GP Blood Test

[Dadof5]

Hi is there a list anywhere of what I should be asking my GP to test for?

I know a lot of GP's just test TSH but I want to try and push them to test everything as recommended on here and sometimes it feels like information overload.

Cheers

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

As far as thyroid function tests go, the sad fact is it's the lab who get to decide what will be tested. This frequently results in just the TSH or sometimes also FT4 getting tested. What you need is a full thyroid panel which will include an FT3 and no amount of persuasion these days results in that happening. Hence most here pay privately for bloods via Monitor my health or Medichecks.

You could be sucessful in getting ferritin, folate, B12 and D3 tested by your GP.

Otherwise you need TSH, FT4 & FT3 - likely to need to pay for that.

Also thyroid antibodies if you haven't yet had them tested. GP might do this.

[MaggieSylvie in reply to Jaydee1507]

What to do though, when you pay for tests and pass them on to the surgery, only for the practice nurse to tell you "I'll pass it on, but the GPs won't accept private testing"?

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to MaggieSylvie]

Usually if you have a vitamin deficiency the GP would run their own tests to check then hopefully treat, same with thyroid tests with the exception of FT3. If your levels are just not optimal then that is when you would buy supplements to raise sub optimal levels.

It's really about the disparity between what GP's accept as 'normal' and what we as thyroid patients require to make us well. The difference is stark.

[MaggieSylvie in reply to Jaydee1507]

Thanks, Jaydee1507. It's a case of my thyroid readings being rather weird but I'm afraid to discuss with my new GP. Not much trust in the practice nurse; she prescribed paracetamol for the pain of a new undiagnosed compression fracture, which simply does not cut it. I don't want to be fobbed off again; it's not as if I'm knocking on the surgery door every day.

[Jaydee1507 Administrator in reply to MaggieSylvie]

I hear you about pain medication. They give out the lowest possible pain med regardless of pain level. You need to beg and plead!

I've looked back at your previous posts and you do have odd results. The practice nurse is the last person who would understand that anyway, the GP might be flummoxed also. It might be an idea to get a recommendation of an Endocrinologist here to get a referral to. It's strange that you have a below range TSH yet your FT3 is OK and FT4 sometimes low.

I like new GP's sometimes, they have fresh ideas and not too jaded by it all, can be helpful. Getting fobbed off is almost part of approaching the GP about anything. The more it happens, the better you deal with it and become your own best advocate and push for what you really need. Don't hold back!

[MaggieSylvie in reply to Jaydee1507]

Thanks for your words of wisdom. There is so much going on in my life atm so it will be a while before I book an appointment. I probably have several things to discuss so need to get my head round it. fyi my GP is new to me because my previous one put me on levothyroxine on the basis of low TSH. There was already a heated discussion about that earlier last year. I think it's probably a pituitary problem but I don't want to appear to "know too much" when I bring up the subject. I haven't had any recognisable symptoms until now, when I'm feeling very tired and I'm not sure I'm losing hair, but the feeling tired may be down to my blood cancer - blood test on Valentine's Day! We'll know more then.