Best Service for Private Active B12 Test in London

[VegB12]

ACTIVE B12 TESTS

I want to do a Private B12 Test in London

Is St Thomas still the best place for Active B12 Tests ? 

 Do you still need Doctors Referral Letter - Doctor is not very helpful ?

Is there anyone doing B12 Test without Doctors Referral?

Veg B12 

[BlueHorizonMedicals]

Hi Veg 12, 

St Thomas is still a great place for Active B12. If you want to try a home to lab finger prick kit we have it on offer for £39, referral included. ☺ 

bluehorizonmedicals.co.uk/e...

We also offer London based services but alas the price is not as good. ☺ 

[Gambit62 Administrator]

Not sure if doctors referral is still needed - think I read on a post that it had been dropped as a requirement but suspect the only way to find out for sure will be to contact them.

Tried looking on their website but couldn't find any mention of need to be referred by a GP - but it does sound like a service that is geared up to referals from other medics

[Jo5454]

Hi, I've recently used St Thomas for an Active B12. Yes, I needed a Gp referral, which took a bit of persuading and time and in the end a letter! I offered to pay Dr for the letter, but he agreed without charging me. 

It was well worth it as I found my Active B12 to be 27 ( if between 25-70) referred for an MMA and then MMA was 708 ( range being 0-280) so was diagnosed with B12 deficiency at tissue level. My serum level from the Drs was 261 ng and would have needed to be under 130 to receive treatment, even though I have many of the symptoms and have had ME for 17 years. So I think being NHS my Dr recognised it and that helped in getting treatment. So I would think it well worth a try, particularly for the fact that if it's in the indeterminate range, it gets tested for MMA for free!

It was the MMA result which helped me as on speaking to my Dr again, since, he said 'well, you're Active test wasn't that low was it!' So really not sure how much more evidence it is they need!

But if you have no joy with your Dr, having a home test could give you more evidence to put to him?

Good luck, if you need any other info about the Active B12 just ask!

[Zugy]

Hi vegb12, not sure if you are still looking for an answer- I was told that you could self refer/go privately and subsequently went along to viapath blood test centre at St Thomas' hospital. You'll need to look up Nutristasis direct and tick the blood test(s) you want, pay for it and print out their form- its quite comprehensive andeven with the vision/brain problems I managed to get it done. It means you won' t have to bagder your doc for a refferal. The active b12 test cost just over £100 inc their phlebotomy service. I'm not sure how they communicate the results either as they have just started taking self refferals recently.

[VegB12]

Thanks everyone for taking time out to reply. My doctor agreed to do a letter of referral and will go along to St Thomas

My Best

AshB