Cost of private treatment

[Thyroid-male]

Hi how much do you generally pay for private consultation, blood tests and treatments?

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Thyroid-male

Different doctors charge different prices for private consultations, I think you can budget for anywhere between £150 and £250.

Blood tests are expensive when done through a private doctor, much better to do them yourself beforehand so you have current results to take with you to your consultation. We have recommended labs who do a variety of tests, best ones to start off with are

TSH

FT4

FT3

Thyroid antibodies

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

These all come in one test bundle as follows:

Medichecks Thyroid Check ULTRAVIT WITH FOLATE medichecks.com/products/thy...

You can use code THYROIDUK for a 10% discount on any test not on special offer

or

Blue Horizon Thyroid PREMIUM GOLD bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Check this page for discount code thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Both tests include the full thyroid and vitamin panel. They are basically the same test but Medichecks require a venous blood draw and Blue Horizon can be done with a fingerprick test. There are a few small differences:

Blue Horizon requires 1 x microtainer of blood (0.8ml) for the fingerprick test, or you can arrange venous blood draw at extra cost.,

Medichecks is venous blood draw only.

Blue Horizon includes Total T4 (can be useful but not essential). Medichecks doesn't include this test.

B12 - Blue Horizon does Total B12 which measures bound and unbound (active) B12 but doesn't give a separate result for each. Medichecks does Active B12.

Total B12 shows the total B12 in the blood. Active B12 shows what's available to be taken up by the cells. You can have a reasonable level of Total B12 but a poor level of Active B12. (Personally, I would go for the Active B12 test.)

Blue Horizon include magnesium but this is an unreliable test so don't let this sway your decision, it also tests cortisol but that's a random cortisol test and to make any sense of it you'd need to do it fasting before 9am I believe.

I think Thriva also do an equivalent test but I've never used them.

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, caffeine containing drinks affect TSH.

* If 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).

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

Treatment prices depend on what you need. I have no idea about the cost of a private prescription or medication.

[Thyroid-male in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you, I've got a balance my hormones full blood panel that I'm sending off on Monday and wondered about the cost of a private consultation and prescription for levo

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Thyroid-male]

Come back with new post once you get results, members can advise on next step

Email Dionne at Thyroid UK for list of recommend thyroid specialist endocrinologists

NHS and Private

[e-mail]

[Thyroid-male in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you, I'll do that.

I'm fairly sure it's Hashimotos (both my parents and extended family had it) - my TSH was 3.75 and T4 was 14, since then I've had another horrible flare up and my symptoms have got a lot worse.

I've got an ultrasound and a peroxidase blood test to do as well.

I'll post new results when I have them