Anecdata: I'm a physician, and get tests done for myself and my family at the Theranos place in Palo Alto, for around $5/test (vs $50 for other labs), and I have no concern about the accuracy of the tests. This abstract discusses some of the possible reasons for variation in test results:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10887452
Of course, none of this proves that the tests are reliable (consistent) and accurate, just that there are several explanations for unexpected and unrepeatable values in a given patient.
Do you know if anyone can get their blood tested or do you need an doctor's order? Their prices seem quick cheap and it would be nice to get some periodic readings for my chronic health problems.
As far as I know, Theranos is in two places: Palo Alto and Arizona. It seems like Arizona is passing laws to allow testing without a doctor's order. California, you still need one.
I think you still need a doctor's order in california, and there is effectively only one theranos testing center place open to the public in California (I think the one in the Theranos building is for staff only). One of their staff told me they were focussing on Arizona instead of California because the regulation in California increased the time and cost there.
If you are anywhere near Palo Alto and want to get some tests done, just message me, we'll sort something out :)
First link shows Vitamin D is very low and should be affecting your friends energy levels at the very least.
Second link shows a 1500%(!) increase in AST in under a year and its way over limit.
One way to evaluate the accuracy is the sniff test, e.g. is the lab result congruent with how the person feels? Information on the internet around understanding your medical tests is pretty crappy unfortunately, but you can usually get to understand whether symptoms match. And if you have a doctor that gives you the time of day and helps you understand it, even more so. Your friend's AST result raises a question of whether there is an accuracy issue and should be investigated.
From WebMD [0] --
> High levels of AST may be caused by:
> * Liver damage from conditions such as hepatitis or cirrhosis.
> * A heart attack or heart failure.
> * Many medicines, such as statins, antibiotics, chemotherapy, aspirin, narcotics, and barbiturates.
> * High doses of vitamin A.
> * Kidney or lung damage.
> * Mononucleosis.
> * Some types of cancer.
> Many different conditions can raise AST blood levels, so other testing is usually needed to interpret an abnormal AST result.
http://padlet.com/dpetersen/khmmi11wy8hz http://padlet.com/dpetersen/r6dg1vbxmz92
I don't know how an individual could evaluate the accuracy of these results, but the same goes for a non-Theranos blood test as well.