Could this GP Have Checked My Blood Sugar ??

[RockinHippy]

Sorry posting here instead of health as this is always busier & in hoping for some medical insight in the replies...

I'm currently laid up ill with a very nasty flu bug. DH has had the same & is beginning to recover. I do have other health problems including kidney disease which may or may not be relevant.

This has knocked us both for 6 & does have a very bad raking cough as a symptom that's had us both coughing until we vomit.

Scary incident early yesterday morning, at least for DH as I have no recollection of it at all. I dragged myself to the toilet & the last thing I remember was vomiting into the sink & cleaning it after violently coughing again.

DH heard a loud thud & rushes to find me out cold & totally unresponsive with mouth & eyes wide open. I was ice cold to touch & showed no sign of life when he was slapping my face to try & rouse me. For a few minutes he thought I'd died & I only came round suddenly when he was trying to find the pulse in my neck. He rang doctors who said to get me down there urgently & gave him an appointment. Unfortunately not a favourite doctor when we got there as I've found her dismissive in the past, though I've noted when DH sees her she's far more concerned & possibly ott in response - sent him for chest X-rays & blood tests for seeing her with the same virus

I was in a hell of a state getting there so wasn't best placed to argue with a doctor & initially accepted their diagnosis of "cough Syncope" where coughing makes you pass out. I'd never heard of it, but it made some sense, until Dr Google showed that it's very rare & predominantly happens I overweight middle aged men who drink & smoke too much or have COPD. I'm none of those

I did ask her about blood sugar as both my parents & much of my family are/were diabetic. I'm not diabetic, but have had some blood sugar issues when I've been very ill in hospital in the past & doctors were concerned, but I eat a very healthy diet, & I'm not overweight, so have kept it at bay.

This was dismissed without checking my sugar levels at all, despite my description of blurring vision, shaking, weak, spinning out on walking etc. I do have POTs which can explain the dizziness, but I've never passed out with it before & I did explain that this felt different

Urine wasn't checked either even though I mentioned kidney pain & was worried my taking a spoonful of Benylin might have been a bad idea, this was dismissed & I later realised she didn't answer as to whether or not this was safe.

I spoke with my diabetic dad last night who thinks my sugar should have been checked as it sounds to him like I went into a brief hypo, likely brought on because I can't eat or drink much bar water for several days

Is he right ?

TIA

Title should have read "Should brain dead & crappy autocorrect 😩

Anyone?

Passing out when you have flu and POTS is common.

A hypo when you are not diabetic is not.

Even if I've never passed out from POTs before? (I have hyper POTs)
But have had hypo from bad illness before?? Reassuring if so

I'm still feeling like I'm on the verge of passing out all of the time, even though this bug should have ran its course by now

I think they should've checked it - could you make an urgent appt or pop along to a pharmacy who can check it for you? Sounds very scary

Thanks fryer I hadn't realised that a chemist could do that & the chemist is much closer than our GP, so it would be easier right now.

Yes scary, but I think more so for DH, especially as both of his best mates have lost their wives this year. I'm just a bit freaked I was so unaware of it all

I'm quite sure Lloyds pharmacy do a diabetes check

But of course you'd have low blood sugar if you hadn't eaten.

Sounds like you fainted. Very normal with flu.

If you had undiagnosed diabetes your blood sugar would be high not low. High blood sugar doesn't generally cause collapse, it causes DKA or HONK depending on the type of diabetes. It is much more likely that you had a syncope episode caused by you being unwell, possibly dehydrated which causes lower blood pressure and the vasovagal effect of vomiting. If you are concerned that you may have diabetes you can get a random blood sugar test at some pharmacies but a hbA1c done by the GP would be more helpful.

But if you think you have low blood sugar from not eating, surely you just... Eat something? Or drink a sugary drink? That's a good idea after a faint anyway. What would be the point of going for a blood sugar unless you think you have undiagnosed diabetes? Which would cause high sugars not low.

In short, no, it doesn't really sound like you fainted from low blood sugar anyway, and even if you did unless diabetes was indicated there would be no point doing a blood sugar when you could just drink a glass of orange juice.

If your dad has a blood testing kit borrow it and check your numbers, if you are used to running high then go low through not eating you can feel incredibly faint and dizzy. Been there and it was incredibly frightening at the time.

