I'm struggling to get someone to take my blood sample for Genova diagnostics private blood test. I've tried my GP surgery & they'll do it but want £30. I tried the local spire hospital & they want me to get the testing done by them (£350+)
Genova require an 8ml sample. Has anyone tried to get this themselves from a finger prick?? I'm not sure if it's possible or not, or if it would just be a bit desperate. I'm just skint at the mo & the test alone is £145 without the £30 on top 
You cannot get 8ml from a finger prick, without amputating the finger. In any event the blood is likely to be of no use as I think these samples have to be in the correct container. £30 is a reasonable cost to take the blood although you might find somewhere cheaper. Do you really need the £145 tests?
Why not have a look at Blue Horizon's tests, see if there is one that's suitable. If not a finger prick test then those that require blood draw can be done through Spire and the cost of the draw is included in the price.
You could try your local NHS hospital. I've had blood drawn at mine for private testing. I phoned up the blood taking/phlebotomy department in advance to be sure it was okay, told them I'd be bringing the tubes and instructions with me, and they were fine with it. Prices from NHS hospitals vary enormously, from nothing up to £30, so I can't predict what you would have to pay.
Not sure how much it was but I filled two little test tubes for the Blue Horizon fingerprick test. My heart sank when I saw two but once I got going it was fine - I even surprised myself. I did use a couple of extra lancets left over from before and I used two fingers too.
Make sure you are warm, I try to do it early morning when I am still warm from being in bed, I also have a large drink of water and I wash my hands in hot water too.
My instructions said to use the lancet at the side of my finger but this time ( have done three tests so far) I went too close to the side and the blood ran under my finger nail which wasn't great so don't go too far to the side.
Thanks. The blue horizon one has a home blood option but doesn't include reverse T3. Do I need this?? I'm not diagnosed, but want to rule out/in hypothyroid as a reason for my symptoms.
So far I've only had TSH which has varied between 2.6 - 4.8. Labs refused any further testing as it was within range. I seem to remember randomly having a 'free thyroxine' level done once (is that T4?) & think that was 13.9.
It doesn't look as though the RT3 is included in any of the bundles as far as I can see, I can only see it as a stand alone test. If it was me, to start with I wouldn't bother with it, choose one that includes TSH, FT4, FT3, and both antibody tests, if you just want thyroid tests. There are other more comprehensive that include thyroid, it depends what you want. I'm just about to order the Thyroid Check Plus 10 bluehorizonmedicals.co.uk/e... which can be done as a finger prick test, costs £99 but with the TUK discount costs £89.
Thanks seasidesusie. I've added that one to my basket. It's a bit confusing as even the 'collect at home using microtainer' then says at the check out that you need to arrange your own phlebotomist. Hmmmm. Have you done it before?
Don't worry about the phlebotomist bit. It threw me at first so on the message box I wrote something like "I'm under the impression this is a finger prick test to do at home so I have left the phlebotomy option blank". I had to email them to correct my address and they replied to confirm they'd noted that and also said that they "will be sending a home finger prick test in today's post ".
Thanks, it is a bit misleading/confusing. I'll phone them tomorrow to check it out
If you are able to get into London you can have blood tests done at bloodtestslondon.com/ , which is more or less the same organisation as Blue Horizons. They are used by a number of hospitals and so are reputable. They do an 'Intermediate Thyroid Profile for £96' (is there a TUK discount?) TSH, fT3, fT4 which should be enough. They also have an 'Advanced Thyroid Profile' for £126-20 which also includes tT4 and antibodies, I wouldn't bother with this unless you have a goitre.
I'm not in favour of finger prick tests as I'm not convinced they are any use, the evidence is very scarce. Thyroid hormones are present at very low levels and so I doubt that a finger prick of blood will be enough and sufficiently free of contamination. For example a ml of blood contains about 3 trillionths of a gram of fT3 (3 x 10-12 gram) . The TSH finger prick tests that are (rarely) used in hospitals are only verified as screening tests, that is they give a 'yes' or 'no' as to whether a proper TSH blood test should be used.
In any event even if your blood tests come back as normal you could still be hypothyroid if you have a lot of signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism. In this case the only real test is whether you respond to treatment of hypothyroidism without showing signs of overactivity (hypERthyroidism).
Sorry, if this is getting complicated or depressing! What I'm trying to say is don't spend too much money on blood tests or become too hung up on them. They have a place but are not the be all and end all. Bloodtestslondon are very good if you can get to them.
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