At-Home Hormone Tests: Are They Accurate? Medscape article

[RedApple]

A subject that's dear to our hearts!

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A proliferation of at-home tests are available to check thyroid function, and other hormones, offering patients the comfort of testing these levels remotely. This availability is expected to grow to a $4.79 billion market by 2030, according to Research and Markets analysis.

The growing demand can be attributed partly to a rise in comfort with testing at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased people's confidence in remote healthcare.

But are these tests reliable? And should people be taking them at home?

Read the full article here - you might need to register, but it's free. medscape.com/viewarticle/99...

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

Worth a read. Definitely good to know that they are not dismissing them but taking a reasonably thoughtful approach.

People just have to prick their fingers [rather than] go to the lab to have their blood drawn, which can sometimes be painful.

I've got the distinct impression that many find the fingerprick tests can be as painful, or worse, than "proper" phlebotomy!

Some of the hormones fluctuate very little, but some can fluctuate a lot— for example, testosterone in males. If you measure it in the morning, you are going to get a more reliable [result] compared to measuring in the afternoon or in the evening.

OK - but the establishment pretty much 100% ignores TSH variation. (Not sure how to interpret "reliable" in that sentence...)

Before we even start testing hormone levels, [the patient] needs to have symptoms.

Nonsense. There are several sensible reasons including getting baseline levels for comparison in future. And, most particularly of you have close relatives with thyroid issues, checking whether you are going in that direction - even before significant symptoms.

If you already have a diagnosis and you want to titrate to the appropriate dose, then I think it's a reasonable idea to use those [at-home] kits to help titrate the dose of your medication.

Very much agree.

[RedApple Administrator in reply to helvella]

Before we even start testing hormone levels, [the patient] needs to have symptoms.

Patients often have symptoms, but doctors frequently dismiss them! Or tell you that it's not xyz disease, so no, we won't test you for that.

At least if we can take charge of our own testing, we can make the decisions about what we'll test for. The only downside of this is of course, affordability.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to RedApple]

It is also odd that medicine has been so comfortable with population screening programs where eligibility is age, sex, or whatever.

If symptoms are present, it could well be too late, or at least, later than ideal.

[Zephyrbear in reply to helvella]

“Nonsense. There are several sensible reasons including getting baseline levels for comparison in future.”

This is precisely why I got my daughters and son to do private blood tests while they were still healthy after I had already travelled down the hypothyroid road for a few years. It actually paid off for one of my daughters as hers changed dramatically a couple of years ago and, due to her earlier baseline test and my history (we’re both under the same GP practice) , she was put on to Levothyroxine almost straight away without having to wait until her TSH got to 10! Thankfully, she’s never had to suffer the years of no medication causing all sorts of irreversible damage that I had to and it’s now managed well and she’s happy.

[HealthStarDust in reply to Zephyrbear]

Was it TFT or vitamins or both you had for baseline for children?

[Zephyrbear in reply to HealthStarDust]

I got the Medichecks full thyroid one with TSH, FT4, FT3, all the thyroid antibodies(sorry can’t recall their official titles just now) Vit D, CRP, Folate and Ferritin. I think it was the Advanced Thyroid Test.

[HealthStarDust in reply to Zephyrbear]

Thanks. It was a good idea and worth repeating for many of us on our journeys of parenthood.

[Zephyrbear in reply to HealthStarDust]

Indeed, but I must stress they were all healthy, active adults when they took the first tests, not children or even teenagers.

[RedApple Administrator]

A downside of home test kits is the excess of plastic lancets being manufactured and distributed. I have around twenty of these spare now that I've accumulated over the years.

It would be good if, when ordering a kit, you could state on the order 'no lancets required'.

Test kit blue lancets

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to RedApple]

For those who sell through real shops, perhaps they could not include them? Just allow customers one bag of them if they buy a kit.

(I know - customers forgetting/not realising/shops running out/different bags for different kits.)

[RedApple Administrator in reply to helvella]

Mine all came with postal kits. Three lancets per kit, except for vit D blood spot test which has two.

Everything is pre-packed in these kits. The lancets come in a little (plastic) bag with plasters, swabs etc., so am quite sure the testing companies will say it's just not economically viable for them to make lancets optional.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to RedApple]

I agree! I can't see any answer.