Notes on reading lab results over time, how medical records move between health systems, and what you can do to keep your own copy.
A simple system for imaging reports, discharge summaries, lab results, and letters: what to keep, how to name and file it, and where to store it safely.
Calculate the ApoB/ApoA1 ratio from results in mg/dL or g/L, see what the INTERHEART and AMORIS studies found, and check ApoB against guideline thresholds.
Calculate the BUN-to-creatinine ratio from mg/dL or SI units, see the urea-to-creatinine ratio UK labs use, and learn why the ratio is only a rough clue.
Calculate the FIB-4 liver fibrosis score from your age, AST, ALT, and platelet count, with the right cutoffs for your age and when the score is less reliable.
Four ways to get lab results out of FollowMyHealth: the Export option, the lab's own portal, a records request, or the records your new provider pulls in.
Four ways to get lab results out of a healow or eClinicalWorks patient portal: the health record download, a PDF from the app, an app connection, or a request.
Four ways to get lab results out of a NextGen Patient Portal: the Health Record download, the lab's own portal, an app connection, or a records request.
Medicare's claims download lists every lab test it paid for, but not the results. How to download it, and use it as a map to get the actual numbers.
What ApoB counts, why it can disagree with LDL, mg/dL and g/L, how much results vary, and how to chart ApoB alongside LDL and your medications.
Units, assays, target ranges on hormone therapy, why the time since your last dose matters, and how to chart your estradiol history honestly.
Which parts of a complete blood count are worth charting, how much they move on their own, and what shifts hemoglobin, white cells, and platelets.
What hs-CRP measures, how it differs from standard CRP, why one result says little, and how to chart your hs-CRP without the mg/L and mg/dL trap.
Lp(a) is mostly set by your genes, so one test is usually enough. Why you may still have several results, and how to keep them comparable.
Why no single PSA is normal, what counts as a real rise, how to work out PSA doubling time, and what else can move your PSA.
What the urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio shows, why one result is not enough, what makes it jump, and how to chart your UACR history alongside eGFR.
What uric acid measures, the gout targets of 6 and 5 mg/dL, why a flare-time result misleads, and how to chart your uric acid as treatment is adjusted.
What a B12 result means, the grey zone between low and normal, why injections make later results hard to read, and how to chart B12 with MMA and MCV.
Calculate your neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio from absolute counts or differential percentages, and see the healthy adult range and why one value says little.
Calculate PSA doubling time by the PSA Working Group method and PSA velocity from up to six dated results, with the rules for a meaningful result.
Calculate transferrin saturation from serum iron and TIBC in µg/dL or µmol/L, see the 20% and 45% cutoffs, and learn why TSAT swings between draws.
Calculate your urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio in mg/g and mg/mmol from one urine sample, and see which KDIGO albuminuria category it falls in.
There is no Health app for Mac, Windows, or the web. Four ways to see the lab results in Apple Health on a computer anyway, and what each one gets you.
Your parent sees several doctors and gets labs at more than one place. How to get access to their results, gather them, and keep one history to bring along.
Your blood was drawn at Quest one year and Labcorp the next. How to get both sets of results, line them up, and read the trend despite the switch.
Your primary care, specialist, and hospital each run their own MyChart. Four ways to see all of your lab results together, and what each one misses.
Pasting lab results into a chatbot sends them to a company outside HIPAA. How to run a model on your own computer instead, and what to strip out if you don't.
How labs set reference ranges, why the same result can be flagged at one lab and not another, which tests differ most, and how to compare results across labs.
Calculate the anion gap from sodium, chloride, and bicarbonate, add potassium if your lab does, and correct it for low albumin. With the formula and ranges.
Get the lab results, vital signs and daily heart rate, weight and sleep out of an Apple Health export into CSV or Excel, in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Correct total calcium for low or high albumin with the Payne formula, in mg/dL or mmol/L, and see when ionized calcium is the better test.
Estimate creatinine clearance with Cockcroft-Gault using actual, ideal, or adjusted weight, and compare it with eGFR from the same creatinine.
Paste or drop FHIR JSON from a patient portal, an insurer or Medicare's Blue Button, and read it as tables of labs, medications and claims. Nothing is uploaded.
Step-by-step guides to downloading your lab results from MyChart, Oracle Health, athenahealth, healow, NextGen, Kaiser, the VA, Quest, Labcorp, and more.
Lipoprotein(a) results in mg/dL and nmol/L can't be converted with one factor. Read your result against the cutoffs for its own unit instead.
Calculate non-HDL cholesterol, remnant cholesterol, the total/HDL ratio, and the TG/HDL ratio from a standard lipid panel, in mg/dL or mmol/L.
