Lab results
My lab result is red. Should I worry?
A red lab result is a signal. It may be urgent, irrelevant, transient, or clinically important only when the symptom pattern fits.
Review frame
How red marks are reviewed
Inputs
- Labs
- PHQ-9 and GAD-7
- Insomnia screen
- Medication and supplement list
- Sleep, caffeine, alcohol, and substance pattern
- Symptom timeline
- Top goals
Output
- Symptom and timeline summary
- Lab-pattern read in psychiatric context
- Medication, supplement, sleep, and substance review
- Psychiatric-medical differential
- Named pathway for care or monitoring
Not this
- Not emergency care
- Not a diagnosis from labs
- Not a medication or supplement change by website
- Not a replacement for primary care, psychiatry, or therapy
- Not proof that biology explains every symptom
Clinical read
A red lab result: the useful question
This page is an entry point. The full method lives on the review framework page; here, the job is to decide whether this situation changes what should stay in the differential, who should review it, and what should not be assumed.
Common questions
Questions people ask before they start.
Can red marks diagnose the problem?
No. Red marks can change what belongs in the differential. A responsible review still requires clinical history, symptoms, timing, medication context, risk review, and the appropriate clinician relationship.
What does the review actually give me?
A written psychiatric-medical synthesis: what appears more likely, what remains possible, what seems less likely, what needs another clinician, and what should be monitored or left alone.
Is this emergency care?
No. If symptoms are acute, dangerous, rapidly worsening, or involve possible self-harm, psychosis, mania, delirium, withdrawal, chest pain, neurologic symptoms, or medical instability, use emergency or urgent care.