Recommended Iron panel test/vit D?

[turquoisea7]

Recommendations please for buying full iron panel and Vit D tests at home? Or full Iron panel and vitamins?

with my thanks in advance.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

turquoisea7

The only full iron panel I know of is Medichecks Home Iron Blood Test:

medichecks.com/products/iro...

10% discount code here: thyroiduk.org/help-and-supp...

They also do a Vit D blood test which requires a blood sample in microtainer if you're doing fingerprick:

medichecks.com/products/vit...

10% discount as above.

If you order both at the same time they will send just one return envelope so you would need to do both tests on the same day.

I do them separately, Medichecks for the iron panel but I always use the NHS lab which offers an easier dried blood spot fingerprick test to the general public for £29:

vitamindtest.org.uk/

I don't know of a test which includes the full iron panel plus other vitamins, usually it's just ferritin.

[turquoisea7 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you for this and especially for sending the links, that makes life simpler! Is Medichecks reliable? As I read it here, people have been getting somewhat random results from at times?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to turquoisea7]

Medichecks ferritin results have always been different from GP results but we have never been able to get to the bottom of why. But unless your GP is willing to do a full iron panel then there's not a lot of choice. If you chose another one of the private companies chances are they would use the same lab for processing the test, they generally all tend to use Eurofins County Pathology or The Doctor's Laboratory.

If you're looking for iron deficiency it's the serum iron and saturation percentage that will tell you that.

[turquoisea7 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Brilliant, thank you, I'll buy one now. I'm really looking for a whole panel - I have asked GP several times but I have only got ferritin (low), and so no idea what is going on with the rest. Thanks a million for your help and information, I really appreciate it.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to turquoisea7]

only do full iron panel test fasting, and don’t eat high iron rich dinner night before test

Stop any iron supplements a week before test

[turquoisea7 in reply to SlowDragon]

OH! thanks for this - but that's me messed that Iron test up then. There's nowhere on the instructions which says this? And I took the flipping supplement last night, had been taking it every day....typical. So all I'll be measuring now is the iron sloshing around from the supplement? I really need to know binding capacity.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to turquoisea7]

SeasideSusie

Can you comment……I have never done an iron test

Shouldn’t the instructions say stop iron supplements?

[turquoisea7 in reply to SlowDragon]

Maybe, but they just tell you how to take the blood and post it!

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to SlowDragon]

SlowDragon

No, the instructions don't say to stop taking iron, as far as I remember they don't tell you to fast either whereas at least the NHS page mentions fasting for 12 hours

nhs.uk/common-health-questi...

Common fasting blood tests

Examples of blood tests that may require you to fast include:

a fasting blood glucose test (used to test for diabetes) – you may be asked to fast for 8 to 10 hours before the test

an iron blood test (used to diagnose conditions such as iron deficiency anaemia) – you may be asked to fast for 12 hours before the test

I have regular liver function tests as my surgery and the general advice is to fast for 8-12 hours (of course other sources say not necessary!) yet I've never been advised to fast for this test, and sometimes they throw in a ferritin test and again I'm not told to fast.

When you look for whether to stop taking iron supplements, some articles say stop 24 hours before, some 2-3 days, some 5-7 days. As with a lot of things there is much conflicting information.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to SeasideSusie]

ok….so no not necessarily stop a week before

turquoisea7 …..so just test anyway

[turquoisea7 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks very much, I have sent it off anyway and will at least know what I did. I hadn't stopped supplementing for my last 2 NHS tests either so will be able to compare, it's more a case of knowing binding capacity so I can make sure I'm supplementing appropriately.

[turquoisea7 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you very much for your help, the instructions son't say anything about fasting, laying off supplements, etc. As I'd managed to actually fill the tube on the 2nd attempt (and with much arm-flailing, thanks to something else I read here!) I sent it off anyway. I guess the same will apply as to thyroid tests, so long as I know what I did and have a comparison that's the important part.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to turquoisea7]

what were your iron panel test results?

Have you tested vitamin D too

What are B12 and folate results?

[turquoisea7 in reply to SlowDragon]

Hm how did that post get bumped? odd. Anyway, thank you lovely SD for asking. Vit D, yes thank goodness for that bloodspot test, so much easier than filling a tube. I don't want to post results on the forum because although I am always VERY grateful for your input, some of the things people say, threats of horrible diseases/conditions/problems etc have caused me massive anxiety. I'm really here for support and find this whole process deeply stressful, on top of being so ill.

Ferritin is steadily creeping up altho still low, Vit D adequate although not ideal. STUPID angry-making GP today has told me that on latest bloods, with my FT3 only 30% through range, there is nothing wrong with me (even though I can hardly leave the house) because me levels are all NORMAL. I had to fight to get an increase to what is now bodyweight dose and he's desperate to find a reason to reduce me back down to below that again asap. It's a long time since anyone has treated me as if I'm stupid (since I got a PhD, probably) and I am SO angry. Have private appointment booked with specialist in a couple of weeks, she may write to him and sort him out, otherwise I'm going to be going free-range. That will probably mean a change of T4 brand which also worries me. I am not in the least surprised thyroid patients everywhere give up struggling to have any kind of life and end up offing themselves.