Bloodwork

Reading your own bloodwork over time: reference ranges vs optimal, retest cadence per marker class, and comparing labs.

• Can you lower Lp(a)? The drugs in trials, and why none is approved yet

  2026-07-27

  For years the only advice on a high Lp(a) was to drive every other risk factor down, because nothing touched the number itself. Five drugs are about to change that, and the first real test of whether it matters has not reported yet.

• How often to retest bloodwork: a cadence per marker class

  2026-07-08

  Each marker has an equilibration time. Draw before it settles and you are measuring the transient, not the new baseline. Here is the cadence that fits the biology.

• ApoB and Lp(a): what a normal cholesterol panel misses

  2026-07-08

  A cholesterol panel can call you fine while the number that actually drives plaque sits unmeasured. Two markers, one of them a single lifetime test, fix that.

• Optimal vs normal blood test ranges (and why they differ)

  2026-07-08

  Normal means inside the middle 95% of a reference population. It does not mean fine, and optimal is a different question entirely. Here is how to read both.