Want to know

whether you might have colon cancer? Buy a test strip and consult your

toilet for a diagnosis.

Afraid you

might have a low sperm count? Test a sample yourself in the privacy of

your own home.

These days,

playing doctor is as easy as a trip to your local pharmacy.

Just pay anywhere

from $7 to $60 and then follow the instructions inside the box to ease

or confirm your fears.

"These

things do liberate the patients," said Dr. Marvin Lipman, chief medical

adviser for Consumers Union, a nonprofit consumer group that publishes

Consumer Reports.

The home diagnostics

industry is booming, with sales reaching an estimated $2.6 billion in

2002, according to Frost & Sullivan, an international marketing consultant

firm. Glucose testing and monitoring alone accounted for $2.1 billion

in sales.

Home-use tests

can be an easy, convenient option for consumers who want a quick answer

about a potential health problem.

Most involve

using a blood, urine or stool sample to look for possible signs of a condition.

Some tests

require a doctor's prescription, but the majority are available over the

counter.

"By and

large, it's a good thing because it enables a consumer to determine if

a problem may exist in the confines of his or her own private dwelling,"

Lipman said. "It allows them to take charge."

For Janet Griffin,

home monitoring of her blood-sugar levels has enabled her to keep her

diabetes under control.

The 56-year-old

Akron, Ohio, woman recently completed a course through Akron General Medical

Center to learn how to conduct and interpret her blood-glucose tests.

Her health

insurer pays for the tests and equipment, but many other home tests aren't

covered.

"I feel

much better," she said. "Now that I've had the training and

had a lot of questions, I feel very comfortable."

Indeed, home

tests can allow people to monitor their health, particularly between doctor's

visits, said Charles Inlander, president of the People's Medical Society,

a nonprofit health-care consumer advocacy group in Allentown, Pa.

"It also

demystifies medicine and helps people take care of their own health,"

he said.

But some physicians

say problems can arise when people take matters into their own hands by

doing such things as changing medication dosages or taking

old antibiotics.

All tests can

have false-positives or false-negatives, said Dr. W. Frank Peacock, director

of clinical operations for the Cleveland (Ohio) Clinic's emergency department.

To put results

in context with symptoms, a professional needs to be involved, he said.

"The reason

medical school and training is as long as 15 years is that there are a

huge amount of issues that extend way beyond the 'yes-no' of a test,"

Peacock said. "The reason you see a doctor is because one size does

not fit all."

Even if a home

test for urinary-tract infections is negative, for example, people still

should consult their physician if the symptoms don't go away.

"Most

of these will need professional verification," Consumers Union's

Lipman said.

If patients

see their doctors, they might find they don't even need to take a test,

said Dr. Edward Hill, chairman of the board of the American Medical Association

and a family-practice doctor in Mississippi.

"All of

us in this country tend to overuse technology because of the charm of

the test," Hill said.

And there are

plenty of new tests from which to choose.

People can

buy over-the-counter products to look for everything from the onset of

menopause to infections.

The oldest

home tests most notably, home pregnancy tests have been around for decades.

In recent years,

improved devices such as blood-glucose tests and blood-pressure kits have

made it easier for people to monitor chronic conditions such as diabetes

and high blood pressure.

Tests used

with a doctor's guidance to monitor chronic health conditions tend to

be the most widely accepted.

"You need

to have a physician as a source of support and information," said

Dr. Ross R. Black, a doctor at Millpond Family Physicians in Cuyahoga

Falls, Ohio. "If you don't have a physician with whom you work regularly,

where do you go with the information?"

Much of the

concern centers on those tests designed to detect serious conditions,

particularly HIV.

People need

someone to help them put the bad news in context, said Dr. Jeffrey W.

Janata, director of behavioral medicine at University Hospitals in Cleveland,

Ohio, and assistant professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University

School of Medicine.

"Medical

news that's alarming can prompt a dramatic emotional response," he

said. "People can become anxious and fearful if they feel as though

their worst fears are confirmed. If they don't have the benefit of a sounding

board, someone to help them put it into perspective, that can be a risk

to them."

There's also

a risk of purchasing a bogus or faulty test, particularly over the Internet.

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