I'm a bit baffled by all the options out there, does anyone have any advice about what is the most appropriate kind of private blood test to get please?
Should I be going all-out for a Blue Horizon platinum test? Ideally I'd like something I can test at home, but I also want something that's going to be worthwhile.
A little background... All seems fairly typical - I'm late-30s, only recently diagnosed hypothyroid after a frustrating decade+ of struggling to get answers (largely due to a constant merry-go-round of locum GPs at my local surgery, which I later discovered was in special measures, I didn't even know that was a thing!). Hit the floor this summer and big relief at diagnosis (all those symptoms suddenly slot into place like a jigsaw don't they?). Now started on 50mg levothyroxine plus supplements and noticed some improvement, but my pulse is low (usually 58bpm, sometimes as low as 52bpm) so wary of balancing meds increase with any risk.
I've finally found a brilliant GP, and I'd rather stick with him than go back on the merry-go-round getting referred to an endocrinologist, but thyroid is clearly not his area of speciality (blood tests so far have missed VitD/T3/T4), so I just want to make myself as informed as possible. So which private blood test would you recommend that will provide the information I need to discuss my options with him?
Thanks!
P.S. First posting, and reading this forum is just life-transforming, thankyou all!
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junebug7
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So have you had thyroid antibodies, folate, B12 and ferritin tested?
Please add results and ranges
What was TSH at diagnosis ?
Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after any dose change or brand change in levothyroxine
Which brand of levothyroxine are you currently taking
How long have you been on 50mcg levothyroxine
Always take levothyroxine on empty stomach and then nothing apart from water for at least an hour after
What vitamin supplements are you currently taking?
No vitamins or other medications within 2 hours of levothyroxine, some like iron, vitamin D or magnesium not within 4 hours
Levothyroxine dose will be increased slowly upwards in 25mcg steps until TSH is ALWAYS under 2. Most people when adequately treated will have TSH around or under one and Ft4 and Ft3 at least 50-60% through range
Always test thyroid levels as early as possible in morning before eating or drinking anything other than water and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation, that is really helpful. I hadn't realised I could request written blood test results from the GP (previously all verbal over the phone) so I followed this up and have now added all the relevant info and blood test results to my profile to help later queries.
BH's Platinum test is not worth the extra money. The only extra test (over and above their Gold test) is reverse T3 and this is not worth testing because there are many reasons for high rT3 but only one is to do with the thyroid - that is when there is an excess of unconverted T4 and measuring FT4 and FT3 tells you that. Also it's not a fingerprick test, you have to arrange venous blood draw, plus there's a long wait for the rT3 test results, about 3 weeks I think.
If you want full thyroid testing, plus key vitamins, with a fingerprick test then go for
Very similar tests with just the following differences:
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 and some say this is the better test..
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.
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 but it can be useful.
What supplements are you taking at the moment? If you post your test results and dose we can see if your dose is appropriate.
If you are taking any supplement containing biotin (eg B Complex) this needs to be left off for 3-7 days before any blood test as it can give false results.
If you are taking iron tablets this needs to be left off for 7 days before any iron test (eg ferritin or iron panel) and test requires a 12 hour fast (water allowed).
If you haven't done a fingerprick test before and would like some tips then please ask and I will post them.
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