To wish my GP practice had told me about this upward trend earlier?

Levels creeping up is quite normal and no immediate cause for concern; sometimes they gradually go down. It's now that you need to address 1. your cholesterol level, which may not be very high, and remembering everyone's goes up a bit as they age. I've had mine go up slightly and then down. 2. prediabetes. Prediabetes is not, as you know, diabetes but it's a warning.

I'm sure you do eat healthily but it's time to be a little more stringent with diet; add some things, take away others, little or no alcohol and drink plenty of water. There are plenty of suggestions online. I'm sure you'll be fine.

Ask for copies of your blood results, take your blood pressure at home, re-evaluate the need for your migraine medication. I used to have migraines and they disappeared after the menopause.

Good luck.

If you already eat healthily and exercise what would you have done differently if you had known?

@polarband
our website is exactly the same, in Scotland too. The standard tests carried out at 50 in England aren’t offered routinely.

Yeah you’re supposed to have a health check every five years from the age of 40. I have been invited for (both) of mine but I know other friends of a similar age who’ve never heard of it. They do a few blood tests and measure height, weight, and then ask a lot of questions about your booze intake and physical exertion. Then give you a cardiovascular risk score.

call and ask for one if you want it, and you get booked in with a nurse.

I don’t know where you live, OP, but my understanding is that the NHS app is available to everyone who is registered with a GP in England and the Isle of Man, so perhaps you’re in another part of the country? As a previous poster said, you can access all your test results on the NHS app, with very detailed information on normal ranges etc., so I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the GP to flag up if some of your results are rising before they get to the point where they are causing concern. I can see my cholesterol results going back to 2005 on the app. But in the days before the app was available, I don’t think I ever had a blood or urine test when I didn’t ring the surgery for the results. I know you’ve said thst you get fobbed off, and that was often the case when I called for results, but I was always insistent and no-one ever refused to tell me my readings.

From what I've been told, they recently changed and broght down the thresholds of what is considered 'normal'. This is so that more people will get told earlier on the they have fallen into the 'risk' category. So if this has only just happened to you, you will only just be borderline in the new lower risk category.

You should obviously still take it seriously, as it's been brought down so that people will get an earlier warning that their health may be at risk. If your health is otherwise good then you will have plenty you can do to keep it that way, which is great news 👍

I can totally understand your annyance tho, I agree that we should all be told our results so that we know where we are, which reminds me that my GP didn't tell me my blood pressure last time I saw him!

Really? I never had that.

Does your GP have an app you can use to request appointments/order prescriptions etc? My GP doesn't use the NHS app and I can access blood results via their app easily.

Not in Scotland.

Not much point in having a GP if we have to interpret results ourselves.

The NHS app isn't great either, half of my appointments seem to be missing from it. The private treatment I've had is also missing despite letters being sent to my GP.

On my NHS app all my results just say 'normal' or 'abnormal', there's no detail to spot any changes that might point to any problems.

There's also the issue of me, not a medical professional, analysing results. I can Google and have an idea, especially for familiar problems (for me that's low ferritin) but for unfamiliar issues I wouldn't know.

My thyroid results are coming back abnormal in some areas but they're not taking any action. I have no idea if this is ok or not. I wouldn't know what I'm looking at if I did get the detailed results.

You put trust in the GP but as someone said up thread, it seems like a box ticking exercise now. There's no holistic assessment, I haven't spoken to a GP in years.

But they were normal until your last one. There has been no fobbing off.

Nobody looks at patients holistically anymore.

I have a problem with my kidney function and one of my tests is below normal levels. I only know because a year after my test my consultant for a totally unrelated matter noticed the historic result. The gp had signed it off as no further action even though it was abnormal. My consultant told me to have it done again. I did, it was still low. Gp signed it off as no further action needed. I rang and complained and they said it’s only an issue if I have proteinurea. I’ve had proteinurea for years. 🤷‍♀️🙈

it’s all just a tickbox exercise now.

Tricky not having the app. In England at 50 you get a full health review with bloods, blood pressure, bmi, questionnaire re eating/drinking/smoking habits and a follow up to discuss any concerns or potential risks. But I’m not sure about Scotland. At least you know now OP and can take measures before it gets worse.

That’s frustrating!

My cholesterol recently dropped significantly when I started eating legumes every day. It went from 6,8 to 4.5 in a year. I didn’t think my diet was unhealthy before (vegetarian, tee total, non smoker) but I’ve really been working on getting the fibre in first and foremost and was surprised at the results.

When you speak to them request a print out. You will have to collect it, they won't read the results over the phone.

It's your body, you need to take ownership.

Scotland doesn't have the app for all those suggesting it.