What’s the point in getting people to do their own swab tests?!

[MarcelineMissouri]

Had to go to one of the drive in test centres today ( I don’t have cv symptoms but use the Zoe tracker and got asked to get tested after reporting I wasn’t feeling well yesterday)
Nose swab - fine although hard to know for sure if I was far enough in.
Throat swab?? Impossible! Could barely see my tonsils and managed about 2 seconds before gagging too much to carry on.

I hope that having to take swabs from both areas is a back up rather than a necessity. It just seems to me that with how far in these things have to go there must be thousands of people not doing it right leading to inaccurate results?

@Scotinengland76

If you did it wrong , it would’ve come back inconclusive. Surely people don’t need handheld to take a test.

No, it would come back negative.

Even medical professionals have said it's quite difficult to swab other people, and the swabs need to go back much further than you think/are quite unpleasant.
If you've done it and it was easy and you got a negative result, you probably did it wrong.

Surely people don’t need handheld to take a test

Toothpaste running too far back makes me gag
No way could I force through a throat swab without throwing up but I'd stop before I threw up, screw that.
No way would the nasal one go far enough, first hint of pain I'd stop
Medical stuff makes me flip out, it's fight or flight to me and I fly, I fly FAST.
Even a nurse doing it would probably need my dp to hold me in place

My husband had an unclear test result when he had it done (properly, by someone else). He eventually got a response that unclear meant there was some indication of coronavirus, but not enough to give a positive. He was advised that an incorrectly completed test would give a negative result, as PPs have said.

If the nasal one was “fine” it probably wasn’t far enough back! They are pretty brutal. I can’t imagine doing one on myself...

Even HCPs can find them tricky especially on nervous patients and children (my DH is a HCP in paediatrics) Someone said their 10 year old did it themself?? There is no way that was done correctly . There is a reason why HCPs are trained to do things like this. Self swabbing is a joke, perhaps with the exception of HCPs.

@mrbob

If the nasal one was “fine” it probably wasn’t far enough back! They are pretty brutal. I can’t imagine doing one on myself...

I had a funny feeling that might be the case! Ah well...

@mrbob

If the nasal one was “fine” it probably wasn’t far enough back! They are pretty brutal. I can’t imagine doing one on myself...

I did a self test at a drive in test station and both the nasal and throat were fine. It cane back positive so I don’t thinks it Necessarily true to say if it wasn’t uncomfortable it can’t have been done correctly

I did one through Zoe as well (hayfever I'm sure though no results yet) and found the throat doable - gagged but can see my tonsils so just toughed it out, but the nose was impossible! I don't think I got it in far enough and it was just the worst sensation ever - my eyes were pouring with tears (not crying but just literally sheeting down my face!) and I definitely didn't do 10 - 15 seconds in each nostril. Maybe 4 - 5 - just an unbearable sensation for me.

@MeadowHay

Even HCPs can find them tricky especially on nervous patients and children (my DH is a HCP in paediatrics) Someone said their 10 year old did it themself?? There is no way that was done correctly . There is a reason why HCPs are trained to do things like this. Self swabbing is a joke, perhaps with the exception of HCPs.

That was me, and you're right, almost certainly it wasn't done correctly. The information booklet said that an adult should do a test on under 12s and referred to a page that was supposed to tell you how to do this but that page was missing!

However, she probably did it better than me trying to poke a long stick down her throat from the driver's seat of a small car while she was sat in the passenger seat next to me. I had a go first but although she tried to co-operate, the stick was not going anywhere near her tonsils as she kept reflexively pulling away. It seemed easier when she had control of it herself and she did actually manage to wipe it on her tonsils but I'd be amazed if the sample was good enough. I don't even think I managed to do my own correctly.

If my younger DC needed testing, then I don't really think there would be much point in bothering if it weren't for the fact that I am a key worker and need a negative test result to continue working.

Dippy The paediatric A&E here will now test any patient that turns up with symptoms so keyworkers can drive their child up and arrange to have them tested there. And I don't blame you for not being able to do it for them either, I almost certainly wouldn't be able to!

Am not a tricky patient generally and am fine with needles etc but a combination of having a) no tonsils and b) a fear of gagging (owing to hyperemesis in the past) will mean I will very much struggle to do this if I ever have to

I had a nasal and throat swab done by a doctor when there was swine flu. There is zero way I could do that on myself. I made sure I fasted for hours before but I still gagged on my own spit, it was awful. He also took bloods from us.

