Hello, I believe someone told me about DLS labs on this site. I’m trying to get a couple of thyroid levels and I don’t know when they have their monthly specials. Are there any other labs that give good deals for patient needing to check some levels? Thank you it’s always interesting getting on here again and I get wrapped up in wanting to read so many of the posts. I have been lucky for about for a year and a half now without any a fib or flutter, not on any anti-arrhythmic’s or blood thinners. I still take carvedilol very small dose. I am sexperimenting to get back to some of my better thyroid medicine and carefully monitoring my heart rate and any symptoms that might lead to a fib again. That is the reason I would like to get some thyroid levels probably sooner than my doctor would order because I want to make sure things are safe or which direction I need to go in. Thank you and hope everyone is doing as well as possible.

This page [www.apoe4.info] discusses consumer lab testing. In the US, I've found New Century Labs to be the lowest cost (info on link). They use Quest Labs.

Quote
GeorgeN
This page [www.apoe4.info] discusses consumer lab testing. In the US, I've found New Century Labs to be the lowest cost (info on link). They use Quest Labs.

Quest offers tests to the public here. Does Century offer some advantage over using Quest directly?

Thank you so much George & Carey. It looks like Century using Quest is the best price & definitely better than what I used last time I did this with DLS (even when it was their special for the month).

Afibbers continues to be the best support group I have ever used (I have used thyroid & adrenal groups too), but there is nothing compares to afibbers!!! Deep gratitude.

Quote
Carey
Quest offers tests to the public here. Does Century offer some advantage over using Quest directly?

Clearly you'd think Quest could offer a better price than a 3rd party reseller of their service. Perhaps they don't want to undercut the Byzantine pricing & discounts they offer insurance companies? Hence New Century offers a better deal. I've not tried this, but a friend said New Century would add items from the Quest catalog upon request, if they don't already offer them.

One I use is Jasonhealth.com. And yes, it’s also cheaper than the lab they use.

Quote
Brian_og
One I use is Jasonhealth.com. And yes, it’s also cheaper than the lab they use.

Good Lord, this one is even cheaper!!! It will just cost me $30 to get my Free T3 & Free T4 done, $17 cheaper than New Century & $39 cheaper than DLS. They also will use Quest Labs for my blood draw. This is wonderful as I am on a journey back to my best thyroid dose & now I can check my progress by labs more often, which is important to my cardiac status too as I don't want to get near afib/flutter again if I can help it.

Thank you all again.

George,

I wondered if New Century prices reflected the lab's fee for the blood draw. If so, the price is comparable to Jasonhealth.com, but on Jason it is easily understood how to order: pick available lab location, pick out tests, put in cart, then you see your total charge including the lab fee.

But on New Century, I don't see a cart, they just ask you to go directly to checkout on the first lab you pick, don't even see where to choose the next lab before checking out. I have not completed anything. I just wanted to see if they also added in a collection fee for the local lab. The local lab they had for my city was closer to me than the lab offered on Jason, though they were both Quest labs. I googled the lab New Century offered to see if I could call (you can't), but I did see on the Internet a notice that this lab site was permanently closed (though there were no other Quest labs offered on New Century).

I also looked at Quest directly as Carey suggested, but the only thyroid test they offered was thyroid function, no FT3 or FT4.

It is too bad these days we rarely get to call a place of business to ask a question directly when something is not clear.

Looks like I will be choosing Jason. One more question, I see reviews of people talking about not being able to make an appointment & some of them had horrible wait times in small, non-sociallly distanced spaces. Would anyone have an idea of what might be the least busy time to do a walk-in as I can do it any time (retired). Maybe many people who still go to jobs would choose to go before work like 7-9 am & if I chose 10 a.m.that would be less busy.

Thanks.

I've always found that mid-afternoon is the least busy time in labs and most medical facilities in general. You miss the early birds, you miss the early birds who thought 10am would be a less busy time, you miss people using their lunch breaks, and you miss the after work crowd. It'll just be you, other retired people, and stay-at-home parents with kids.

Quote
Madeline
George,

I wondered if New Century prices reflected the lab's fee for the blood draw. If so, the price is comparable to Jasonhealth.com, but on Jason it is easily understood how to order: pick available lab location, pick out tests, put in cart, then you see your total charge including the lab fee.

But on New Century, I don't see a cart, they just ask you to go directly to checkout on the first lab you pick, don't even see where to choose the next lab before checking out. I have not completed anything. I just wanted to see if they also added in a collection fee for the local lab. The local lab they had for my city was closer to me than the lab offered on Jason, though they were both Quest labs. I googled the lab New Century offered to see if I could call (you can't), but I did see on the Internet a notice that this lab site was permanently closed (though there were no other Quest labs offered on New Century).

As to checkout, you just have to go back to search and find another test and add it. Rinse and repeat, on the final one, you checkout and pay. It has been since Dec since I've used them, so don't remember the exact specifics. As I recall, the New Century Lab drawing fee is $12. I've used them a number of times. After checkout, you go to the lab, check in at the kiosk and they call you. I've used other services, too, that deal with LabCorp. Similar, though some of them give you a paper lab requisition.

Quote
Brian_og
One I use is Jasonhealth.com. And yes, it’s also cheaper than the lab they use.

Just one more report on how well this all went.

I did use Jason Health who also uses Quest Labs. Total about $48 for 2 thyroid labs.

I like to have direct comps when it comes to thyroid, i.e., last dose of thyroid med the day before, not taking my morning dose until after blood draw, just getting my blood drawn somewhere around 9 am, then after I can take my usually much earlier morning meds (it matters with thyroid). So, since this is the way I get it done at my endo's office, I wanted to try to stick with it. I decided to just go with the flow & take my book to read & a water bottle & camp out for a while if I had to.

I got to the lab & signed in on a computer tablet. I found a seat & before I could get out my book & place my water bottle on the table, the door opened & I was called back. The tech was very nice & one of those excellent needle stickers (did not feel a thing). I was not even there 10 minutes. I could not believe my great good fortune! That was Tuesday.

Today, Wednesday my levels were already available for me to view through my account. There is so much BS at my dr's office in getting the correct labs drawn & ever getting them sent to me before my office visit so I can prepare. It is so nice to have a bit of control & for things to go the way you want them to, the way they "should" in a more perfect world.

I also got good results showing that my thyroid med changes since May were subtle but definitely getting better with my med changes. I am really trying my best to be very careful since thyroid replacement can interfere with heart issues, even when I am not taking near as much as recommended by most groups of people who have no thyroid anymore.

Thanks to all of you for helping me with this.