Enter TSH and free T4 with your lab's ranges to see which of the nine patterns your results match, what each usually means, and what can throw them off.
Convert a 25-hydroxyvitamin D result between ng/mL and nmol/L, with a conversion table and the cutoffs each guideline uses, in both units.
Convert A1c to estimated average glucose in mg/dL or mmol/L, or a CGM average to GMI, and see why your A1c and your CGM don't always agree.
Calculate eGFR from creatinine, age, and sex with the race-free CKD-EPI 2021 equation, add cystatin C if you have it, and see the KDIGO category.
Calculate free and bioavailable testosterone from total testosterone, SHBG, and albumin with the Vermeulen equation, and learn when the result matters.
Calculate HOMA-IR, HOMA-B, and QUICKI from a fasting glucose and insulin, in mg/dL or mmol/L, and see why there is no single normal cutoff.
What the ALT liver enzyme measures, why lab upper limits differ, what counts as a real change, and how to chart your ALT history alongside medications.
What eGFR estimates, why the equation behind it changed, how much it varies between draws, and how to chart your kidney function history honestly.
What ferritin measures, the new 2026 cutoffs for iron deficiency, why inflammation hides a low result, and how to chart your ferritin alongside iron treatment.
Total vs. free testosterone, why the time of the draw matters, how much results vary, assay differences, and how to chart your testosterone history.
What TSH measures, why small thyroid changes move it a lot, what counts as a real change, and how to chart your TSH history alongside levothyroxine doses.
Which vitamin D test to track, ng/mL vs. nmol/L, why the cutoffs disagree, how season and assay move results, and how to chart your vitamin D history.
Convert a lab report PDF from Quest, LabCorp, or MyChart into a CSV or Excel spreadsheet, in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and the file is never stored.
Convert lab results between US and SI units (mg/dL, mmol/L, ng/mL, nmol/L) with the factor for each test, and see which tests can't be converted.
Calculate LDL from total cholesterol, HDL, and triglycerides with the Friedewald, Martin/Hopkins, and Sampson equations, and see why they can disagree.
What a lipid panel measures, calculated vs. direct LDL, fasting, how much results vary, and how to chart your cholesterol history alongside medications.
What hemoglobin A1c measures, how often it is tested, what counts as a real change, and how to chart your A1c history alongside medications and glucose data.
Four ways to get lab results out of an athenahealth Patient Portal: the Health Records download, an app connection, the lab, or a records request.
Four ways to get your lab results out of kp.org: an app connection, the health summary download, a printed result, or a formal records request.
Four ways to get your lab results out of an Oracle Health or Cerner patient portal: an app connection, the record download, Apple Health, or a records request.
Four ways for veterans to get lab results out of My HealtheVet on VA.gov: a single result, the Blue Button report, the CCD, or a records request.
What each part of a lab report means: the dates, the result columns, reference ranges, flags, and why one out-of-range value matters less than the trend.
A free lab results spreadsheet template for Excel and Google Sheets, how to fill it in and chart a test, and the three places a spreadsheet goes wrong.
Four ways to get your lab results out of Labcorp: the official report from MyLabcorp, Apple Health, a written request, or your doctor's portal.
Four ways to get your lab results out of Quest Diagnostics: a MyQuest PDF, Apple Health, a written request, or your doctor, and which one to use.
Fixing an error at the source leaves every copy untouched. How to find who holds one, and how to correct other providers, your insurer, and underwriting files.
Wrong medication, wrong diagnosis, someone else's note in your chart. What you can correct, what you can only annotate, and how to make the correction stick.
Your portal shows a slice of your record. What the full record contains, what the law says you can have, how to ask for it, and how to spot gaps.
MyChart, Apple Health, Google Health, cloud trackers, lab memberships, open-source tools, and spreadsheets: what each does with your lab results.
Four ways to get your lab results out of MyChart, from a direct app connection to a full record request, and which one to use for a long history.
A practical way to turn scattered lab reports into one history you can read: gather, record consistently, add context, and chart each test.
Iron, cholesterol, CRP, insulin, hormones, and urine tests all shift with the menstrual cycle. Here is what moves, by how much, and when to test.
You started something new and the next lab came back different. Before you credit the drug, check the timing, the noise, and whether you actually took it.
One result inside a reference range tells you little. The same test tracked over five years tells you a lot. Here is how to build that view yourself.
A code entered once, in one visit, can shape how clinicians you have never met read your chart years later. Here is how, and what the law lets you do about it.
Your records move between health systems by default. Whether you can stop it depends on which kind of sharing you mean and which state you live in.