensive machine will do the whole shebang,

all lipid counts, with one stick.

everyone's thoughts, please!

thanks,

libby

Sara is correct, Libby. Thanks, Sara!! :)

Hi Libby!

I personally have never used any at home test to check my cholesterol.

However, I do have a BP monitor and it shows it's accuracy when I go to the Dr. and I have the same BP there.

I have an at Home "Accu Chek" for my diabetes and so far it's been good!  At the time I got that I checked with my Insurance company and that's what they recommended and I rec'd. it free through them.

So with all that said...why not call your Insurance Co., or check with your Dr./or nurse to see what they would recommend?

Here are a couple of my famous links - lol - to a .gov site that may help.

http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/oivd/homeuse-cholesterol.html
http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/oivd/consumer-homeuse.html

thanks for the input everyone.

teri, i have a rather nice BP monitor and it doesn't really work worth

a flip.  don't know if that's my fault (i.e., the fault of my poor little

ole bod), or just the machine.  when i take mine to the doc's, it's

always WAY off.  WAY OFF.  so i use it only as a semi-guideline.

i wonder how reliable those cholesterol checkers really are.  seems we

would all have one if they were any good, since that's what everyone at

this site needs to or does work so hard on...

hi teri,
yeah, i know that ole BP of mine particularly goes up and down, up and down,
like a seesaw.
i also see that some might overuse the cholesterol checker. i just get tired of
the hassle of going to the doc, getting the bloodwork order, going to do that,
waiting a few days - a week to get results, etc., etc. and sometimes when i'm
trying a new med i want to be more on top of whether or not it's helping, etc.
libby