I have gone nuts and paid someone to come to my house and do an antibody test on us

[LaurieFairyCake]

Can't take anymore not knowing so I've paid £260 to bike out a test from a lab and wait while we stab ourselves and return our blood to the lab

Dh thinks I've gone a bit batshit but I couldn't take anymore

Disclaimer : it won't affect my behaviour in line with current government guidelines

[TokyoSushi]

I'll be interested to know how it turns out!

[Teaandbiscuits88]

Was that £260 each? Also interested to know the outcome!

[sleepwhenidie]

Why can’t you take not knowing? What will the answer change? And how do you know test is reliable? And have you seen the research on T cells possibly being the way some individuals fight infection (rather than antibodies which is what your test will screen for)? So many questions

[whatsleep]

How will you know it’s accurate? I’d imagine it’s as reliable as the dog DNA tests?!

[Spied]

I'd like to know if I have hadit.
My fear is having a test and finding out I have it at the present moment. If covid didn't kill me my anxiety would.

[sleepwhenidie]

I’m asking as I am tempted because pretty sure all of us have had it, but because there are all of the questions I ask, it seems pointless for anything other than to satisfy my curiosity!

[sleepwhenidie]

Spied I think you test for having it or having had it separately, one test won’t tell you either/or/neither

[SnoozyLou]

I’d be happy to pay for one if they were reliable but last I heard they were giving out false negatives. And a false positive would be even worse.

[Stuckforthefourthtime]

If it's the Private Harley Street Doctor guy he's dodgy, and it actually operates from his flat in North London www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/22/gmc-concerned-about-doctors-exploiting-coronavirus-fears. Problem is that even if it turns out not to be a scam, most antibody tests still have high false negative rates - so a positive means you probably have had it (though what that actually means your immunity is still unknown), but a negative could still mean you've had it, especially if it was mild or recent.

[LennyPugGoat]

£260 each?

[LochJessMonster]

But what does it prove?

If you’ve had it, there’s still no definite answer about how long the antibodies last and whether you will be protected in the future

You still won’t be exempted from lockdown

You may still be able to pass it on to other so need to maintain social distancing.

If you’ve got it, it won’t change anything. You are either ill from it, or no/minor symptoms.

[YeOldeTrout]

Y do U need to know?

[mouse70]

I suspect SCAM

[ballsdeep]

Why have you wasted money? I thought the anti body test was widely known to be inaccurate. As you've said it won't change your behaviour si what's the point?

[Focalpoint]

They haven't even proved that evidence of antibodies makes you immune from a second infection. Also issues with reliability of these tests.

Is it too late to get your money back?

[Candyflosscookie]

Those tests are so unreliable you may as well toss a coin to guess and keep your £260.

[oohnicevase]

Interesting ... were you I'll with the symptoms?

[SquishySquirmy]

I've paid for a drive through test! (£125).
I accept it won't be 100% accurate and I will still comply with all guidelines regardless of the result.
Mine is at a reputable private clinic and the test is manufactured by a reputable UK company. So although not 100%, if positive then it is at least a strong indication that the illness I had was Covid. For me, it is worth it but I know others may think it's a waste of £125.

Because we isolated for 14 days, family keep asking "what were your symptoms, we want to know what to look out for etc...." But of course our symptoms might not have been Covid! With the test, at least I will have a clearer idea of what the probability is that it was Covid.

I weirdly feel very nervous about it though. Feel worse than I did before my driving test!

[UniversalAunt]

How much?
Reassuringly expensive?

If consistently reliable antibody tests were available for ‘office’ testing, then all NHS & essential services would be lining up for them. Quality mass testing programmes are being worked on right now, & we have to wait until then.

Do yourself a favour, cancel this.

[firstmentat]

I ordered a couple of home antibody testing kits from my home country for ~£12 each. Yes they are from the same manufacturer that the NHS rejected but still ~95% specificity / slightly lower sensitivity. Obviously not very acceptable on the population scale, but OK if you do repeated testing on one person.

[LochJessMonster]

It’s so so sad that unscrupulous companies m are capitalising on people’s fears at times like this, by offering unreliable tests for such ridiculous amounts of money.

Scams like this should be illegal.

[rookiemere]

firstmentat how did you manage to order them ? £10 for a 95% level of accuracy seems like a good deal to me.

[rossKemp]

Very unlikely to be a reliable test so a waste of money

[SomeoneBurntTheToastAgain]

Silly

[rossKemp]

You’ve been scammed