Can’t draw enough blood for home test!

[janeroar]

Hello my 20 year old son has been experiencing hypothyroid symptoms (cold/tired/diagnosed with Reynauds) and as my symptoms began as a child, I thought it prudent to get him tested. However having bought one of the home kits we have found it very hard to extract enough blood. It involves stabbing the fingers with a pointed blade which obviously he’s not keen on especially as only tiny amounts of blood cane out. We are supposed to fill a bottle up!!! I thought home testing might be a better starting point rather than trying to convince a GP to get him properly tested but I’m not sure where to go from here. Any advice?

[Lora7again]

I have to get a nurse to draw my blood at a local hospital. I use Medichecks and there are some private hospitals that they use to get your blood drawn and I think it costs about £30. I would ask the lab you purchased the test from if they also do the same service.

[janeroar in reply to Lora7again]

Thanks I’ll ask them 😊

[NWA6]

I always have to get a venous kit and a phlebotomist to draw. I’ve used Thriva who send someone to the home £50 but now use Medichecks as I can go to my local Superdrug at a lower cost of £30.

[janeroar in reply to NWA6]

Thanks that sounds a better option than stabbing at his finger!!

[fuchsia-pink]

If other replies don't work where you are, have a look at SeasideSusie 's replies to other posters on how best to take bloods at home. Click on her name and look at replies - she has various suggestions that I certainly wouldn't have thought of to get the blood flowing nicely before you start x

[janeroar in reply to fuchsia-pink]

Thank you

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

janeroar

We are supposed to fill a bottle up!!!

Well, no, it's not a bottle! It's a microtainer and if you have a Medichecks kit that will be 0.6ml of blood and if it's a Blue Horizon kit that will be 0.8ml of blood. Considering a teaspoon holds 5ml then the amount is quite small, less than 1/5th of a teaspoon and would be about 12 large droplets of blood once it's flowing from the fingerprick.

If you have a Blue Horizon kit and it looks like a large tube, that is the carrier tube into which the microtainer is placed, you don't fill the large tube.

Things that work well for me:

* 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 (hot as the hand can stand), 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, at the same time try and make a very slight twist with the lancet (the blade retracts very quickly so you have like a nano second to twist the lancet). 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.

Video showing how to do a fingerprick test:

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

********

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.

[janeroar]

This is brilliant thanks so much. Im going to show this my son and hopefully he’ll agree to have another go! Thanks SeasideSusie 🤗

[SarahJLD]

We do much the same as SeasideSusie but rather than bowl of water we rest hand on a microwave heat pad with the finger to be used for bleeding hanging off side of pad and table. And as said it is actually only a few good drops to fill the tubes.