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If your COVID-19 test kit has passed the expiration date listed on the box, it may still be good.

Do Home Covid Tests Expire?

A quirk in the regulatory process for home tests can mean the real expiration date doesn’t always match what’s on the box.
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As a result of this requirement, a home test might have a six-month expiration when it’s first authorized, but as more time passes the test maker collects more data and seeks an extension to the original shelf-life date. That means you might have a test at home that’s passed its expiration date, but if you call the company or dig through the F.D.A. authorization letters, you’ll find it has changed.
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Tests should be marked with a manufacturing date and an expiration date. An F.D.A. spokesman said that anyone with a question about an expiration date could go online to view the various regulatory documents that extend a test’s shelf life. There is a section for antigen tests here and molecular tests here. Then, you can do the math based on your test’s manufacturing date. For instance, in January, the F.D.A. extended the shelf life of the BinaxNOW test to 15 months, from 12 months, so many people can just add another three months to the expiration listed on their box.
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whether you’re using a new test or one that is a little past its expiration date, follow the instructions carefully — and make sure the control line shows up quickly, which is an indicator that the test is still working.

“The reality is that these tests are very, very stable,” Dr. Mina said. “My expectation is that most of them, if not all of them, eventually will have a two-year expiration date at least. If the control line is showing up and it’s within 18 to 24 months of the manufacture date, you should assume the test is working.”

The kits I have don't list the manufacture date, only the expiration date.
The Siemens Clinitest kit's expiration date is listed as 2022/11, so it still has time.

For the iHealth kits, I found this:

iHealth COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test / Expiration Date Extension

After bad results with both a cake and a batch of brownies, I've discovered that I don't like the smell and taste of unrefined soybean oil. It tastes sickly sweet to me.

All I found on the subject is this statement on a few webpages: "Unrefined soy oil has a strong, distinctive flavor and aroma - some like it, some don't."

Next time, I should taste an oil before using it.

I do like the taste of extra virgin olive oil, but it doesn't seem like that flavor would go well in cakes and cookies. Have any of you tried baking with olive oil? Anyway, I now have some "naturally refined" safflower oil, which should be mild flavored. I used to buy Canola oil, but I began to notice it having an unpleasant stale smell and flavor, even when it wasn't particularly old.

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After months of testing different deodorants, I finally found a suitable replacement for the one I used to use. (More details on that possibly forthcoming.) But last weekend, I found out that the store I bought it from no longer is selling it. I may have to buy it online (luckily it doesn't seem to be discontinued).

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I ended up doing 2 saliva hormone tests (as referenced here and here). I took the saliva samples for both tests on the same day at the same times. Each test was processed by a different lab. I figured that using 2 different labs would give me an indication of how reliable the results were - if the results agreed with each other, that would give them more credibility than otherwise.

But the results did not at all agree with each other. So much for that. I suppose I'd need to get a blood test done somewhere for (possibly) more trustworthy results.

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I had headaches every day for 2 weeks, and then they stopped, even without me taking any meds. They must have been after-effects of the stomach bug virus. Now I'm occasionally getting headaches again, but these are more like my usual ones, and not every day.

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Qiao is now walking with only the aid of a cane. In fact, he is beginning to walk short distances even without a cane!

He recently bought himself a Sony Tap 20 portable PC. It's a giant tablet. It has a very nice screen.

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You know what would be useful? A website along the lines of "These are various sounds your car may make, along with an explanation of what part of the car may be making the noise and why". Well, actually, sort of like this, this, and this, but with actual car sound samples rather than human reproductions of them.

For a while, I've been wanting to get some tests done to check my vitamin/mineral/amino acid levels, my hormone levels, and maybe even food sensitivities*.

I browsed various test kits that can be ordered online. Some only require saliva, urine, or blood-prick samples that you can collect yourself and mail in to a lab. Others require blood to be drawn. Some (for testing toxic metal and mineral levels) even use hair samples.

At first I wondered if the saliva tests would be as accurate as blood tests, in those cases where levels may be checked by either method (such as for hormones). It seems that they may be; but I'm a bit unclear as to the significance of levels of bound versus free hormones. Apparently, saliva tests only measure free hormones.

A person's hormone levels may fluctuate a lot. From what I read about testosterone in females, there are no agreed upon "low" or "normal" ranges. So even assuming I get back accurate measurements, I'm not sure what it can tell me. But I am curious whether my levels are on the low side or not.

Then I wondered how I could know whether the various labs were trustworthy. Maybe *none* of the ones offering do-it-yourself kits were really reliable... But then again, when you get tests done at a doctor's office, those samples get sent to labs too. Surely some of the labs must be trustworthy?

I did some web searching to find out whether various labs/tests were reliable, with mixed results. I decided not to use one particular lab, due to it having filed a defamation lawsuit against a website (QuackWatch.org) which had publicized potentially unscrupulous activity by the lab. (After reading the article in question, I would have given the lab the benefit of doubt, as it sounded to me that the medical practitioners involved were more to blame than the lab. But having the lab try to take down the article via a defamation lawsuit seems detestable to me.) Then I read something else which made me question how trustworthy the QuackWatch website was...

Sigh. Who to trust? What to trust?

Anyway, for the moment, I've decided to get a saliva hormone test done, and this nutritional test.


* - My mouth was sore for the last 3 days (a rather unusual occurrence), leading me to suspect I had eaten something that I was sensitive to. But after reading about the unreliability of some IgG tests, it's probably not worthwhile for me. I don't have any significant digestive issues anyway.

Approximate Numbers Sense test
You had a score of 81% correct on this test. Based on the results we have so far, the average person who takes this test scores 75% correct.
Your percentile score on this test was 88, meaning you scored higher than 88% of people who took this test.


Multiple Memory Test: Faces, Words, and Abstract Art (warning - this one has the face test again, but a slightly different version of it (unless the faces are random each time), and I did worse than average on this one.)

Abstract Art Memory
You correctly identified 40 out of 50 paintings. Based on the results we have so far, the average person who takes this test is able to identify 36 out of 50 paintings.

Cambridge Face Memory Test
You correctly identified 52 out of 72 faces. Based on the results we have so far, the average person who takes this test is able to identify 56 out of 72 faces.

Verbal Paired Associates Test
You correctly identified 22 out of 25 word pairs. Based on the results we have so far, the average person who takes this test is able to identify 13 out of 25 word pairs.



More tests here.