Medichecks Iron. Worth it?

[Sickandtiredofbeingtired]

Has anyone had this test?

I’ve only ever had my ferritin checked by the GP, it’s always very low end of normal. I’m wondering if it’s worth having the additional checks offered with this test and, if they show anything, would my GP actually act on any of the results?
I’m exhausted, weak and frequently short of breath but all I ever get is ‘results are normal’, even though my ferritin levels have dropped further since the last blood test. (Already on treatment for thyroid, I have B12 injections and I’m on prescription Vitamin D- all those results are now in normal range) I’ve had a hysterectomy so no reason for ferritin levels to be dropping that I know of. Is medichecks worth it?

medichecks.com/cart

Has the GP done any tests to figure out why your ferritin is low? The first thing mine did was a coeliac disease test, as that can be a common cause. They should give you a full blood count, including all the other iron-related ones, have you not had haemoglobin etc tested?

Private tests like medichecks are great for keeping an eye on known issues, to see if supplements are helping etc, but I would expect your doc to look harder into finding a cause first.

My ferritin, folate and B12 are always low end too, and I do use a private test every few months to keep an eye on them, but I've had full blood work ups via the NHS first and everything else was ok.

Haven’t had FBC for a couple of years. I have never, to my knowledge, had any other iron related blood tests. I’ve checked back through my results-I always ask for a print out.

Coeliac test around 4 years ago was normal.

They just don’t seem interested in why it’s dropping, they see normal range and that’s it!

Say the ferritin normal range is 30-470 & previous ferritin was 42 then the next year it dropped to 34. At that point -because I had asked for the blood test due to air hunger/shortness of breath-the dr actually removed the ferrous sulphate from my repeat prescription!

I bought it myself so have been taking it. I dread to think what state I would be in if I hadn’t. They have me marked as a hypochondriac I’m sure

Do you order private tests on line, if so which company? I can’t afford spire hospital level of private blood tests. Medichecks is a bit of a splurge tbh but I’m desperate.

I use Thriva - it's cheaper & easier than medichecks (all done by fingerprick tests at home rather than proper blood sample) but it's much more limited in what's on offer because of this. There is an iron profile that tests 5 iron-related things, for £24, and you can add on others as you need. The results come with an explanation/recommendation of treatment from a GP, presumably medichecks does the same.

It's a subscription-based service so not sure if you can buy a one-off test anymore, if you can they certainly don't make it easy on the site! It's easy to cancel it straight away online once you've got the first one though, but I found that quite off-putting.

I've found GPs dismissive of symptoms too if you're 'normal', no matter how close to the bottom, which is why I monitor my levels myself. Ferritin & folate are both an issue for me

Thanks, I will have a look.

If I was made of money I would buy one from each company to see how the results compared. It would be interesting to know if they were both as accurate as each other!