A Public Health Campaign
Test first, then treat.
Thyroid disease, B12 deficiency, anemia, blood-sugar dysregulation and inflammation can all mimic psychiatric symptoms. Before you accept a diagnosis or start medication, ask your doctor to run the labs. This is pro-diagnosis, pro-evidence, and pro-you.
The Panel
A short universal core. Reasonable. Mostly covered. Designed to be screenshotted and handed to your clinician.
Tip: CMP already includes fasting glucose, calcium, and liver enzymes — flag those on review. With HbA1c + fasting insulin you can calculate HOMA-IR.
Discuss with a functional, integrative, or metabolic-psychiatry clinician. Evidence varies. Not usually covered.
Add based on your situation
A short core keeps doctors listening. Add the rows that match your story.
Say this to your doctor
Before we settle on a diagnosis or start medication, I'd like to rule out medical causes that can mimic these symptoms. Can we run a CBC, CMP, a full thyroid panel with antibodies, B12 and folate, vitamin D, ferritin, magnesium, HbA1c, hs-CRP, and homocysteine? If anything is off, I'd like to address that first or alongside treatment.
If they decline
Politely ask them to note in your chart that you requested these labs and they were not ordered. This protects you and creates a record.
After the labs
Ask for copies of every result — not just a 'looks normal' note.
Lab reference ranges are statistical, not clinical. Bring the numbers to someone who reads them in context.
A root-cause, functional, or metabolic-psychiatry provider can interpret patterns standard 10-minute visits miss.
One snapshot is data. Three over a year is a story. Re-test the same panel.
Join the campaign
One email. We'll send the lab panel PDF and occasional updates as the campaign grows.
Become a volunteer
This campaign moves at the speed of people who care. Print the flyer for your clinic, translate the panel, design a thumbnail, or share one post a week. Pick your lane.
Print the Volunteer Flyer (PDF) ↓The science is real
Metabolic and nutritional contributors to mental illness are an active field of medicine, with dedicated clinics and research at Stanford Medicine and McLean Hospital / Harvard.
Important — Read this
This site is educational and is not medical advice. Do not stop or change any prescribed medication on your own — stopping psychiatric medication suddenly can be dangerous. Make changes with your prescriber.
Getting labs is meant to inform your care, not delay or refuse treatment.
If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, US) or go to your nearest emergency room.