Advice re purple lidded blood tubes.

[Dadof5]

Four times now I have had a failure with the purple lidded tube when trying to do the full health screen from Monitor my Health. It is for the anemia panel and I mainly get “clot detected “ and that I am not inverting the tube and rolling it between my hands for thirty seconds. Thing is that I am following the instructions and it is getting frustrating as my Dr won’t test for what is on the panel as last time they did they were “in range”.

Has anyone else had this problem and any helpful suggestions would be appreciated as at the moment it’s wasting money.

[Beads]

Yep, I got that in July when I did my test, got sent a second tube which went through okay. I did another full test this Monday just gone, and the same thing happened. Because of last time I made sure to give it a good roll around before I put it in the pack and sent it off, it was still plenty liquid then, so I know I followed instructions. The only thing I can think of is that they say to fill the yellow tube first, so the purple tube gets filled slower, unless I manage to get the vein just right, then it looks like a murder scene. So I’m wondering if the blood starts clotting as it’s going into the tube.

I’m not sure how to go about fixing it though, whether it’s worth doing purple first, but will my hole close up while I’m mixing the purple and it won’t be able to fill the yellow? Or make a fresh hole for the purple? Or just put up with it and have them send a new tube a couple of weeks later?

Though if it’s costing you money does this mean they’re not sending extra tubes?

Maybe this is worth taking to the doc, that it’s clotting too fast for the private tests, maybe you could persuade them to look at clotting factors and see if you’re over range? I don’t know your relationship with your doc, if you tell them the trials and tribulations with private testing would they then agree to do the tests for you? I don’t have that sort of relationship with our doc, but a friend does, she just goes in, chats and they test for anything.

[Dadof5 in reply to Beads]

Yeah they do send another tube. But twice now that has clotted as well. I know my haemoglobin is slightly above range and I wonder if that is causing it. I will try and talk to the doctor next time I see them. Was thinking next time I’ll fill the yellow tube before nine in the morning and then fill the purple tube later in the day when I’m more hydrated.