How can i tell the DR to give me a blood test

[Purplecrocsrock]

I need a blood test, to check my thyroid and iron & zinc. I think i have hypothyroidism, my sister has it and all my symptoms match hers.
Everytime ive been to the drs for a blood test,she always says it isn't needed so how can i demand it to be done?!

Melon why do they watch and wait for it to go over 10, if, even by their own standards, it shouldn't be over 5? What's the rationale for that, rather than treating as soon as it's over 5? Especially if the patient is symptomatic? I can't understand it.

I can’t understand it either leopard! I think it’s because with Hashimotos, the thyroid swings between overactive and underactive so they want to make sure it’s permanently under/over before medicating, but the reality is that by the time most of us actually get diagnosed we’ve been suffering the same symptoms for months (in some cases years!) being fobbed off.

It seems that we in Europe mainly have Ords hypothyroidism rather than Hashis, which doesn’t involve a goitre (swelling of the thyroid) but atrophy instead (it shrivels up) and maybe this is why we don’t get the swings of high and low as much?

However most people in the UK are told it’s Hashimotos, which is very similar and has a lot more info available. Maybe if doctors were looking for Ords instead they wouldn’t wait when the TSH was clearly high. (Or in fact just do all the blimming tests!)