Has anyone actually been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism from a test you can order online?

[Thyroiditis86]

What's the success rate with these tests? Anyone here been diagnosed with a fingerprick test from the websites? Do the Drs take you seriously afterwards? x

[Kipsy]

My husband suspected he had an under active thyroid & did a medichecks test which showed a TSH of 13. His GP insisted on NHS bloods but was persuaded by us to also check antibodies, and B12, vit D, folate and ferritin, which hadn't previously been tested for. The antibodies came back positive, although the TSH had dropped significantly. The GP wanted to watch & wait. After getting great advice on this forum, we argued that the presence of antibodies indicated the need for a trial of thyroxine (T4) and, after a 6 week wait and another NHS blood test which showed the TSH was rising, the GP finally agreed to a trial. The medichecks test helped us get the ball rolling but the GP still wanted NHS ones done before agreeing to prescribe hormone replacement . The great advantage in our case was that the GP was persuaded to check the antibodies (and vitamins) and the presence of Hashimoto's gave us the strength to fight for the thyroxine.

Is your GP refusing to test you?

[Marz in reply to Kipsy]

The Private Companies use the same labs as the NHS in most cases. So another example of waste when GP's insist on doing yet more tests. 😊

[Kipsy in reply to Marz]

I couldn't agree more Marz! My husband's GP tried to fob us off at first claiming that medichecks wasn't reliable. Thyroiditis86 :I phoned medichecks and got the details of which lab the bloods had been sent to (you can also see this from the envelope you get to post the bloods back in- I think it depends on where you live in the UK/ which tests you've ordered) and medichecks confirmed that their labs are regulated by a certain authority (sorry, I forget what it was called). In the end, we didn't quote this back to the GP but it was good to be informed in case we needed more ammunition!

[Marz in reply to Kipsy]

Information is power 😊 My hubby has Hashi's too - discovered when I sneaked a TSH test onto the PSA request !!

[Kipsy in reply to Marz]

Great stuff Marz! Not sure what a PSA request is but I like your attitude! Hope you're doing well and enjoying this beautiful weather here in Crete. We head home today but it's been fabulous. X

[Marz in reply to Kipsy]

Prostate screening - another vague indicator 😐 We are off to interview a new accountant !! The reality if living here. We have clouds today - yipee ! Safe travels

[Kipsy in reply to Marz]

Thank you Marz. I hope the accountant can work some magic- I know it's tough😟

[Singoutloud]

I did my first test to check ft3 and vit levels when the doctor/labs wouldn't and that also led to my diagnosis of Pernicious anaemia.

[CCSP-27 in reply to Singoutloud]

Yep same here ! I actually manoeuvred my way to get the right bloods done after being very suspicious about PA. I knew the test for B12 deficiency wasn't going to be enough. I've Hashimotos too so I worked it out !

Imagine .....able to work this out for myself ! This thing called research is a wonderful new thing 😏

[penny]

I was diagnosed by a private doctor using a 24hr urine test for tsh, t3 and t4. The GPs had only ever done a blood test, usually tsh, and declared that I was not hypo.. The price doc. listened to me, said I was hypo. and then organised the urine test; he wrote to my GP giving him all the information (plus a letter telling him that the tsh was an unreliable test). The private doc. sold me NDT until another GP prescribed it on a named patient basis. After some years I then got a letter from the nhs surgery saying that I had never been diagnosed as being hypothyroid! I was on T3 at that time and they stopped my prescription with immediate effect. I have just found the results of a blood test from 2006/2007 when my T3 was 0.02, falling to 0.01 - unbelievable that I was not diagnosed.

[MiniMum97]

Yes. GP wanted to repeat the test. But she tested me based on my private testing.