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

Are you actually joking me? I’ve gone through 25 pages so I didn’t miss anything and still nothing?! Seriously considering buying one for my own curiosity

Sorry to post this - but - placemaking!

In case anyone is interested- I ordered a test at the weekend, it came on Tuesday and I received the result yesterday. The result was negative but the service was great- very quick turn around. x

@JustMeAndMyTins interesting that the Abbott one is now approved as well

@tanqueray10 did you order from OP’s intermediary or from Treated?

CoCoCorona - the standard MN reply lol.

@Bananasandorangessss I ordered from Londondoctorsclinic.co.uk but have also ordered another one at reduced NHS rate for my husband who is a doctor from Privatecoronatests.com. The second test has also arrived but we haven’t returned yet. When I looked into it both companies seem to be run by the same man.

I think CoCo needs to GoGo from this thread . because some posters are SoSo flaunting their antibody tests which really is a NoNo. Ho ho ho

Sorry, sorry, sorry

@tanqueray10 thank you :-)

@aridane LOL thanks for brightening up the morning

ROC clinic do these tests too

I was tested by these people. It came back negative although I am still fairly sure I had it. False negative or no antibodies?

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk/collections/covid-19-coronavirus-tests

@Aridane 😂😂

I have done my research now. The evidence shows that the Abbott test has an unacceptable rate of false negatives. I won't be buying it. Roche is not available to the public yet.

@theDudesmummy - I think PHE approved the Abbott test yesterday and has a provisional order of 5m Abbott kits

@theDudesmummy were you reading about the Abbot ‘rapid’ test? That one is no good but the lab based one I think is pretty similar to Roche (that was my understanding anyway). Feel free to correct me!!

Yes- you're right Bananas it's the rapid antigen test with the high level of false negatives.

@theDudesMummy. When you say you have read about the Abbott test not being accurate enough, could you be referring to their rapid "ID Now" test?

Because the other, a lab-based one which we are all referring to, is a completely different test. It's that one which OP and others on this thread have bought, and which the UK government has now approved and are planning to buy for the NHS to use etc. uk.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-britain-abbott/britain-approves-abbotts-covid-19-antibody-test-idUKS8N2CF00W

If you don't want to wait for the Roche one, or would rather take your sample at home than go in (for the Abbott type of immunoassay, results from capillary blood (fingerprick) are venous blood (blood draw) are identical), then it's worth knowing the Abbott and Roche tests are on a level.

Did you take a look at this article, posted by @NewCurtainsPls below? It gives more idea about the performance of the Abbott test.

DH is going to do his Abbott test today.
His symptoms were -
Fever, worse at night.
Dry cough, v bad at night.
Sleepiness, which lasted for a couple of weeks after the fever had gone.
Fast pulse at times.
Some loss of sense of smell.

So could have been flu or Covid I suppose ? I have known him for 25 years and he has never been this unwell before, he never gets a cough. He says it is the most ill he remembers being apart from Glandular Fever when he was 21.

OK, yes it was the Abbott fingerprick test that I believe is not adequate. I thought that was the one that was being sold on the website that was mentioned?

I have just checked. The £99 one being sold on the website, which is what I thought was being discussed on this thread, is the finger prick one.

"theDudesmummy" I don't blame you for being confused, but the fingerprick itself refers to two different things!

The more inaccurate, rapid "ID now" fingerprick test is one where you prick your finger, put a drop onto a strip and get a quick result.

With the £99 one on the website, because you're doing it at home, you collect the blood through a fingerprick but it isn't the same test. It involves pricking your finger and then squeezing the blood into a little container until it is full! That blood is then sent off to the lab and processed just like blood taken from your vein would be.

I also checked if it's accurate enough to collect the blood from your fingertip in that way (because I've ordered the test and also had the means of collecting the blood from a vein – not an option for everyone I know), and for the Abbott test the results from both types of collection are identical.

Does this make sense? The £99 test needs blood collected from an initial fingerprick, but it isn't "the fingerprick test"!

@theDudesmummy I meant to put!

@BoxOfShapes do you know whether the blood sample can degenerate in the post etc if it takes some time before testing? I don’t want to throw more money down the drain. I would definitely send mine next day delivery as I did a PCR swab one some weeks back and Royal Mail first class took one week before it arrived in the lab - the lab processed it v quickly - I got a negative result but I can’t help thinking it probably didn’t do the sample any favours being in transit so long before testing so that was a ridiculous waste of money. That and it was bloody difficult doing the swab properly so definitely could be some user error on my part. Two avoid user error, I would prefer to have a proper blood draw rather than squeezing blood myself into a vial but do you reckon it’s fairly foolproof?

Oh OK, now I understand. I have in fact used one of those services where you can get thyroid results, vitamin levels etc by doing the squeezing your blood into a tube thing, so I know it can be used for more complex blood tests. I just had not realised that the IgG test by Abbott was in fact accurate enough, If that is the case then I will order one...

@Bananasandorangessss I'm not too sure but share your concern.
I did a bit of googling and saw this lab (just general, not to do with COVID) says to try to ensure samples reach them within 24 hours.

I'm hoping my kit will arrive today but I won't send it off till Monday (special delivery) just in case.

I think the fingerprick collection should be foolproof as long as you remember to clean your hands and finger carefully first and to wipe away the first drop. (Have you seen they have a video on the website?). Alternatively, could your husband draw your blood for you? They don't ship vacutainers but you can send them back a gold top or green top vacutainer, or transfer whole blood into the container they provide!

@Bananasandorangesss. Added an extra S above, sorry! I'm no good at tagging people