To think that when someone gets up and is jaundiced they should see the GP today?

[insan1tyscartching]

H has various blood disorders that he has taken chemotherapy tablets for for ten years now and diabetes that's currently not well controlled for some reason.
A fortnight ago he saw GP at my insistence as he was sleeping all the time, had severe sweating,raging thirst etc.
Blood tests showed basically that liver struggling,diabetes not good, large red blood cells,anaemia, fundamentally apart from platelets which were higher than normal (so of concern but good for him) there was a concern about everything else.
GP ordered more blood tests to rule out B12 deficiency and thyroid levels which came back clear. H has an appointment on Friday with the GP and another repeat of the blood tests.
Today he's got up with a yellow tinge to face, neck arms, whites of eyes which to my mind is a reason to see GP today but apparently H thinks not as he has an appointment on Friday. So is jaundice considered an emergency bearing in mind we already knew that LFT was "worrying" before H turned yellow?
MIL was a hypochondriac and H has a lot of health anxiety but a dislike of seeing Doctors etc which probably explains the reluctance.

Hope your Husband will be OK x

Just out of interest, what was his B12 level, did he have his folate tested aswell?

Large red blood cells point to B12 deficiency &/or folate deficiency anaemia (macrocytic anaemia).

B12 & Folate range levels on blood tests are far too low and what GP's consider normal could actually be deficiency especially when blood tests are showing signs of anaemia.

Peolpe with severe b12 deficiency (pernicious anaemia) can suffer with liver problems. I've known of people with PA who have been accused of being alcoholics because their liver is in such a state.

I am not a medical professional, just someone with perncious anaemia running in my family and i think you should get this looked into more closely.

B12 deficiency can also cause cognitive issues, poor memory, confusion, mood problems.

I'm not saying this is the sole reason for your Husbands problems. But it could well be one of them.

Here's an informative site;

www.b12deficiency.info

I'm sorry I don't know the figures because dh got the results and he can't remember anything tbh.
H has got faulty bone marrow that early on produced too many red blood cells so he had a dangerously high red blood count and and a platelet count I think more than four times normal.
After other treatments he was put on chemotherapy to take down his levels to lessen the risks associated with having thick sticky blood.
For a while his rbc was high normal and his platelets were double normal and his liver was thought to be being affected by the chemo which was seen as the lesser of two evils.
Just recently though the chemo, I think, has really knocked down his platelets which are now only about 100 over the upper normal limits and his rbc has dropped consistently over the last six months to anaemia levels and now his blood cells are large as well.
What I think needs to be worked out is is it the chemo hammering his blood? is it the bone marrow condition advancing? or is it his liver that's causing the blood problems? and what's causing the liver problems? what's happening with the diabetes? Oh and how's his spleen coping as that was badly enlarged as well? But I suppose they will be looking at that in clinic.

Your poor Husband and yourself.

I wish i could offer you more helpful advice or knowledge.

I hope he will be ok and they can start looking into what's causing this tomorrow.

Hope things are clearer after the Clinic visit.

Is he on Hydroxyurea for Polycythaemia? Disclaimer here I'm not a doctor but have a relative on this treatment. Hydroxyurea can cause liver problems I believe so he definitely should be seen. If his red cells and platelets are dropping that much then have they looked at adjusting the dose, if they are that low and the Hydroxy is hammering his liver then would he be able to come off it for a while and shift to venesection instead?

I know from my family that if you are talking about PV or other MPDs then there can be an element of 'head in the sand' about changes in symptoms. It's such a strange diagnosis to live with - it's fatal if untreated, you can live for a long time on the treatment but at some point it may well stop working/the side effects build up. Be gentle to yourselves and make sure you have support. You can try MPD Voice as well as Macmillan - MPDs are so rare and with the wierd 'not quite a cancer' classification it can be hard to get good support/information.

Apologies if I'm way off the mark here but a lot of what you are saying sounds so very familiar.

