Annoyed at NHS labs

[Molliemoo1]

I'm 13 weeks pregnant and my consultant asked me to get my thyroid test. I'm in levothyroxine at the moment.

A week and a half later I found out that they didn't bother testing tsh and only did T3 and T4 because it was only 42 days since my last test.

Why do the labs get to make this call? Nice guidelines say tsh should be tested every 4 weeks. My blood notes said that I was pregnant.

I'm so annoyed and I'm going on holiday next week.going to see if Medichecks can do me a private test before I go that I'll post to my consultant

[jimh111]

Telephone them and ask them to do the TSH assay. They usually keep some of the blood for a few days, so contact them ASAP. It will also get them to realise the impact of their actions.

[Molliemoo1 in reply to jimh111]

Okay I'll see if I can find a number, will they go to the labs at my hospital

[Treepie]

Odd that they did the tests most labs do not do!

[MichelleBerko]

They keep blood for 2 weeks in case there's a call back. Ask them to do it - though it's not as important as your T4 and T3 tests

[Molliemoo1 in reply to MichelleBerko]

Do you think they'll be open on a Saturday

[MichelleBerko in reply to Molliemoo1]

Gosh I don't know! You'd think haematology is needed 24/7 but running standard tests may be a weekday thing

[Angel_of_the_North]

Well, Ft3 and Ft4 are much more important than TSH, and it's usually really hard to get FT3 tested, so I think you came out of it on top. What were the results?

[Lilian15]

The T4 and T3 are more important. The TSH is a pituitary hormone and if your pituitary is not working at its best you will get a false TSH. Being pregnant it is so important for your thyroid to be treated properly. T4 and T3 are your thyroid hormones, so in your place, I would be very pleased they did those rather than just the TSH.

[Molliemoo1 in reply to Lilian15]

Understand where you are coming from. However, guidelines for pregnancy only refer to TSH which should be under 2.my t3 and 4 have always been in range but tsh rarely under 2.so for me in this situation, tsh is more important

[Lilian15]

It could be the reason your TSH is not below 2 is because although your T3 and T4 are within range they are not optimal. They should be in the upper quarter of the range.