Blood test timing

[Piedo]

How important is it to have blood test done early morning?

I usually have my blood tests done before 9am after fasting

Due to COVID 19 I now have to make an appointment at hospital for test

I asked for early morning and they have given me 10.35

How much of a difference will this make ?

Thank you

Piedo

[fuchsia-pink]

Your TSH is highest first thing, and because so many doctors are TSH-obsessed it makes sense to present them with as high a reading as possible. Also, because you need to take your levo after the blood test, with a 24 hour gap from your previous dose, and not eat anything 2 hours before or 1 hour after, and with bigger gaps for supplements, you can see that early morning makes sense for all sorts of reasons.

But if you can't get an early appointment, you have to do the best with what you have!

[Piedo in reply to fuchsia-pink]

Thank you Fuchsia-Pink

Just what I thought I m battling with dr because my TSH is suppressed anyway

I will just tell them about difference in time of blood test

I think that having to make an appointment for blood test rather than just turning up is going to be the norm from now on .

Such pain having to go to the hospital for blood test in Wales my sister has hers done at her surgery .

My other sister was a GP and if a patient needed blood tests she took blood there and then saved a lot of time and inconvenience in going to hospital.

Piedo

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Piedo]

Piedo

I will just tell them about difference in time of blood test

They will very likely tell you it makes no difference. However, you can see from the first graph here the difference in TSH levels throughout the day:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

But they shouldn't base dose of thyroid hormone replacement on TSH, it's not a thyroid hormone, it's a signal from the pituitary. The actual thyroid hormones are FT4 and FT3 and it's these that tell us if we are optimally medicated, unfortunately doctors tend not to know this because they're taught that TSH is the only important test.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Looking at previous posts you need vitamin D, folate, B12 and ferritin tested

If taking any supplements that contain biotin you need to stop these a week before ALL blood tests

[AnneEvo in reply to SlowDragon]

I know this was a few days ago but I was looking for information regarding best time to have bloods taken. The article referred to in the post linked above says:

"TSH levels reach a maximum between 0200 and 0400 h and a nadir between 1600 and 2000 h" .

So presumably it would still be fairly high at 9am; for example; and keeps getting lower through the day.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to AnneEvo]

Ideally before 9....in reality many can’t get tested before 10am