Yes he has essential thrombocythaemia and polycythaemia rubra vera so a dual diagnosis. He was pretty young when he was diagnosed so only mid thirties but he'd been having symptoms for about six years then.
At clinic a month ago he was anaemic and his platelets were the lowest they've been since diagnosis but they said they would watch for now (although of course this is what H reports so might not be accurate) although he did nose at the letter they had written to GP which pondered whether condition was advancing.
The trouble is though that dh denies or wouldn't say if he had any symptoms so I know he wouldn't mention the confusion and most likely didn't mention the sweating or tiredness either because we had a row to get him to GP just a fortnight later.
GP initially thought his symptoms were because of the diabetes which admittedly is all over the place for no discernible reason but then his LFTs were worrying and his rbc was lower than a fortnight previously and now his cells were enlarged which they weren't at clinic and so she asked for a repeat screen and was writing to his consultant.
On Friday he would get the results of the repeat screen I imagine but the jaundice seems to have bumped the process along.
It's so difficult though as H tells them nothing and doesn't want me at his appointments so I can't.Then when he gets home he can't remember much of what has been said because his memory short term is useless. So it took days of prompting to find out what GP had said and I'm still not sure I got the full story because he can't remember. But he denies that there is any problem with his memory his reasoning for not being able to recall what was said at surgery only five minutes previously was that there had been men painting the pylons he could see from the window and that had distracted him
I've no idea how nobody notices the confusion to be honest because he rambles on and on and much of it is a load of rubbish so he remembers telling GP "I'm my own man" but then can't elaborate what he meant by that and doesn't remember if GP asked him about that but he remembers saying that even if he doesn't remember anything useful. It is starting to drive me mad tbh.
I'm going to look at the website you suggest,H is at clinic later, alone he insists so fingers crossed he at remembers something at least.

can you write his symptoms down and ask the receptionist to give them to the dr?
how very worrying!

I hope your DH is okay Insan. I would be worried about him attending alone though, given his memory problems. Can you assist you go with him, just for moral support?

My DH is a bit of a denier and was going nowhere at his GP appts as he wouldn't ever say what was really on his mind or give a full picture. I ended up emailing the GP and explaining the full picture prior to his next appointment, he didn't respond due to data protection I guess, but he seemed to take it on board and directed the next appointment and asked the right questions which got DH to open up and we finally started to get somewhere. It might be worth a try.

*insist - not assist sorry!

Oh huge amounts of unmumsnetty hugs for you. Definitely contact MPD Voice, I've not spoken to them but read all their stuff when my dad was diagnosed. My dad had sweating and exhaustion for a while when they upped his chemo dose shortly after diagnosis in a 'throw everything at this it's been undiagnosed for too long' way - he was really ill with it and I remember my mum saying he was just lying on the sofa every afternoon sleeping and sweating (most unlike him).

Thankfully his levels dropped and they cut the dose and at the moment he's in a good way - he can tolerate the chemo dose as it stands and the RBCs and platelets are holding. It's a horrid disease though and you have my full sympathies. Would you be able to talk with his GP separately and express your concerns. I'm sure I've seen this suggested on MN in other cases - the GP won't be able to tell you anything about your DH but they can perhaps factor your worries into how they deal with your DH.

Does DH have a 'pass'/contact for the hospital for if he is feeling ill. My dad has a number for the nurse/ward and if he has any concerns/issues he can call them and they'll get him straight into the ward and admit if necessary. He did it a couple of months ago as he was worried he had a clot forming in his leg - he called them at 11pm at night and they got him straight in, ran tests etc and he was home by 3am! Admittedly you've got the issue of him recognising there's a problem and calling them but you could perhaps call on his behalf if you have this kind of situation again. I'm pretty sure if my dad or mum had rung and said he was jaundiced they'd have had him straight in that day.

I don't know about thrombocythaemia but if the levels are low in PV then I would guess venesection might work for a bit - that would have an added benefit of bringing him into contact with health care staff more regularly so anything like jaundice/sweats etc they'd notice.

Hang on in there and do make sure you get support for you as well.

Call NHS 24 immediately. Jaundice can be serious

Well he went,it wasn't his consultant though so things are still up in the air a little. His bloods are not too different to the first GP's bloods but the liver results are "of concern" The jaundice he described as mild so H needs scans and ultrasounds and possible biopsy to see what's happening and he needs another bone marrow test to see whether things are progressing. He has to stop the statins for now to see whether the increased dose (because his cholesterol level has shot up) has badly affected his liver as the last time he had a break from the statins (at a lower dose then) his liver levels improved slightly. He has to attend his consultant's clinic on Friday who might reconsider the chemo treatment or might want to wait until he's had the scans and biopsies but will know when the tests will take place. It will be after the consultant's seen him that we will know whether or not we will be going on holiday I suppose and any change or any concerns in the meantime he needs to contact either GP or the hospital no matter how minor.
I know we have no real answers yet but feel better just knowing he's been seen and will be seen again on Friday and funnily enough today has been a good day in terms of how awake he's been and only two changes of clothes because of sweating today as well.

Sounds like progress. The key thing is the change has been brought to the attention of the relevant professionals so they can try to work out to do next. Fingers crossed they get to the bottom of it quickly.

Glad you're feeling better, hoping for more progress on Friday and that you get to go on holiday.

Hoping for good news tomorrow and you get to go away.

Hope today was ok for you both and that tomorrow goes well.