Lab work / blood tests

#1
Do you guys have a routine regarding blood tests?
Between the hobby (+possibility of BB services, even if you trust the girl is serious, who knows what her other customers do on the side) and civilians I assume it's a good idea to do some STD tests multiple times a year

But I'm thinking why not add a hormone check and all the other regular checks?

If it's something you do regularly, do you have any recommendations on this topic? Favorite lab in terms of price and convenience, which tests to take?

I admit the recent bbfs talk got me thinking, it's something I had completely overlooked until now
 

justme

homo economicus
#2
I don’t know about the other stuff, but I can’t see why anyone in Manhattan wouldn’t use the Chelsea Express Clinic for testing: super fast, very professional, and free.
 
#3
I strongly recommend getting an annual physical exam each year, which will include many important labs. You can ask for an STD panel during this exam if you want.

For STD screenings throughout the year I just go to a CityMD. The co-pay is pretty low for me and it's good to have access to those test results anywhere via the patient portal in case you're asked to provide proof to a girl.
 
#4
I haven't had a test in years. My main concern is that I do not want any record of an STD test (pos or neg) tied to me so I would not go thru my md or using my insurance.
Ideas?
 
#6
County or City Health Department, have free testing.
I see ads for free testing where the free means no charge if you are uninsured and no copay (but it's put thru your insurance co) if you are.
Thus the trail mailed to my house when my monthly insurance statement comes.
I don't care all that much about paying outside my insurance company but I need no "paper" trail.
 
#7
I see ads for free testing where the free means no charge if you are uninsured and no copay (but it's put thru your insurance co) if you are.
Thus the trail mailed to my house when my monthly insurance statement comes.
I don't care all that much about paying outside my insurance company but I need no "paper" trail.
I recently used stdcheck online. They send you to a lab with a requisition form and you can select on the website whether or not you want them to contact you and how they should contact you. So I just use a different email address. They email that results are available and you can then check the portal. Or you can ask that they not email you and just check the portal after a couple days. They had some results in one day and the rest in two.
 
#8
I recently used stdcheck online. They send you to a lab with a requisition form and you can select on the website whether or not you want them to contact you and how they should contact you. So I just use a different email address. They email that results are available and you can then check the portal. Or you can ask that they not email you and just check the portal after a couple days. They had some results in one day and the rest in two.

How much they charged you? Does that take insurance into account?
 
#11
Because I am on testosterone replacement therapy I get blood work done about 4 times a year. Two major panels every six months and two testosterone levels every four months.

Everyone should get blood work done at least once a year.
The standard is cholesterol lipids, red and white blood cell count, liver function, kidney function, PSA for prostate cancer, testosterone levels, A1C to you know if you’re diabetic or not, vitamin D and iron levels plus anything else you want to add that your insurance will pay for. Add to that a urine sample where they check for infections and blood in the urine.
all the blood results you will also be able to access online from all the major labs.
 
#12

Google free std check and you will find various firms remarketing mainstream labs like Quest with web pages and Instagram ads. Maybe the same firm using multiple business names, with different artwork, etc.

The last time I checked, none would let you register under a nickname and let you never tell them your real name if you want a test in NY State. If you want a test in Connecticut or in many other states that are not NY, it was explicitly possible to choose to register under a nickname, Bondman008 or whatever.

For NY State, you need to provide a patient name and date of birth. In the past, a human lab receptionist would check registration details vs govt ID upon your arrival at the lab.

I do not recall if patient contact info -- phone and email and/or mailing address -- was optional but you could use your regular hobby ph etc, or create special hobby-health contact info to receive appointment details and results, and address if provided was never used (address is not needed for credit card verification if you follow typical hobbyist protocol discussed below). Nobody reading this will need tutoring on this step.

You specify a location (ZIP, county, etc) and the website finds testing centers, just like Yelp, I found some labs stay open to 7pm but others close early, at noon to 2pm so if you want to find a specific date and time you need to search interactively a bit. The hours available for remarketed STD tests might be more limited than general lab hours. Choose your appointment lab address/date/time, receive a code on the screen. Save the code.

A couple of years ago, you would then go do your test, and remarketer would release the results when you paid and cited your code with payment.
So you could sign up for the test, give bodily fluid samples, presumably the lab tested those samples, but you could not pay and never get results, and the remarketing firm would eat the lost $ to pay Quest. Or you could pay, and a week later, phone 1-888 results, give your code and be told results. If you hadn't paid yet, or you payment had not posted, then when you phoned in and gave your code, they would transfer you to a recording tell you how to pay, and you would not get results.

Now you need to pay before the appointment is approved and tests confirmed available. I forget exactly how the website enforced that dependency, but in the past could pay by USPS mailed money order that you buy at 711 or bodega. Recently you can pay on web by gift prepaid credit/debit card eg Vanilla when you make your appointment.

Now you have paid for your test and have an appointment for a time and place. When you go to the lab, eg Quest office, you tell them what name you used to register for the test, and they treat you like a VIP and take you ASAP (in my experience) so no waiting about.

Some lab offices are semi-automated (for whatever reason, minimizing public contact in the pandemic, cost of administrative staff, just wanting to feel high tech and modern, or wanting to capture data). You may get a kiosk to self-register when you arrive at the lab. You will give it some info for them to look up your appointment, such as date of birth and name, sort of like self-check-in for a flight at the airport. Key point here is to provide info based on the name and DOB that you provided when registering. Possibly no human will ask for your info, nor for ID if you provide info on the kiosk that matches their system.

Once you check-in via receptionist or kiosk, you get called, go to a private room, they orally confirm what you are being tested for, and you give urine and blood samples. Not sure if site-specific swab tests are available in this market.

So if you want anonymous testing in NY, find a lab that does check-in via iPad app on the lab's iPad, and register for tests at that lab office for the tests under a hobby-health profile, and pay in advance via pre-paid gift card; remember that profile when you check in to give a sample, and also when you check for results via phone or web in case they add security questions. The firms marketing these tests might be sleazy or honest, but the labs taking and processing the samples are mainstream, like Quest.
 
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