This whole self-testing isn't going to be effective at all. I wouldn't bother myself as I know I wouldn't be able to do it correctly on myself.

Just got my result back - negative. That’s no surprise anyway seeing as I had none of the 3 main symptoms of cv but I would still feel pretty certain that my sample was not sufficient.

Also, it was in the news recently about how the government were counting these as 2 tests because its nose and throat. I could just about cope with this stretch in logic until I did my test and realised I had to use the same swab for both areas!! How can they possibly justify this when they are effectively only testing one sample?! I had assumed they were at least testing two different swabs

But there are some good finger poke tests available.

I have had a Covid test done by a nurse. There is no way I could do the same to myself. I’ve read on here that self tests for the nasal part are just until ‘resistance is felt’. My test was nothing like that. The area felt tender for a few hours later.

Either the tests done by professionals are too invasive (I’m sure they don’t make then awful for fun) or the self tests are not that reliable.

It would be interesting to know if there was another way of testing being developed that was less unpleasant. I would hesitate to go for another test to me honest.

Is anyone else surprised how badly the home testing seems to be running? I was surprised that when we got a home test just how long to delays are between getting one and then being able to send it back off.

We ordered one on Saturday evening, arrived Monday after 4.30pm, so couldn't then log onto the system to book the next day courier, so has to wait until today to arrange a pick up tomorrow.

I have not done a test, but have seen the diagram which shows you how far you have to swab - no way would I be able to do that to myself and I have no sensory issues etc.

I do wonder how the virus can be so easily transmitted (eg we sneeze on our hand then pass it on to someone else by shaking their hand and they then touch their nose etc) but so difficult to test for?

I was asked to do a test by the COVID symptom study as I had an upset stomach & nausea for 24hrs. I requested the test on a Friday, it arrived Saturday and the courier collected it Sunday 2 1/2 weeks ago.
I found the swabbing very difficult in my throat due to gagging and really struggled to swab my nose which remained sore for a few days.
The instructions say to insert an inch or until you reach resistance for your nose.
I never received the results so after 5 days I called the number, they answered immediately and she said it was lost and asked if I'd registered the test. I'd received a notification it was set up correctly.
She recommended I do another test. As a week had passed since my illness I decided not too.
Frustrating I went through that to not receive the results.

I’ve discussed this on a couple of threads and agree with OP. I booked for a testing centre which said you could ask for someone to administer the test, as I’m pretty gippy so thought I probably wouldn’t be able to do it properly myself. When I got there, though, this option wasn’t offered so I had to do the test myself. I was gagging and there was no possibility of keeping the swab on my tonsils for the 10 seconds which was advised.

And I don’t see the point of people posting how easy they found it to do - well we all know what some people can get down their throats but it doesn’t mean everyone can.

I've done a test but the kit was faulty, no symptoms but was invited via the Zoe app.

The self swabbing was fine, I took a couple of minutes with a mirror in front of me to clarify where I was aiming for, I also put a bucket and a box of tissues (just in case) between my knees between me and the mirror.

I read the leaflet to make sure I hadn't missed anything, I followed the steps as per m.youtube.com/watch?v=9WayjX6vCdk which was very clear to understand. I like this version based on the fact that we can see him gagging and his eyes watering, it's not trying to be polished just straightforward.

I removed any time pressure on myself either, this would take as long as it takes (reality it was 2-3 minutes and it has taken me longer to type this).

(puts big girl pants on) I retched several times with the throat swabs but calm deep breaths and positive self talk so inserted into nostril slowly while mouth breathing and pushed back until I met resistance then slightly further (telling myself this is uncomfortable but will not damage you) my eyes were streaming and I counted it back out after 5 rotations and repeat on the other side.

This is where I hit my big problem as even after snapping the stem, the lid on the test tube wouldn't go back on. Helpline was useless but that's another story altogether.

From personal experience if I had to do it again and had the choice of someone else doing it or self swabbing, it would be self swabbing all the way but also because I have a fear of others touching my nose (which stems from an enforced feeding tube) so being swabbed by others is a nightmare scenario for me. It means that while can be uncomfortable very temporary I have some control. This too will pass.

Hopefully some of this will help others.