Medical Testing / Thyroid Testing

Disclaimer - the following post is meant to be simply informative, but in no way is it meant to treat, diagnose, or give any kind of medical advice. I am not a My Med Lab affiliate.

Have you heard of My Med Lab? You can register for a free account and request blood work, all without a script from a doctor. There are many different types of tests - thyroid, autism, vitamin levels, cancer screens, female wellness, male wellness, hormones, diabetes, liver, autoimmune, and more. The tests are very reasonably priced, at least as far as I have found. Once you have selected and paid for the tests you want, your order will be reviewed and approved within two hours. My order for some thyroid tests was approved almost instantly. Then you just print out the approved order, and take it to the nearest lab that is affliated with My Med Lab. In my case, I just took it to the nearest Labcorp. I walked into Labcorp, handed them my order, and I had my results back from my blood work THE NEXT DAY! I was able to view my results online at My Med Lab. Now all I have to do is print out my results to take them to my doctor at my next appointment.

Why would you need to use My Med Lab? I often hear of people with thyroid problems or suspected thyroid problems that have trouble getting their doctor to agree to run certain tests. You can order your own blood tests, without needing your doctor to approve them. This happened to me. I asked my doctor (at the time) if he could run Free T3. My doctor only wanted to run Total T3. My doctor said it was an extremely expensive test. I ran TSH, Free T3 and Free T4 for about the same price I always paid for my bloodwork at other labs.

Another reason you might want to use My Med Lab is if you suspected that your thyroid levels were off, but didn't want to make an appointment with your doctor just to get a script, then have to go get bloodwork, then make another appointment to discuss the results with your doctor. Using My Med Lab eliminates that first apointment. You can simply order your tests first, then make one appointment to discuss the results.

I will point out that my family and I have chosen not to have traditional health insurance. We are part of Samaritan Ministries, and I will try to write a post explaining how Samaritan Ministries works in regards to health care very soon. I pay out-of-pocket for bloodwork and doctor's appointments. I am not sure how My Med Lab would work for someone that does have insurance.

So the results from today - TSH was 5.54, Free T3 was 3.3 (range 2.0- 4.4), and Free T4 was 0.91 (range 0.82 - 1.77). After I see my doctor about my results I'll write a post explaining these levels. I know the TSH is way too high, and the Free T4 is too low. I'm not sure about the Free T3 since I have never had that tested before. While the TSH is not super high (I've been at 54 before), it is still high enough to explain why I've been feeling bad again lately.