Medichecks

[lilymac73]

Hi, I just ordered full thyroid Medichecks home test. I am not worried it might be a waste of money? Do you have any experience with it?

Thanks

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Thousands of members on here use Medichecks

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) diagnosed by raised Thyroid antibodies

Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water .

Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)

If/when also on T3, make sure to take last third or half of daily dose 8-12 hours prior to test, even if this means adjusting time or splitting of dose day before test

Is this how you do your tests?

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin

medichecks.com/products/thy...

Medichecks often have special offers, if order on Thursdays

Thriva Thyroid plus vitamins

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Small selection of posts re Medichecks results

healthunlocked.com/search/p...

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking?

Important to stop taking any supplements that contain biotin a week before any blood tests

If testing ferritin and taking iron supplements, stop these a week before blood test too

[lilymac73 in reply to SlowDragon]

Hello 😊 thank you so much for your reply, and sorry for late reply. Last few weeks have been crazy with work and my sone going back to school! I am exhausted and feel like leaning on a depression borderline 😖

Medichecks re opened so I will go there to do my bloods. I will test my cortisol and sex hormones too as I didn’t have my period since 3rd March! I also had C19 in late March so that might have additionally created mess in my system! I followed advise of my GP and went back to levy 100mc.

Also I attended a very good nutritionist seminar for hormone problems so will take some extra supplements through food ie selenium ....

Will keep you updated!

Thank you so much once again, and have a good weekend 😊

[Levo50 in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi

I am considering the medichecks NEW thyroid check ultra vit blood test, my husband is saying ‘surely a finger prick test cannot give the sample needed!?’

Just wondered on thoughts?

Many thanks

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Levo50]

Vast majority of members who use private testing do finger prick test

Medichecks no longer includes folate

Blue horizon or Thriva do

[Levo50 in reply to SlowDragon]

Is Folate important - would you recommend Blue Horizon or Thriva over Medichecks then? Wonder why Medichecks don’t test for it anymore?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Levo50]

all testing companies have a lot of problems processing folate test from smaller amount of blood collected on DIY fingerpick test .....frequently it’s not been possible to test.

It’s an important test to include especially if B12 is low

Medichecks recently decided to only include folate if pay extra for private blood draw (larger amount blood collected)

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Previous post says you are taking Novothyrol

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Does novothyrol contain Liothyronine as well as levothyroxine?

If so, taking any medication that contains liothyronine (T3) you should always take EXACTLY same dose everyday

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

lilymac73

I use them (as do hundreds of members), have done many tests with them, sometimes within a day or two of an NHS test. Never had a problem, results always seem to bear out the NHS results.

If you've never done a fingerprick test before, and I presume this is what you are doing as it's all they're offering at the moment apart from "arrange your own phlebotomy", you might find the following useful.

A video to show you how to do it, the kit is very slightly different but the principle is the same:

youtube.com/watch?v=w2JzToZ...(Not working as expected?)

TIPS FOR DOING FINGERPRICK TEST

* Be well hydrated, drink plenty of water the day before, and before you do the test.

* Some people take a shower before hand, some run up and down the stairs to get blood flowing. Personally, as I can't run up and down the stairs, I circle my arm round, windmill style.

* Have a bowl full of hot water, dip hand in and out, swish around, hand needs to go red. If blood flow stops, you can always swish round in the hot water again.

* Stand up to do the test. Make sure your arm is straight down when collecting the blood. Either use a small step stool to raise yourself well above the work surface, or put the collection tube on a lowish shelf. One member uses an ironing board so she can get the perfect height.

* Prick finger on the side, not the tip. I find that half way between the nail bed and tip is about right, or maybe slightly nearer the nail bed rather than the tip. I use my ring finger, but middle finger is next best for me.

* Do not squeeze your finger to get the blood out, it can damage the blood and it may not be usable

I've recently done 2 tests. The first one there was very little blood coming out which was unusual for me so I used a second finger and between the two I gradually filled the tube. However, when I checked the prick site for the first finger the actual cut was very small and as I've had some of these lancets fail before I put it down to that. When I did the second test this is what I did

* Prick my finger as usual, make a very slight twist with the lancet whilst blade is still in the finger. I'm not talking 90 degrees or anything, just a very slight twist to make the cut just slightly bigger, it doesn't hurt or cause a blood bath! This made a big difference, 11 generous drops of blood filled the tube in less 2 minutes.

If you supplement with Biotin, or a B complex containing it (B7), leave it off for 7 days before doing any blood tests as it can give false results when biotin is used in the testing procedure, and most labs do use it.

TIMING OF TEST:

When doing thyroid tests, we advise:

* Book the first appointment of the morning, or with private tests at home no later than 9am. This is because TSH is highest early morning and lowers throughout the day. If we are looking for a diagnosis of hypothyroidism, or looking for an increase in dose or to avoid a reduction then we need TSH to be as high as possible.

* Fast overnight - have your evening meal/supper as normal the night before but delay breakfast on the day of the test and drink water only until after the blood draw. Eating may lower TSH, coffee affects TSH so it's possible that other caffeine containing drinks may also affect TSH.

* When taking thyroid hormone replacement, last dose of Levo should be 24 hours before blood draw, if taking NDT or T3 then last dose should be 8-12 hours before blood draw. Adjust timing the day before if necessary. This avoids measuring hormone levels at their peak after ingestion of hormone replacement. Take your thyroid meds after the blood draw. Taking your dose too close to the blood draw will give false high results, leaving any longer gap will give false low results.

* If you take Biotin or a B Complex containing Biotin (B7), leave this off for 7 days before any blood test. This is because if Biotin is used in the testing procedure it can give false results (most labs use Biotin in the assay).

These are patient to patient tips which we don't discuss with doctors or phlebotomists.

IMPORTANT

Do the test on a Monday, preferably, Tuesday at the latest so that the sample doesn't hang around at the lab over the weekend. Send the sample off in that day's postal collection. Medichecks should include a Tracked24 return envelope at the moment, this can take 2-3 days to arrive (my latest one took 3 days). Make a note of the tracking number that is on the address label so that you can check on Royal Mail's Track and Trace page to see when it arrives. If a Tracked 24 return envelope is not included then use Royal Mail's Special Delivery Guaranteed Next Day by 1pm - you will need to pay for this at the Post Office counter and get the receipt with tracking number, again you will be able to track it on Royal Mail's website. .

[lilymac73 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you so much and sorry for late reply, last few weeks were crazy! Medicheck opened walk in places so I will go to one next Friday 😊 Don’t think I can do it myself!!!

Hope you are well? X

[Cartwheel_Girl]

I've used them a lot in order to get the full picture. However, I never managed to get enough blood at home for it to be successful. Believe me I tried!! But I did have very very low iron at the time so maybe that made it harder?

When I go for a routine blood check at my GP surgery (and obviously that is only for TSH and T4, even if they request T3 the lab ignores it!) then I ask the nurse if she will take an extra vial of blood - then I use that extra vial and send it to medichecks. Once I tried to put the nurse-obtained vial of blood in to the medichecks container which was a disaster!

Trying to find somewhere local to take just a blood sample was impossible.

[Hidden in reply to Cartwheel_Girl]

I've had similar problems with using a home test, even with the help of a friend who is a retired nurse! (her training is out of date so she's not allowed to take venous blood any more).

We eventually succeeded after three sore fingers and hands covered in blood, but found that the tubes tend to get an airlock and blood drops wouldn't go in after a bit.

The local hospital, one that Medichecks uses, don't allow private testing since the C-19 crisis.