r/Function_Health

I got my lab results and Clinician summary back relatively quickly, all within 4 weeks. I'm concerned about the summary though. Is this generated by AI? There is a part in the notes that talks about a certain procedure being performed and the outcome of it, which is entirely false. I asked the built in Claude/Chat to validate, and it agreed, saying there was no evidence to support those statements.

Also, I shared the results with my PCP and he laughed at some of it, saying some of it made no sense. Are physicians reviewing these notes?

Hi everyone, hoping someone with medical knowledge can help me understand my recent iron labs because the numbers seem confusing.

I’m a 36F, healthy, normal BMI, healthy lifestyle.

Timeline

~2 weeks ago – Function Health panel

Ferritin: 4

Hemoglobin: 11.2

My GP was concerned about the ferritin being that low and referred me to a hematologist.

~7 days later – ER visit

I was in Costa Rica and developed traveler’s diarrhea, ended up going to the ER to get quick antibiotics because it was a weekend. They ran a CBC and my hemoglobin was 11.4.

~10 days after the original test – hematologist repeat labs, this hematologist is at a top NYC hospital and swears his results are correct not Functions…

Ferritin: 22

Hemoglobin: 12.9

That seems like a very large jump in a short period of time.

Other relevant factors

I’m currently about 7 days into this stomach infection (diarrhea, sure there would be some dehydration etc).

I’ve been drinking water and electrolytes but my body has definitely been going through it.

I started oral iron supplements about 12 days ago.

I’m currently taking azithromycin from the ER for the infection.

Because the ferritin was 4 initially, my GP also referred me to a GI doctor who wants to do a colonoscopy in about 4 weeks once the infection settles to rule out any GI causes of iron deficiency.

My questions

Could infection or inflammation from a stomach virus affect ferritin or hemoglobin levels?

Could the Function Health ferritin of 4 be inaccurate, or do labs sometimes vary this much?

Is it realistic for ferritin to increase from 4 → 22 in ~10 days, especially while sick?

Could dehydration from diarrhea affect these numbers?

Next step

I’m seeing my GP tomorrow to repeat a full iron panel through a different lab, so we’ll have another comparison.

Would really appreciate any insight from anyone familiar with iron panels or lab variability.

My AI wrote this out for because I’m freaking out and can’t string my thoughts together, am I doing an unnecessary colonoscopy on wrong results???? PLEASE if anyone can explain a crazy jump like this, surely I’m not that dehydrated that it would do this?

Hey everyone,

I’m looking to sign up for Function Health and saw they have a referral bonus. I don’t have a referral yet, so I figured I’d check here to see if anyone wants to split the bonus 50/50 so we both benefit.

If you’ve got a referral link and are open to sharing the bonus, comment or DM me and we can work it out.

Thanks!

A week or so ago, I postponed my tests because Quest had run out of some kind of vial or tube needed for some of the tests and I would have to return to complete the testing. Also, they were running behind and I had an appointment elsewhere.

My rescheduled test is tomorrow, and I heard from someone who tested today that they had gotten the last set of vials and the technician didn’t know whether they would be able to restock by tomorrow.

It is a long drive to the lab, along with the fasting/stop supplements thing, so I would like to know if I will be able to complete the tests tomorrow.

I contacted the Function AI chat on their website (not the app), and it wrote that I needed a concierge and gave a link. But that link gave a connection error. Reconnect, retry” etc. gave no response. The bot then said to try a direct button to concierge chat, but that didn’t exist.

Next I tried the AI chat on the phone app and it said they were having a high volume of messages and someone would email me. I guess I will reschedule again rather than risk it.

I long for the time when medical supply chains were intact and you could call a number and talk to someone to sort things out, or at least get information.

Are there any plans to bring this to the United Kingdom, I think there would be a lot of interest?

How can we download our results as documents? I think I’ve seen someone ask about it but can’t find the post. Thanks!

I recently joined and have my initial labs tomorrow morning at 10. The instructions say to stop taking supplements for 72 hours prior to the date of the appointment but today after the gym, I drank a protein shake. I only walked on a treadmill for an hour, no heavy lifting and nothing that raised my heart rate. The ingredients are:

(24oz / 30g Protein):

Almond milk, peanut butter, banana, cocoa, organic dates and clean whey.

Should I reschedule because of the protein shake or you think I’m ok?

I really really want to get my levels tested but haven’t done so because I passed out years ago while doing a blood draw. Since then, I get light headed when thinking about getting ANY blood drawn. How do I not pass out because this blood draw seems brutal

Hi! Diagnosed last year at 34 with Kidney Cancer (Chromophobe subtype) purchased Function Health after seeing my ferritin has stayed at an 18 since dx. I want to improve my odds and quality of life. Any other cancer survivors on Function? Has it been life changing?

Is 48 hours between biotin pill and blood draw enough?