Worried by text from GP about diabetes out of the blue

[fragminhelp]

I've had a text out of the blue from my GP, saying I need my annual diabetes review. It is addressed to me by name.

I've NEVER been diagnosed as diabetic.

I have bipolar and take Lithium, so have tests for kidney function, thyroid and Lithium levels.

I also have have bad asthma.

I have reviews for both mental health and asthma annually.

I've had surgery recently and had a blood test just before. I was told that this was just for blood assay (due to antibodies they found at the pre-op assessment). They never mentioned a diabetes check, and it was ankle surgery, so diabetes is always risky, so I would have thought I'd been told. Also my discharge letter doesn't mention that I have diabetes.

I know this seems trivial, but my younger brother died two years ago and his death certificate cited diabetes as a secondary cause, same with my dad who died last year. My sister also has it. They were all diagnosed in their late 30s, I am 53 and thought I'd escaped it.

My last HBA1c was 40, which the GP said is normal and didn't indicate either diabetes or pre-diabetes and my non fasting blood glucose was 5.4 (and I'd eaten before the test).

I can't see any other test results on there, but there is a clinical document recently, that I can't open, so don't know if it's that?

Should I have been told? I've been especially down and over eaten chocolate, as no one told me I have diabetes.

It might be an error. It might be that with your family history they want you to have an annual HbA1C and it’s time for that? They’ve just sent a standard text rather than a personal one?

It might be worth ringing up the GP and asking whether you should have been sent that text? I think ones like that are automated so maybe something in your notes has triggered you getting that text, maybe that you have had a hba1c done recently?

As you’ve had recent diabetes checks and didn’t have it, I think it’s an error.

Contact your GP and let them know there is a likely data error or else a misdiagnosis that you need sorting out ASAP.

Sorry this has happened, very unsettling given your family history.

Might be a mistake on your files, I've weirdly been dealing with the same thing for years, everytime I get a letter, I tell them I don't have diabetes, they acknowledge this mistake and then nothing gets done and I get another letter later on asking me to come for some diabetic clinic again 🤷‍♀️

Give your GP a ring

That would make sense, except it mentions seeing a diabetic two weeks after the blood tests, to go through my diet plan and readings. If it was just the annual one they do (and they do it along with kidney, thyroid, liver, etc), then I'd understand, but this says to make a test specifically for diabetic blood tests and nothing about the other tests. It now also says under problems "annual diabetic review invitation", so it now states I have diabetes, if it was just to check I don't have it, it wouldn't say that.

This is exactly it. Sorry you've been going through it too.

@fragminhelp that is odd, it might be that someone has mis-coded you and recorded you as diabetic when you’re not. This needs clarifying and rectifying.

Given them a ring, or even better go down there and see what they have recorded in your records.