If you’ve read my first post, you know that I’ve spent years trying to understand my own health.
I’m not trying to prove that anything is wrong with me.
I’m trying to establish what “normal” looks like for me.
One of the biggest frustrations I’ve had over the years is that healthcare is often based on a snapshot in time. You go to the doctor, have blood drawn once, receive your results, and then wait another year.
But our bodies don’t work that way.
Hormones fluctuate.
Stress changes things.
Sleep changes things.
Nutrition changes things.
Exercise changes things.
Even where we are in our menstrual cycle can dramatically change our lab results.
Instead of relying on one annual blood draw, I decided I wanted to learn what my body was doing throughout the year.
That’s where these two companies came in.
The Plan
For the next several months, I’ll be using two different at-home testing systems together.
Rythm Blood Testing
Rythm provides laboratory blood testing that can be completed from home with a simple finger-prick blood sample.
My goal isn’t to chase perfect numbers.
It’s to watch trends.
How does my cholesterol respond to changes in my diet?
Does my free testosterone improve as I lose weight?
Are my inflammatory markers changing?
Is my metabolism improving?
Instead of guessing whether my lifestyle changes are helping, I want actual data.
I’ll be sharing my results, explaining what they mean (and what they don’t mean), and discussing any conversations I have with my healthcare providers along the way.
Proov Hormone Testing
For most of my adult life, my menstrual cycles have been anything but predictable.
Some years I would only have one or two periods.
After having my IUD removed, my cycles became much more regular—but I still had questions.
Am I actually ovulating?
Is my progesterone high enough after ovulation?
How do my hormone levels change throughout my cycle?
Proov measures hormones throughout different phases of the menstrual cycle, helping paint a much clearer picture than simply guessing based on symptoms alone.
Rather than assuming everything is functioning normally because I have a period, I wanted to understand what was happening behind the scenes.
Why I’m Doing This
This blog isn’t about becoming my own doctor.
It’s about becoming an educated patient.
There’s a huge difference.
I believe patients should understand their own health.
We should know what our lab work means.
We should know why our doctors order certain tests.
We should know what lifestyle changes are actually making a difference.
Most importantly, I believe we should collect information before jumping to conclusions.
Too often social media encourages people to self-diagnose after watching one video.
That’s not my goal.
My goal is to gather data, ask better questions, and work alongside healthcare professionals—not against them.
Starting Point
Every journey needs a baseline.
Here’s mine.
Current Weight: 138 pounds
Over the coming months, I’ll continue tracking:
- Weight
- Cholesterol
- Hormones
- Nutrition
- Exercise
- Symptoms
- Lifestyle changes
- Wins, setbacks, and lessons learned
Some updates may be exciting.
Others may be frustrating.
But they’ll all be honest.
If my numbers improve, I’ll celebrate them.
If they don’t, I’ll share that too.
Because health isn’t about perfection.
It’s about learning, adapting, and making informed decisions one step at a time.
Thanks for following along on this journey. I hope that by sharing my experiences openly, you’ll feel empowered to ask questions about your own health, have more meaningful conversations with your healthcare team, and remember that understanding your body is a process—not a destination.