Eastlife January 2019

inflammatory bowel conditions such as Ulcerative Colitis
and Crohn’s disease. Healthy guts should not leak blood,
so a positive result is always an indication for further
investigation. This simple test on a stool sample is used
widely where colonoscopy is not available or offered.
Priced £4.75.
result? Would they trust the result? Would their heads
simply explode from the immense responsibility? It was all
complete rubbish of course (unless you’re French, they’re
still not trusted to buy one without counselling from a
pharmacist).
So let’s talk specifically about the recent developments in
what is officially called “point of care” biotechnology. To
you and me that’s posh for self-test kits and it’s amazing
what is on offer to do in your own home these days. Oh,
and before you go “but they’re not as accurate as the
proper tests”, here’s the rub, we’re selling an awful lot
of them in big packs to NHS labs where they put your
samples in for you, and generate a result, print it or ping
it, back to your doctor…(sometime after Easter if you’ve
manoeuvred that receptionist!).
Cholesterol Screening
Increasingly total cholesterol is used for assessing risk for
coronary artery disease (include here heart attack, stroke
and vascular disease). There’s a meter for this. It’s just like
a diabetic glucose meter, in fact it also has this function,
and takes 3 types of blood test strips including total
cholesterol. The meter costs around £40 and comes with
a few sample test strips. You have to perform finger pricks
to get small blood samples for each test strip, but it allows
you to monitor the fasting total cholesterol over a period
of time for a cost of around £1.60 per test.
Uric Acid Screening (Gout)
The same meter takes uric acid test strips and allows
screening for uric acid levels associated with gout. £0.75
per test. Find out more about cholesterol, and gout
meters at www.valuemed.co.uk/collections/cholesterolhaemoglobin-uric-acid-meters
FOB Faecal Occult Blood Screening (FOB for short)
Microscopic blood loss into the gut is used as a market
for a range of bowel diseases, notably polyps and
tumours, but the marker is non-specific and also occurs on
H Pylori Antigen Screening
Chronic indigestion, reflux and upper GI symptoms may
be treated better if H Pylori infection is identified. This
one’s a little controversial as H Pylori exists in a lot of
apparently healthy stomachs, but it’s also found in an
awful lot of ulcers, so currently the thinking is to screen
and eradicate if symptomatic. This test works on stool
samples and only identifies cell wall protein excreted from
currently active bugs (older tests detect antibodies, which
linger for years after eradication). Priced £6.99.
Thyroid TSH Screening
Underactive thyroid leads to a range of insidious onset
symptoms, none of which are diagnostic, so screening
for elevated TSH which is pumped out by the pituitary
glad to get the thyroid working can help exclude or direct
physicians and patients concerned about thyroid function.
Finger prick home test priced £4.99.
Ferritin Iron Screening
Ferritin is an indicator of Iron levels in the body, low
ferritin levels are associated with anaemia, chronic
fatigue, muscle weakness, hair loss, brittle nails. A finger
prick home test is £4.96.
And that’s just a few currently on the market and available
now. By the time this goes to print we will have the latest
HbA1C instant test for elevated glycosated haemoglobin.
If you’re diabetic you will know all about this one. If you’re
one of the millions predicted to be at risk of diabetes
in the UK it offers an instant screening test for diabetes
and pre-diabetes for the first time without the laboratory
delay or hospital visits for glucose tolerance tests.
By Easter 2019 who knows what else will be included in
the ranges available. If you’re lucky enough to get that
last appointment with your GP, perhaps you could Google
it together?
Visit www.valuemed.co.uk to see the full range of home
test kits available.
eastlife.co.uk 63