In some previous incarnation I was a med lab teck and did these occult blood tests frequently. They were quite simple.
Several decades has elapsed and I need to save the money the lab wants and do the test myself but I cannot recall how it was done.
If you were doing this test decades ago, you were probably using filter papers impregnated with guaiac resin. A very small smear on one of these cards, when developed with hydrogen peroxide, would produce a blue color if blood was present.
The resin is available as an alcoholic tincture for $29 a bottle; the developer (hydrogen peroxide in alcohol) for $6. You can buy the take-home kit at the pharmacy for $12. Your call.
Of course, the lab probably doesn’t use that test, because it’s inaccurate and obsolete. For lower GI bleeding, the more reliable test (other than endoscopy) is the fecal immunochemical test, which I doubt you’ll be able to whip up at home. The home version of Hemoccult ICT (which comes with 20 test cards, is available for $160 on Amazon.
Are we talking about a blood test to determine if someone has been dabbling in the occult?
Or is it itself a creepywierd blood ritual of some kind?
I was confused as well, but I’m pretty sure they’re talking about the Fecal Occult Blood Test*, I imagine the “previous incarnation” was a joke about the word occult making a reference to a previous job of hers.
- FTR, Occult means “hidden” so it’s just a test to see if you have blood hidden in your poo.
“occult” can mean hidden; I presume we’re talking about a test to determine if one has hidden blood in their stool.
ETA: Beaten to the punch.
Yes, hidden blood in the stool. And I was probably using the guaiac resin on filter paper. I just didn’t recall. Thanks