Before a Short Synacthen Test: Confirm Your Medicine Plan

If your clinician has referred you for a short Synacthen test and you take HRT or a steroid medicine, ask for a written preparation plan before changing anything. An appointment letter can leave you unsure which instruction applies to your exact prescription. Contact the endocrine team to resolve that uncertainty before the test date.

Confirm why the test was ordered

• Ask what question the result is intended to answer in your case.
• Record which clinician will interpret it and discuss the next step.
• Ask how the test relates to any other investigations already arranged.

Keep the referral question beside the appointment details. Have the team explain an unfamiliar test name rather than assuming it is a routine menopause blood test.

Get directions for each medicine

Gloucestershire’s leaflet describes preparation differences for steroid medicines and estrogen-containing products, including HRT and contraception. It distinguishes estrogen patches from other estrogen preparations. The directions need clarification for your actual products.¹

• Send the team the names, doses and routes of your medicines, including tablets, patches and other hormone products.
• Ask them to write down exactly what to take or omit, on which dates, and when to resume anything they ask you to pause.
• If contraception is involved, ask which alternative protection is needed and when.
• Contact the team if the instructions conflict with an existing prescription or another appointment letter.

Do not independently stop, pause or restart prescribed steroids or hormone treatment to prepare. Ask the clinician responsible for the test to confirm your individual plan.

Check the appointment arrangements

At Gloucestershire, blood is taken through a cannula before Synacthen is given through the same tube; another sample follows 30 minutes later. The service asks patients with severe asthma to tell the team.¹

Confirm the arrival time, expected visit length and any food or drink instructions from your own service. Ask which medicines or documents to bring. Tell the team about severe asthma when arranging the test, rather than waiting until you arrive.¹

Leave with a result plan

Ask how and when your result will reach the interpreting clinician, when you will discuss it and whom to contact if the agreed message has not arrived. Keep that contact with the written medicine plan.

My Body Changed. Now What? includes the Visit Brief. Use it to organize appointment questions alongside your endocrine team’s instructions; it does not interpret the test.