I think if it were low blood sugar you wouldn't have " recovered " without food or sugar.
I think you just have to hope it was a one off

If it was a hypo wouldn't you have got worse, not better, without eating or drinking? I think I'd have called an ambulance if I found someone showing no signs of life who I thought may of died.

How do you feel now OP and did you have something to eat? Most likely your blood sugar would have shown up as low if you'd only been taking water for a few days. Can you stomach tea with plenty of honey or sugar? Your body needs some energy if its going to fight off such a horrible cough.

They probably should have checked your blood sugar but the answer would most likely have been as above - hot sweet tea and a snack.

Thank you

I didn't know you could pass out with flu, it's not something ive come across before. I think I'd be less if the GP had told me that rather than this weird diagnosis that doesn't really make sense given that I'm not Male, overweight, heavy smoker etc

I'm definitely not dehydrated, living with POTs & CKD, I know I need to drink a lot & do even when this ill as it's not worth the risk of needing to be in hospital, I've taken electrolytes too hoping to help settle things down, but no real joy. It's mostly been water though as everything else tastes too sweet right now. I'm managing a bit of juice & coffee now though.

I have really struggled with food, but have tried to eat a little at least, though nothing like enough & I am eating a little better now. I was thinking low blood sugar from lack of food after my dads describing a hypo, especially the greenish haze to the vision, shakiness etc & saying how mam would look dead if she passed out with low blood sugar. I'm not diabetic but have been told a few times that I'm prediabetic/borderline. Usually in hospital after hospital food. I've been refused a glucose tolerance test in the recent past though, but haven't worried about it as I know my normal diet will keep any mild diabetes in check

I've had illness stop me eating many a time though, sometimes worse than this & I've never completely blacked out like this, not even when I has swine flu, maybe it is just bad flu reaction 😐

Dads the other end of the country, so unfortunately I can't borrow his kit

I think I'd still feel happier ruling it out, so going to take a bath & hopefully pull myself together enough to get to our local Boots

Syncope is the medical term for fainting, so cough syncope simply means fainting associated with coughing. It's more common in some groups (by virtue of the fact that they're more likely to have a cough) but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen in other groups. It's not a weird diagnosis at all!

I think it's the thoracic pressure caused by coughing that causes fainting, doesn't POTS cause fainting too.

If you're still feeling faint then don't have a bath, or at least not one that's too hot. That can affect your blood pressure and cause fainting.

f it was a hypo wouldn't you have got worse, not better, without eating or drinking?

Good point Wiggly, I'm not thinking very clearly.

I think I'd have called an ambulance if I found someone showing no signs of life who I thought may of died.

& yes, DH was calling them but I came round, he tells me he was panicking about how the hell to get me dressed to cover my modesty before they arrived

A hypo (low blood sugar) is caused by the treatment of diabetes, it is not a symptom of diabetes. If you were an untreated diabetic your blood glucose would be too high. In basic terms, diabetics have hypos because they have given themselves too much insulin (there are lots of other factors, such as exercise etc).

You may have had low blood sugar from not eating, but that wouldn't mean you were diabetic (quite the opposite in fact!). Therefore using your dads BG monitor would not help you.

Yes wiggly POTs can cause fainting, but I have a sub type of POTs that doesn't really do that, just makes you feel a bit like you will faint, but more so causes my heart to race & other weird symptoms etc

My BP is generally high,but wasn't when checked yesterday thankfully, but my bath won't be hot & DH will be keeping an eye

Thanks to those of you explaining the cough Syncope, that does now make more sense & maybe it is just bad luck

Thanks everyone 💐

Great info Fret, thank you that's very reassuring

I'm sorry you're not well and not to say that your doctor is never wrong but to assume that a combination of dr google and your Dad know better doesn't seem very rational.

To be honest Cas, this same GP has been very dismissive of stuff with both me & DD in the past leading to us being more ill & for longer, including not treating a kidney infection leaving me very ill & having to go to hospital over the weekend. So she isn't one I have a lot of faith in. Plus I've had to fight the NHS tooth & nail for some diagnoses for both me & DD, par for the course with rarer conditions, but they even missed pneumonia in DD, so unfortunately ive learnt the hard way to question things