Medichecks UK Testosterone Test

Medichecks UK Testosterone Test

Medicheckmate.

tl; dr ... Short and to the Point
Who is this article aimed at?
Anybody interested in having their testosterone tested privately, and who wants to know more about Medichecks service.
I am busy - summarize it for me

We really do have it good in the UK, despite what the media might tell us.

We have fantastic services which others in the world just don't have access to. And testosterone testing is one of them. Medichecks offer a testing service which is quick, easy, efficient, discreet, and cheap. And the laboratories used are accredited with external quality assurance schemes.

  • Positive

    • Very low starting cost
    • Very fast turnaround (1 day)
    • Well prepared test kit
    • Easy to follow instruction guide
    • Helpline and Email for Support
    • Qualified doctor analyses results done on the results
    • Freepost return envelope
    • Confidential
  • Negative

    • Only checks total testosterone – not free T, or SHBG
    • Helpline a paid 0345, not a free 0800
    • No Live Chat support
    • Multiple Laboratories used, few details on accreditations

Who are Medichecks

Medichecks are one of the largest UK providers of home testing service for confidential, laboratory backed blood tests and health check tests. They have been establised over 15 years and have conducted 2.5 million blood tests in that time.

Using a network of laboratories, their unique selling points are the ultra quick turnaround and a lower than average costs.

Results are delivered securely on their web app.

Medichecks Results



Bloody Easy – The Process

You are instructed to take the sample in the morning between Monday and Friday. The reason testosterone tests are normally carried out in the morning is because the natural diurnal variation (or testosterone circadian rhythm) means that testosterone is at it’s highest.

Editor’s Note: Some recent studies suggest this early morning testing is only necessary for the under 45s – PURLs: It’s time to reconsider early-morning testosterone tests

Finger-pricking Good

The home test kit you get sent contains everything you are going to need to produce and send your sample. It’s a simple fingerprick test which is a bonus for those that find giving blood difficult, whether that be because of their veins or a psychological phobia of giving blood in general. So no GP, no phlebotomist.

Go With The Flow

Get the blood pumping round your system. Have a hot shower, the heat will cause your blood vessels to dilate. Or you could do some push ups or running on the spot to get your heart rate up and the blood pumping.

Draw!

Set up the Medichecks box, insert the sample tubes in the holding slots and give the tips of your fingers a massage. Wipe your selected finger with the alcohol wipe provided to ensure it’s clean and use one of the lancets to prick the skin.

Test Kit Container

You then hold your finger over the sample tube and fill it to the yellow line. No more, no less.

You can gently massage the sides of your finger or the palm of the hand you are taking the sample from (ie ‘milking it’). Generally when you are doing a finger prick test to draw blood, don’t go squeezing hard around the puncture site too much as you can damage cells in the tissue and end up with excess interstitial fluid and plasma in the blood sample.

If the finger dries up, you can use another one of the lancets on the same finger or another finger.

‘Tis but a scratch.

One of the benefits of the lancet if you are needle phobic, is that you don’t see the needle. It is hidden inside the plastic sheath, it pricks your skin when you activate it by pressing the sides together. It’s also not a ‘needle’ in the sense of some giant hypodermic.

It’s more like a needle, as in ‘needle and thread’. A pinprick.

Pop it in the Post

Take your sample tube, write out the label with your details on it and wrap it around the sample. Put it into the protective packaging. Drop it in the post.

Easy.

Video Guide

If you want to know exactly what you are getting, and see the kit in action then the video shown below should answer many questions. I’m pretty sure it won’t win the Oscar for best screenplay this year, but if you are worried about doing the test yourself then this should hopefully put your mind at rest.

If I had to give 1 reason why the video is useful, it’s because you see how easy is is to set up and do the finger prick.

Note: we haven’t produced this video.

Testimonials

Medichecks Testimonials

We are pretty picky about testimonials here – we do a lot of reviews. So the testimonials on the main Medichecks website don’t really cut the mustard with us. They remind us a bit of the Viz’s legendary Mrs B from Essex, the gold standard of anonymous testimonials lacking any detail.

The Feefo reviews are more impressive … assuming you trust Feefo. I’ll let you read more about these aggregated review sites in the links in the footer if you are the interested.

The ones I am inclined to view as the best litmus test for the service are Medichecks’ Google reviews. 3.9/5 out of 14 reviews and the normal polarised response you’d expect to get.

Glowing 5 stars or angry 1 stars. In this case there are many people happy with the service and only a few who aren’t. And of them, two are clearly nutters. One with an axe to grind with some guy called Bill Wreford who possibly works in a lab who Medichecks possibly use; and another who thinks it’s a disgrace a private company would charge money for their services.

Nutters

The bigger you are, the more you are likely to get his kind of feedback. With 2.5 million blood tests conducted, it says a lot of about Medichecks that there are so few examples of this type of negative feedback.

Medichecks Discount Coupons and Promotions

Discount coupons and promotions are available for Medichecks, in fact depending on your luck (or how busy they are) they even offer them on their own website from time to time.



Conclusion

If you are in the UK and you want to get your testosterone tested, you should consider yourself lucky.

The service Medichecks are offering here is head and shoulders above what’s available throught the rest of the world. And that includes advanced western economies like the US.

It is quick, easy, efficient, discreet, and cheap. The laboratories used are accredited with external quality assurance schemes. The results are delivered quickly and securely online.

Take advantage.

Relevant Links

  1. Trust Pilot’s take on Feefo
  2. Money Saving Expert’s thread on Trust Pilot
tl; dr ... Short and to the Point
Who is this article aimed at?
Anybody interested in having their testosterone tested privately, and who wants to know more about Medichecks service.
I am busy - summarize it for me

We really do have it good in the UK, despite what the media might tell us.

We have fantastic services which others in the world just don't have access to. And testosterone testing is one of them. Medichecks offer a testing service which is quick, easy, efficient, discreet, and cheap. And the laboratories used are accredited with external quality assurance schemes.