Private test question

[alexd12]

Hello

Newbie here. Wondering if any of you have organised tests yourselves through Thriva, Medicheck etc and if you would recommend one over the others or any to avoid?

Thanks!

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Alexd12

Hundreds of us here regularly do tests with MonitorMyHealth, Medichecks, Blue Horizon and Thriva.

I personally haven't used Thriva, I can't get my head around their "subscriptions", etc, and prefer to choose what I like when I like. I have used the other three.

Medichecks, Blue Horizon and Thriva all use the same lab to process the tests (County Pathology) and MonitorMyHealth is an NHS lab.

MonitorMyHealth only do basic TSH, FT4 and FT3.

Medichecks and Blue Horizon do the full thyroid panel plus vitamins in one bundle.

Check out ThyroidUK's testing page for discounts :

thyroiduk.org/help-and-supp...

[alexd12 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you. That’s really helpful.

[Buddy195 Administrator]

I always use Medichecks & have had no issues with any thyroid/ vitamin tests. They are often discounted on Thursdays. I no longer wait for their medics to advise, just post results on this forum for knowledgeable members to comment.

[alexd12 in reply to Buddy195]

Yes, am starting to feel like that myself!

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

When doing thyroid tests we advise:

* Do test no later than 9am

* Nothing to eat or drink except water before the test.

* If you take replacement thyroid hormone then last dose of Levo should be 24 hours before the test and last dose of T3 or NDT should be 8-12 hours before the test.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Only do test early Monday or Tuesday morning and then post back via tracked postal service

If taking any supplements that contain biotin stop these a week before all blood tests

If testing iron levels stop iron supplements a week before testing too

[Partner20]

Just bear in mind that if you were intending to show the results to your doctor, GPs are under no obligation to accept the results of any testing or recommendations obtained privately. Some GPs will use the information as an incentive to do further testing, but be prepared for the fact that it may be ignored or dismissed.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

whaleroad

We have to bear in mind that the medical profession is notoriously ignorant of thyroid disease and how to treat it. For some reason they seem to think that TSH is the be all and end all of how to adjust dose once diagnosed and on thyroid hormone replacement, when in fact it has nothing to do with it. TSH is not a thyroid hormone, it's a pituitary hormone, the thyroid hormones are FT4 and FT3 and these are what's important and how we should adjust dose. But until the medical profession understand this they are just going to go by TSH. So when we need a diagnosis, an increase in dose of Levo or to avoid a reduction in dose, we need the highest possible TSH.

In your case I assume that you are looking for a diagnosis, if you are in the UK then you need a TSH over 10 for a diagnosis of primary hypothyroidism. A TSH level over range but not over 10 will not give a diagnosis of primary hypothyroidism but may be indicative of another form of hypothyroidism so it's important to also test at least FT4 and thyroid antibodies, testing FT3 would be a bonus.

TSH is highest early morning and lowers throughout the day, as shown in the first graph in the this post:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

As we can't get tested when it's at it's highest around midnight-3am then we certainly don't want to be tested when it's at it's lowest which is in the afternoon, so we always advise the earliest possible test but no later than 9am.

Eating can lower TSH and coffee (and other caffeine containing drinks) affect TSH so we advise water only before the test.

For those on thyroid hormone replacement, as for timing of last dose of thyroid medication before the test, if we take our dose before the test then it will measure that dose just taken and show a false high FT4 and FT3. If we take our dose too far away from the test then it will show a false low FT4 and FT3. So to get a measure of our normal amount of circulating hormone then the time of the last dose of Levo should be 24 hours before the test, and the last dose of NDT or T3 should be 8-12 hours before the test.

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

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Median TSH graph shows average healthy population has TSH 1-1.5

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

TSH has significant daily variation

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

So important when you test TSH ....

researchgate.net/publicatio...

“According to the current TSH reference interval, hypothyroidism was not diagnosed in about 50% of the cases in the afternoon.”

“Further analysis demonstrated inadequate compensation of hypothyroidism, which was defined in 45.5% of the morning samples and in 9% of the afternoon samples”

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/252...

TSH levels showed a statistically significant decline postprandially in comparison to fasting values. This may have clinical implications in the diagnosis and management of hypothyroidism, especially SCH.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

I think that you need to test folate. Some of the labs have had problems with folate testing - samples can spoil and become untestable.

I have not had a folate test done - others have. And quite a few have reported failure by the lab to be able to analyse the sample they received.

MCV Mean Corpuscular Volume Increased with B12 and Folate deficiency, liver disease, underactive thyroid, pregnancy, alcohol excess, some bone marrow disorders; decreased with iron deficiency, longstanding inflammatory disorders and thalassaemia

labtestsonline.org.uk/tests...