For me, a good alternative to the doctor's visit. Earlobe worked better than fingerstick

To save the trip to the doctor, I have a vitamin D blood test ordered from Amazon. Appointed on July 3, he was with Prime because the next day. According to instructions of the test only to be sent Monday to Thursday to take a chance, the sample as possible "fresh" in the laboratory. So I waited until Monday, trying to prick with the two enclosed lancet in the fingertip and to tap half a milliliter of blood. Unfortunately no avail. Even the warm hand in the water did not help.

Slightly frustrated and angry about the trivialization of the problems that can occur during the removal, I read the reviews by Amazon and found that there was some buyers as happened to me. Some had given up, someone else had requested a new test suite. With this regard, I read the instructions again and carried on the last page is under warranty ". ... You make a mistake while sampling ... We immediately send a new test package"

The further procedure was as follows:

8.7: Email sent to the address provided with the request for a new test suite, a few extra lancets and a TipDero the blood could be more rewarding.

10.7: The answer: Test Set and lancets were sent and the earlobe would be more appropriate in some individuals.

15.7: the new set is there, including about 10 lancets.

16.7: Before the mirror I pikse the bottom of my ear lobe, previously disinfected with alcohol swab. Lo and behold, a thick red drops will form and can be captured with the test tubes. So "milking" I long blood until the mark is reached. The test tube closes with a crackling. Disinfected at the end again and wait for hemostasis. And from the post office.

17.7: On the home page of medivere.de is an input mask for serial number, code and date of birth. With a bit of zooming the input is possible even on the smartphone. Afternoon to note that the sample has arrived, but no findings yet been displayed.

18.7: Noon the result is available: 120 nmol / l, ie divided by 2.5 is 48 ng / ml. I had after taking about 1,000,000 IU in the last two months expect a higher value. An iPhone app that extrapolate the blood value according to the formula in the book by Dr. von hero had, give 73 ng / ml.

All in all I can recommend the blood test. The illustrated manual is good but could be better. The earlobes should be mentioned as potentially better "delivery point".

As long as health insurance companies do not pay the test anyway, the do-it-yourself test for me is a good alternative to the doctor's visit.