Last Sunday I celebrated with… a fasting blood draw.

Super fun. Sunday morning. No caffeine. No food.

Just me, a nurse who accidentally signed up for Easter duty, and a vein that apparently hadn’t had its morning coffee either.

Thankfully, she was a very efficient professional, I survived the stabbing,
​and my labs came back great (shoutout to my LDL going down and HDL going up 🎉).

All of this was for a life insurance policy, (I know, I’m acting like such a grown up!) but it reminded me how we don’t often talk about labs in psychiatry.

Should your psychiatrist be ordering labs?

Why do some never bring it up?

And when is it worth asking?

That’s exactly what I cover in this week’s quick video; common labs, what they’re for, and what’s really needed.

But if you’d rather just scan the highlights, here are a few key takeaways:

✅ Your brain lives in your body. Sometimes mental health symptoms have physical causes like anemia, thyroid issues, or vitamin deficiencies.
✅ Antipsychotics can impact metabolism. A lot. We track labs like hemoglobin A1c or fasting glucose and lipids to catch early signs of diabetes or metabolic syndrome.​
✅ Vitamin D isn’t just about bones. Low levels are linked to depression and are surprisingly common (especially if you wear sunscreen which you absolutely should!).
✅ Sometimes labs are essential. Lithium, for example, requires regular monitoring of medication levels and kidney function. Others help us rule things out when progress stalls (or make sure there’s not a bun in the oven before we start something new!).
✅ If your psychiatrist requests labs… please actually do them! We can't give you the best answers with only part of the picture and we can help if blood draws freak you out.

Whether you’re a med taker, therapy lover, or just curious about mental health, I hope this video helps you feel more confident about what labs can (and can’t) help us with in psychiatry.

Oh and in case you’re wondering what helped improve my lipids… it’s probably the omega-3 supplement, extra avocados, and switching to lower-fat Greek yogurt.

Definitely not the Peeps I stress-ate after that blood draw.

We don’t even celebrate Easter since we’re more of a Passover family, but I clearly still celebrate the candy aisle!

Cheers to healthy brains,

Dr. B

Jessica Beachkofsky, MD

Your friendly, online psychiatrist!

P.S. Just kidding about Peeps. I HATE all things marshmallow. But celebrate plenty of other kinds of candy!! Especially the chocolatey stuff…. Even the cheap, hollow Easter bunny kind!

P.P.S. Here’s the link for the Labs in Psychiatry video​