reading the test

How old is too old for a lab?

Families arrive with folders spanning five years. Some of it is gold. Some of it is actively misleading. Here is how to sort it.

The rule we use

Recent labs are for prescribing. Old labs are for trajectory. A result from three years ago tells you where your child has been — it should not be the basis for what you give them tomorrow.

Old and abnormal is a recheck, not an emergency

A stale abnormal result gets framed as "this was off — recheck it," never as "your child currently has this." Parents have been frightened for years by numbers that had already normalized.

The reverse also matters: a marker that was ever abnormal deserves a recheck line, not a checkmark. One normal result does not close a question that was previously open.

What ages well and what does not

Genetics — never expires. Sequence it once.
Structural imaging (MRI) — ages slowly unless something changed clinically.
Antibody titers (strep, Mycoplasma, EBV) — age fast, and they are only meaningful as a series. One is a snapshot; two are a direction.
Gut/microbiome — ages fast, especially after antibiotics or a diet change.
Nutrients and minerals — ages fast, especially if you have been supplementing.
Mycotoxins — reflect recent exposure, so they track your environment, not your history.

The single most useful habit

Never interpret a marker without its trajectory. A ferritin of 38 means something completely different if it was 12 last year versus 80 last year. Line the values up by date before you decide anything.

Want this answered for your own child? A Plan B synthesis reads every lab and note you have — together — and tells you what is driving the picture, what has never been checked, and what to ask for next.

The first one is free, and you keep the list either way. Phone photos of labs are fine.

Start a free synthesis

Keep reading

Your Lyme tests disagree. Here is how to read that.

Specialty tick-borne panels and standard two-tier testing often disagree. Why a negative Quest or LabCorp result does not mean your child was never infected.

Mycoplasma IgG vs IgM — what actually counts as active?

High Mycoplasma IgG with a negative IgM confuses almost every PANS family. What each marker means, why doctors disagree, and the three tests that actually settle it.

Uploaded is not the same as read

A positive result can sit in a chart for years without anyone acting on it. How to make sure every lab your child has had actually gets looked at.

Plan B for PANS is written by a parent, not a physician. Nothing here is medical advice or a substitute for your child's clinicians — it is meant to make you the best-informed person in the room when you talk to them.