Which private blood testing company do you recommend?

[Huffalump]

I only joined this forum a week ago and it has become clear from your responses to me and reading other posts that is essential to get full bloods done to work out what is happening.

I have symptoms of hypothyroidism despite being on 75 mg of Levothyroxine and the GP saying that I am within the normal range. But I am understanding that the cause of this could be anything from being undermedicated, to poor T3 conversion, to vitamin deficiencies.

I am going for my annual blood test from the GP surgery today (English NHS), but I know they will only do TSH and F4. (Having read all your posts I will ask for F3 this time, but I won't hold my breath!).

I have been looking at the testing companies linked from the Thyroid UK website and the prices are about the same so how do I choose?

At the moment I am drawn to Blue Horizon, since they are a tiny personal company who make it clear who work for them and why and look trustworthy, and Thriva who are a huge, slick machine but appear to present the results clearly and give interpretations of results.

Any advice welcome. I live in an isolated rural area with no access to centralised clinics and have limited spare income, so need affordable home finger prick test and to do things via post and internet.

Thanks!

[Buddy195 Administrator]

thyroiduk.org/help-and-supp...

It’s very much personal choice which company you use. MMH, Thrive, Blue Horizon and Medichecks are all popular. Some members shop around, looking at who has an offer/ discount. Personally, I use the same company as it’s useful to look at the graph produced, showing results over time.

[Huffalump in reply to Buddy195]

Thanks, which one do you use?

[Buddy195 Administrator in reply to Huffalump]

I use Medichecks BUT I do not think they offer any advantage over other providers.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

I would test BOTH TPO and TG antibodies at least once

If going on gluten free/dairy free diet can be useful to retest antibodies every year or two see if levels are dropping

MMH only tests TPO

And test all four vitamins at least annually

If you suspect cortisol issues…..use Blue Horizon as it includes “snap shot” cortisol test

[Huffalump in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you, that's a helpful distinction.

[tattybogle]

i'm happy with Monitor My Health (as long as they have the specific test i want~ they don't have everything )

a)they are relatively cheap... about £30 for TSH / fT4 /fT3

b) if i ever wanted to show the results to my GP , they would have difficulty making the arguing that they are not reliable, since MMH is an NHS run service ,doing it's tests at Exeter NHS hospital lab at night when the lab is not so busy.

c) i quite like the idea that some of my money is going in the direction of the NHS... rather than a private 'for profit' company.

d) i'm hoping that MMH is seen as a success story , so want to support it ... then hopefully other NHS hospital labs will catch on to this as a source of extra income ..one day i would like to be able to walk to my local hospital to get blood draw and pay them directly for TSH /FT4 / FT3 whenever i fancy knowing what my levels are (and using the same ref. ranges my GP tests have for proper comparison)~ without having to stab myself and post it

e) i have had one occasion where there was a problem with MMH test (my fault , i put wrong date on label) they communicated efficiently by email and the issue was sorted within an hour. I've used them half a dozen times now ,,and have always got my results back very quickly.

[Huffalump in reply to tattybogle]

Thanks, that's really interesting, and if they do the tests I need, your point about supporting the NHS is a good one. (And the GP's will have to recognise the expertise!).

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

Randox are good/ reasonably priced if you have one handy to you, they also do fingerprick kits

[Huffalump in reply to TiggerMe]

Thanks for the advice!

[SlowDragon Administrator]

personally I have used them all over the years

I always do a full thyroid including both antibodies and vitamins just before my annual review and give a copy to my GP

Recently I have included getting cortisol tested …..as a course of steroids resulted in very low cortisol

If I need to test just TSH, Ft4 and Ft3 ……I use MMH for reasons tattybogle outlined

[Huffalump]

Thanks for your advice! It's reassuring.