Can anyone recommend an alternative testing company for the full iron panel, Im starting to have my doubts about medichecks.
18 months ago I had a ferritin of almost twice the limit and a crp of 17.5, Ive been working on improving these .
My diet is very good, plenty veg, fruit amd healthy carbs and no added sugar.
As result my crp has came down to 2.3, and Im aiming to get it lower but Im very happy to of made good progress.
While Ive been working on this Ive avoided red meats, etc all to hopefully help reduce ferritin but I am aware that inflammation is likely why its been so high.
Ive done a full iron panel each month and I understand some fluctuations in the panel but not how erratic ferritin can be.
This month its shot up again, from 99 to 194, and I have no idea why. Ive not changed my diet at all, no fortified foods or red meats and crp from 6.5 last month to 2.3 today.
I dont have any obvious infection, not changed my diet at all and got my crp to much better level, I dont think that explains the sudden rise in ferritin.
Im totally lost at whats going on .
Im going to retest with another company does anyone have any recommendations please.
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I don't know of any other company that does the same iron panel test.
However, whoever you choose ask which lab is going to do the test.
All the Medichecks tests which have been the subject of "strange" results have been processed by Eurofins County Pathology. Some of the other testing companies use this lab to process their tests.
Or you could ask Medichecks if they will use The Doctor's Laboratory instead of Eurofins County Pathology.
Hi ASI4, my daughter has also had a dubious Ferritin result from Medichecks, I actually posted about it the other week - healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
Hers was also processed by Eurofins County Pathology.
Just read your post, thats quite a difference between labs, seems theres a few of us with strange resultsIve not eaten or taken anything different recently that could explain such a huge difference in ferritin. If anything I expected a much better ferritin as my inflammation has improved so much.
Thoroughly confusing and upsetting, Ive been very focused and last month I thought I was finally getting somewhere.
I sort of wish I had eaten something different or taken something that could explain it then at least I could change it but there isn’t anything .
Nothing about it makes sense other than the test its self is at fault.
Im going to check the suggestions Ive had from SeasideSusie and humanbean and go from there.
I don't know who tests blood for Thriva, but Thriva have a subscription based setup where you have a basic price and you add the tests you want done to that. An Advanced Iron Profile plus the basic package totals £40.
You can get discount codes from here but I don't know if the Thriva discount works for the subscription package.
Scroll down and you'll see the various test options e.g. The first three are :
Advanced Iron Profile
Cholesterol
Cholesterol and apolipoproteins
The basic package and test kit and GP report costs £30 but the cost of each additional test bundle you add is added to that basic price.
There is a limit to the number of test bundles you can add because the assumption is that you will only fill two(?) blood tubes (I think - but I wouldn't swear to it). Also note that there is some overlap between some of the test bundles.
The fact that they set up a subscription to repeat the tests you pick is appalling in my opinion. Customers must remember to cancel the subscription once they've made their first order.
I dislike their website as well. It isn't intuitive at all in my opinion.
Ah thanks, and well done that you figured it out. I agree about the subscription, which is why I've never been interested in using them.
Shame they don't include CRP in their iron panel, Medichecks do and it's useful for me because mine is never very low so I like to compare that to previous ones as well. I see you can add it for an extra £5.
I dislike their presentation of results too. And I am under the impression that you can only find the PDF (sensible) version of the results by searching the help.
Thank youI’ve looked at Thriva before and there were a few things I wasn’t keen on but I’ll have a more thorough look. I’ll also check which lab they use.
I’ll also speak to medichecks see if tests can be sent to the doctors lab instead.
Ah! I had an idea that they sometimes used Eurofins County Pathology. So it doesn't leave a lot of choice between the different testing companies unless you specifically request that they do not use Eurofins CP and send to another lab.
I know that Blue Horizon sometimes use The Doctor's Laboratory, which Medichecks use sometimes too.
I too have had a test recently by Medichecks with an extremely raised ferritin level, twice the upper limit yet a much decreased CRP. It was worryingly me greatly so I’m I’m encouraged to think that it might be a lab problem. Extremely disappointed by Medichecks though if it is the case. I was at a loss to know how to reduce my ferritin as the advice is to donate blood. I can’t do this as I had a blood transfusion in 1988 after my son’s birth. CJD or Mad Cow disease risks mean that I’m banned. I tried to arrange a private blood let but strangely it seems impossible. Maybe I don’t need one after all. I shall ask for Doctor’s Lab too & see what result I get.
This cant be right, yet another person with strange results. In hindsight my nhs ferritin test was low in range, two years ago, I didnt realise that was a problem as Id been told by a doctor it was in range so not to worry. Took me 6 months to realise a low ferritin isnt good.
When I finally realised I needed the full iron panel my ferritin was very high along with high crp. That was eighteen months ago.
I knew that ferritin could be raised with inflammation and so I changed my diet to make sure I avoided any added iron, no red meats etc, low sugar, plenty fruit and veg, chicken and fish, Ive not strayed once from this diet. Didnt even have a day off for Christmas.
The crp has gradually came down, its at the point now where I dont believe its playing a part in the high ferritin.
So Ive eaten the same diet for eigthteen months watched crp gradually reduce from very high 17.5 to 2.3 , I thought I was doing well. The ferritin has wavered a bit especially in the first few months but given that crp was still high at that point I expected it too. It did start to reduce later, still wavered a bit but this time to go back up by almost a hundred in a four weeks isnt right.
This has cost me two years in total so far, not realising a then low ferritin wasn’t good ( rubbish endo) then and then to be of been chasing a very high ferritin since to find to getting this result, I feel like almost gone back to the start.
Something isnt right.
Im going to speak to medichecks see what they have to say but Im too unwell ( hypo wise), that I just cant face it today.
Thank you for replying much appreciated but sorry to hear youre having the same problem.
So Ive eaten the same diet for eigthteen months watched crp gradually reduce from very high 17.5 to 2.3 , I thought I was doing well.
You are doing well! That is an amazing improvement!
As for ferritin being low in range it is fairly common for doctors to ignore it while it is in range.
Using reference ranges for females...
Test 1 : Ferritin = 15 Ref Range = (13 - 150)
Test 2 : Ferritin = 85 (approx mid-range) Ref Range = (13 - 150)
Doctors would treat the above results as essentially the same. They are both in range, so what more could the patient want? But the patient with the second result would feel massively better than the patient with the first result. The first patient would likely be breathless, might suffer from frequent cramps and muscle spasms, might struggle to get upstairs, might have insomnia, brain fog... The list of symptoms of iron deficiency is quite long. So, having a low ferritin isn't good news, even if it is in range.
The low ferritin was two years ago, I was told it was fine. This was a private endo on the recommended list, he turned out to be as clueless as any other doctor Ive seen.
Six months later I did the full iron panel to find ferritin was then very high along with high crp.
Im very happy with the crp and hoping to get it under one.
For eighteen months Ive had a good healthy diet with the aim of lowering crp which thankfully it has but also to not eat anything that could raise the ferritin any higher.
Ferritin has wavered a bit in that time but the general trend once crp started to reduce was ferritin to fall.
Last month ferritin was 99, crp was 6.5, yesterday - four weeks later ferritin has shot up to 194 but crp dropped to 2.3.
Ive not changed anything , havent for eighteen months.
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