Tiredness & Fatigue Home Blood Test

Iron

The iron test measures the amount of iron that is circulating in the liquid part of blood bound to transferrin (a transport protein). Iron is an essential trace element in your blood. It is necessary for forming healthy red blood cells. Approximately 70% of iron absorbed from the diet is used to form haemoglobin, the protein within red blood cells which carries oxygen through your body. Iron is also used in the production of some other proteins, such as myoglobin in muscle, and various enzymes. Iron which is not used for protein production is stored within tissues as ferritin or hemosiderin.

If not enough iron is taken in from the diet, then the stored levels of iron will drop. If the stored levels become depleted, this can lead to iron deficiency anaemia. On the other hand, absorption of too much iron can cause accumulation of iron stores in the tissues. This can cause damage to organs such as the heart, liver, and pancreas.

TIBC

Total Iron Binding Capacity, or TIBC, measures the total capacity of your blood to bind and transport iron, and therefore reflects your body’s iron stores. TIBC correlates with the amount of the protein transferrin in your blood, available to bind iron.

Transferrin Saturation

Transferrin is a protein that attaches iron molecules and transports iron in the blood plasma. Transferrin is largely made in the liver and regulates your body’s iron absorption into the blood.

Ferritin

Ferritin is a blood protein which contains iron and is used to understand how much iron your body stores.

UIBC

The number of sites on transferrin that are not already carrying iron; this is referred to as unsaturated iron binding capacity (UIBC). This number can be added to the serum iron to calculate the TIBC.

Free thyroxine (Free T4)

Free thyroxine helps to evaluate thyroid function and diagnose thyroid diseases, including hypo- and hyper-thyroidism. Free T4 is not affected by protein levels and is the active form of thyroxine.

Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH)

The thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland found in the throat, wrapped around the windpipe just below the Adam’s apple. It produces thyroid hormones which influence essentially every organ, every tissue and every cell in the body. Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) is produced in the pituitary gland and stimulates the thyroid gland to produce thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). TSH that is too high or too low indicates that your thyroid gland is not functioning correctly.

Vitamin D

The main role of vitamin D is to help regulate the absorption of calcium, phosphate and magnesium. Vitamin D is vital for the growth and health of bone; without it, bones will be soft, malformed and unable to repair themselves normally. For most people, the majority of vitamin D is formed following the action of sunlight upon the skin but is also found in a small amount of foods.

CRP HS

C-reactive protein (CRP) is measure to asses inflammation in the body. This can be used to identify infections or other medical conditions. Particularly the CRP high-sensitivity (HS) test can be used to evaluate the risk of developing coronary artery disease.