Because my doctors persist in only doing bare minimum (TSH only) tests for my thyroid whilst I'm titrating up on Levo , I've been considering using Medichecks to do a full range (their £89 package) and asking the phlebotomist at the surgery to give me some of the blood she extracts next time I go. Trouble is, my appointment is early in the week before Christmas. Correct time of day etc and I can reduce Vit supplementation etc appropriately before I go. But the big question is...will it get through to the lab in time? With the Royal Mail strikes etc. Or will it be a waste of money?
I can't get the blood test in the new year as they want it before Christmas - and they likely won't test me again for several months if not longer.
Any advice welcomed please!
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SilverSavvy
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You'll need to keep your eye on the strike dates on the Royal Mail website or in newspapers and hope that the day of your blood draw fits in with when they will accept and deliver.
These dates have been posted in the Telegraph today, the most up to date I can find:
but besides delivery strike days there will also be possible disruption to other services (collection, sorting, processing, etc) on other dates, it's just a case of keeping an eye on things.
My son went to the Post Office today to send a recorded large letter, it was refused and he was told it wouldn't be accepted until Friday, this is a small, rural Post Office where everyone knows everyone so not a case of an officious P.O. employee.
If you do decide to send it then I would suggest you only use Royal Mail's Special Delivery Guaranteed Next Day by 1pm, this service costs about £6.85 and takes priority over normal mail and is probably the only way you can more or less guarantee it will arrive next day. Keep the receipt with tracking number and if it doesn't arrive by the guaranteed time you can claim your fee back (but they wont cover the cost of the test).
Also, Monitor My Health have just introduced a new test - Full Health Screen - which is very similar to the Medichecks test and might be worth considering if you don't need antibodies tested, it includes
Diabetes – HbA1c
Vitamin D
Total Cholesterol – Total Cholesterol, HDL, Non-HDL and triglycerides
Thyroid - TSH, FT3, FT4
Anaemia – Haemoglobin, Ferritin, Transferrin Saturation, Active B12, Folate
It's normally £65 but 20% off with Black Friday code at the moment
Oh, that's very helpful thank you. Yes, the test date is not an RM striking one so it should be okay from that pov..it's just whether everything else will actually be working that week. But the MonitorMyHealth one would certainly be less of a costly mistake if anything went awry - especially with the discount, so I really appreciate that info 👍
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